The honorary guest and president of the Regional Competition jury was Iranian director Amir Naderi. Other jury members included Kira Kovalenko, winner of the “Un Certain Regard” top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and a protégé of Alexander Sokurov, as well as Armenian-American actor Karen Karagulian, known for his long-standing collaboration with filmmaker Sean Baker.
Among the standout documentaries are Clay Tweel’s ANDY KAUFMAN IS ME, Gianfranco Rosi’s BELOW THE CLOUDS, Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus’ COVER-UP, Ben Proudfoot’s THE EYES OF GHANA, Brandon Kramer’s HOLDING LIAT, Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard’s I WAS BORN THIS WAY, Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s LOVE+WAR, Tamara Kotevska’s THE TALE OF SILYAN, as well as Sundance winners Brittany Shyne’s SEEDS and Isabel Castro’s SELENA Y LOS DINOS.
Fiona Clark, Festival Director & CEO of Cork International Film Festival, commented; “We are delighted and honoured to bookend our landmark 70th Festival edition with two Irish premieres of this stature. A Festival of our scale and impact is a huge undertaking by our dedicated team and we are excited to share the outcome of our endeavours and invite audiences to celebrate this remarkable milestone – as Ireland’s largest and longest-running film festival – with prestige titles like Saipan and, of course, with its significant Cork connections. We will be showcasing over 200 films and special events across Cork with more films announced in advance of the unveiling of the full programme on Wednesday 15th October. We look forward to welcoming audiences to share the spotlight in Cork in November.”
“Great Audiences Deserve Great Films,” a campaign that paid tribute to TIFF’s audience as true tastemakers. Inspired by the Festival’s prestigious People’s Choice Award — a long-time predictor of Oscar glory — the campaign underscored TIFF’s role as a springboard for worldwide acclaim.
For the second consecutive year, TFS proudly sponsored the TIFF Festival Street Art Market in partnership with TIFF, transforming John Street at King Street West into a vibrant hub of film-inspired creativity from September 4–7. As part of the festivities, the TFS Cinema — a 10×20-foot outdoor mini theatre — showcased a curated lineup of 22 short films created by TFS students and graduates.
This year’s Centerpiece Presentation is Rental Family, starring Oscar winner Brendan Fraser. The film follows an American actor adrift in life who accepts an unusual job at a Japanese “rental family” agency, portraying temporary family roles for strangers. It screens on October 21.
