TIFF Long Take

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, stars and creators of the hit television series 'Broad City'. The show, which launched as a web series in 2009, will end it astonishing run this year after five critically adored seasons on Comedy Central.

Glazer and Jacobson talk about the early days of 'Broad City', how they have grown as artists over the last decade, and how they formed a relationship with the show’s Executive Producer, Amy Poehler.

They also discuss the state of comedy in 2019, the guest stars they tried, and failed, to get on the show, and their favourite episodes from the shows run.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Nathanaël Karmitz, Managing Director of the mk2 audio visual group, about France's unwavering appetite for the theatrical experience. With many arthouse and independent theatres struggling worldwide to attract patrons, France's culture of movie going seems stronger than ever. Last year – despite the massive growth of SVOD audiences worldwide – French arthouse theatres saw record attendance, selling over 45 million admissions, or about 25% of countries' overall cinema entries that year.   Karmitz talks about how the French are taught to think about film as art rather than entertainment, why their interest in foreign cinema has stayed so strong, and why, despite the rise of Netflix, French audiences remain committed to the theatrical experience.   He also discusses France's innovative laws around media windows, who these regulations help and hurt the most, and his predictions for the future of the French film industry.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with documentarian Bing Liu. Liu’s debut feature film, Minding the Gap, tells the story of three young men (including Liu) in Rockford Illinois, who use skateboarding as a way to cope with their traumatic home lives. The film, which topped several best of 2018 lists, will be playing as part of TIFF Next Wave.

Liu discusses how he used skateboarding as a gateway to making his own films, the different iterations of Minding the Gap, and why he decided to insert his own backstory into the film’s narrative.

He also talks about how a documentarian knows when their film is done, how he ethically approached making a film about domestic abuse, and his relationship with legendary documentarian Steve James.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff sits down with Jonathan Frantz, a filmmaker, producer, and member of Isuma, an Inuit-led media-arts collective founded by Zacharias Kunuk. Frantz recently produced 'Edge of the Knife', a drama set in the 19th century and directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. The film is particularly notable as the first feature made entirely in Haida, an endangered language spoken fluently by fewer than 20 people. 'Edge of the Knife', which features a Haida cast and was made in collaboration with the Council of the Haida Nation, premiered at TIFF in 2018 and will screen as part of our Canada’s Top 10 series in 2019.

Frantz talks about the history and mission of Isuma, the long but rewarding process of making 'Edge of the Knife', and what he hopes the film will do for the Haida language and nation.

He also discusses working with Edenshaw, Haig-Brown, and Kunuk, how he approaches projects such as this one as a non-Indigenous person, and the best resources for movie lovers looking to see more Indigenous films.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with Shawn Finnie, Associate Director of Member Relations at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to talk about how the Academy has worked to address concerns over the lack of diversity in its membership, nominees, and award winners. In 2012, the Academy was 77% male and 94% white. In 2018 those numbers shifted to 69% male and 84% white — a sign that, while change is definitely slow going, things are trending in the right direction.

Finnie talks about his vision for the future of the Academy, how he helped create the Academy's most diverse class ever, and why a Moonlight Best Picture win 10 years ago likely would have been impossible.

He also talks about why invitations to join the Academy should be based on more than your resume, and why he saw #OscarsSoWhite as an opportunity.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff chat with some of the smartest people in the business to find out what film and television projects we should be looking forward to in the coming year.

First, Vanity Fair’s K. Austin Collins calls in to talk about some of this year’s Hollywood films, including James Gray’s 'Ad Astra', Steven Soderbergh's 'High Flying Birds', and Quentin Tarantino's 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.

Then TIFF International Programmer Jane Schoettle drops by to discuss upcoming international films such as Robert Connolly’s 'The Dry', Sebastian Schipper’s 'Roads', and the anthology film 'Vai' from producers Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton (Waru).

TIFF and Hot Docs programmer Dorota Lech also calls in to talk about documentary film in 2019, touching on Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang’s 'One Child Nation', Tim Travers Hawkins’ Chelsea Manning doc, and Brett Story’s 'The Hottest August'.

And finally, Rolling Stone’s chief TV critic, Alan Sepinwall, joins us to talk about the return of 'Deadwood', as well as other new series like HBO’s 'Watchmen', FX’s 'What We Do in the Shadows', and Netflix’s 'Russian Doll'.

This week on TIFF Long Take, in the second of two parts, Rob and Geoff look back on stories and themes that shaped the year in film and television by revisiting some of their favourite conversations from 2018.

Excerpts include:

- FiveThirtyEight’s Walt Hickey, Ella Koeze, and Rachel Dottle on whether it’s time for a new Bechdel test

- #OscarsSoWhite’s founder April Reign on her plan to make to make the industry more diverse

- Actor Steven Yeun on representing Asian Americans onscreen

- Activist Isabel Amor on how the film A Fantastic Woman has advanced transgender rights in Chile

- Actor Ben Foster on how he builds his character

- Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley on how he gets great performances

- Annihilation director Alex Garland on his approach to adaptation

- Mudbound director Dee Rees on how she puts together her film crews

- Chef’s Table creator David Gelb on revolutionizing the food documentary

This week on TIFF Long Take, in the first of two parts, Rob and Geoff look back on stories and themes that shaped the year in film and television by revisiting some of their favourite conversations from 2018.Excerpts include:

-  Filmmaker and producer Mark Duplass on preserving artistry in the “tent-pole era”

-  Filmmaker Debra Granik on the challenges of making “difficult” films

 - TIFF’s Thom Powers on why we are living in a “golden age of documentary”

- Faculty of Horror’s Alex West on the changing perception of the horror genre

- Stacy Spikes, the founder of MoviePass, on the history of his controversial company

- IndieWire’s Anne Thompson on Netflix’s move into cinemas

- Kayleigh Donaldson on what the Disney–Fox merger means for the film industry and audiences

- Writer and showrunner Kit Steinkellner on choosing to launch her first show, Sorry for Your Loss, on Facebook Live.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff look into how blockchain technology and crypto currency could revolutionize the way that we finance and consume films. To guide them, the two welcome Luke Bradley, Director of Communications at the Blockchain Research Institute, as well as Christopher Woodrow, Chairman and CEO of MovieCoin.

Bradley discusses how blockchain and cryptocurrency our already impacting our day to day lives, how the technologies could theoretically upend the entertainment industry, and why Hollywood has, for the most part, been reluctant to get on board?

Woodrow then joins the conversation to talk about the inspiration behind MovieCoin, the types of films that MovieCoin will be funding, and what he thinks the film financing landscape could look like in ten years.

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob chats with IndieWire’s Anne Thompson about Netflix’s recent foray into the world of  theatrical releases. Last month the company announced that three of its upcoming films would open exclusively in select theaters in the US and abroad for one to three weeks before they debuted online. The films include director Alfonso Cuarón’s 'Roma', The Coen Brothers’ 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'; and Susanne Bier’s 'Bird Box'.

Thompson talks about why Netflix strayed from its core business model, what message this sends to high profile filmmakers, and why Oscar aspirations may be influencing the decision.

She also discusses if large exhibitors would be willing to cooperate with Netflix, how the company is bracing for upcoming platforms from Disney and Apple, and what Netflix could learn from MoviePass.