Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced five new key members of the programming team and unveiled brief details of this year’s edition which is set to run from September 8–18.
Robyn Citizen will lead the festival programming team and has been appointed TIFF’s director of festival programming & Cinematheque. Citizen started at TIFF in 2018 and prior to that was a film lecturer in the departments of Asian studies and theatre and film at University of British Columbia from 2012-17; before that, Citizen was board co-chair for Breakthroughs Film Festival and programmed for Human Rights Film Festival.
Andréa Picard has stepped into the full-time role of senior curator, TIFF & TIFF Cinematheque. She has worked for TIFF since 1999 as a member of the TIFF Cinematheque programming team and, since 2006, as curator of Wavelengths.
Jane Schoettle has returned to lead programming of TIFF’s Special Presentations section as senior international programmer. Schoettle has worked for several decades as an international programmer for TIFF responsible for films from Australia, New Zealand, and Israel as well as American independent cinema. She has programmed extensively for festivals in Miami, Aspen, and Palm Springs and for several years produced TIFF Talent Development programmes Filmmaker Lab and Writers’ Studio.
Jason Ryle has joined and takes on the new role of international programmer, Indigenous cinema which will be programmed across the festival. He is an Anishinaabe from Lake St. Martin, Manitoba, and has worked as a producer, programmer, curator, story editor and arts consultant. He was executive director of imagineNATIVE from 2010-20, overseeing all operational and artistic activities of the annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, including year-round initiatives, international partnerships, and special projects.
Kelly Boutsalis, a Mohawk journalist from the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve, joins TIFF as associate programmer for Canadian feature films, while Ravi Srinivasan rejoins TIFF in a full-time role as senior manager, TIFF programming and will contribute to the festival’s programming of Canadian feature films and films from Southeast Asia.
Srinivasan has worked for TIFF as a seasonal programmer since 2013. Prior to his new role he was an international programmer at Hot Docs and founder and executive director of the South Western International Film Festival.
Women comprise 50% of the entire programming team. Seasonal programmers returning for TIFF 2022 are: Jason Anderson, international programmer, Short Cuts; Diana Cadavid, international programmer; Giovanna Fulvi, senior international programmer; Nataleah Hunter-Young, international programmer; Peter Kuplowsky, international programmer, Midnight Madness; Dorota Lech, international programmer; and Thom Powers, lead programmer, TIFF Docs.
Full-time TIFF staff members Steve Gravestock (festival programming) and Geoff Macnaughton (lead programmer, Primetime) round out this year’s team of TIFF programmers.
At time of writing, and assuming there is no late summer surge in Covid-19 cases, TIFF’s 47th edition will see the return of TIFF’s networking and celebratory events return including TIFF Opening Night Party, Industry Conference, filmmaker dinners, Industry networking events, press and programmers events and TIFF Tribute Awards Gala.
“We’re thrilled to share this news about TIFF 2022 and to introduce fresh voices to our programming team,” said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF, who will select the festival’s Gala Presentations. “Their expertise, passion, and perspectives will both deepen and broaden TIFF’s curation.”
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