Chloe Zhao's Nomadland took home the 2020 People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival as announced earlier today. The film, starring Frances McDormand, tells the story of a woman who gives up modern society to wander the American West with a group of fellow nomads. Regina King's One Night In Miami... was the runner-up selection. This win marks the first time the Venice Golden Lion award has matched the TIFF People's Choice award.  It is also the second year in a row that a Searchlight film has received the TIFF People's Choice award. Jojo Rabbit received the award last season. Here are...

As this year’s TIFF nears its end, we’re treated to more titles that received the Cannes 2020 label and officially premiered at Toronto. Among them is TRUE MOTHERS from Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase. Adapted from the novel by Mizuki Tsujimura, it’s an adoption drama that feels tender if somewhat familiar initially, only to surprise you with a shift in perspective that reveals the full, exceptional reach of its compassion. In the film we first meet Satoko (Hiromi Nagasaku) and Kiyokazu (Arata Iura), a middle-class couple with a kindergarten-age son Asato. The loving family looks just like any other until a...

Best Actress is always the category that draws much attention, at least around these parts. I myself have always been most interested in Best Picture. As my dearly departed friend David Carr used to say, "the only real heat is in Best Picture." But Best Actress, when it isn't locked down with a frontrunner, can be equally interesting. This year we have many different narratives that could play out.  It is looking like an unusually competitive year for Best Actress.  It might turn out to be a year of women, and women of color especially, with Chloé Zhao a strong...

September 18, 2020, MONTCLAIR, NJ - Montclair Film has announced its initial slate of Special Event screenings for the 9th annual Montclair Film Festival (MFF), presented by Investors Bank, taking place October 16-25, 2020 in Montclair, NJ. The Opening, Closing, and Centerpiece Films will screen at the Montclair Film Festival’s Carpool Theater drive-in, with the Virtual Centerpiece screening on Montclair Film’s new Virtual Cinema platform, powered by Eventive.  The festival will open on Friday, October 16, at 9:30 PM with a screening of Chloé Zhao’s NOMADLAND. Following the economic collapse of a company town in rural Nevada, Fern (Frances McDormand)...