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10 September 2019The Toronto International Film Festival, staged these days in Canada, is one of the main showcases for Hollywood productions especially in view of the Academy Awards. It is not rare, in fact, that the winning films of the People's Choice Award bring home one or more statuettes to the awards of the Oscars. The Festival opened this year with the screening of the documentary "Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band" directed by Daniel Roher on September 5th, and will close on the 15th with "Radioactive" by Marjane Satrapi, biopic on Marie Curie. The "Joker" starring Joaquin Phoenix, fresh winner of the Golden Lion in Venice for best film, is one of the films on the list and one of the most accredited for the final victory. Among the Italians also "Il Traditore" by Marco Bellocchio, present in the Masters category.One of the films that is awarded as a winner and that could also triumph at the next Academy is "Harriet" by Kasi Lemmons, a film that tells the life of Harriet Tubman, the woman who fought long for women's suffrage and for the abolition of slavery . Curiosity also for "Jojo Rabbit", a black comedy by Taika Waititi, played by Scarlett Johansson. This year, for the first time, the Gala section will see almost 50% of films directed by female directors: 9 out of 20. According to "La Stampa". the numbers spread on all competitions say 114 films directed by women, 36% of the total.
The Festival is not a real competition, in fact the final prize is established by the public and therefore based on the taste of the spectators and the employees. There are other categories, which include several films, which instead provide a prize. For example, the "Martin Eden" by Pietro Marcello competes this year for the Platform Prize, a prize often compared to the "Certain Regard" in Cannes. The other prizes are intended for Canadian films. Worth noting in the "Discovery" category are the Italians "Simple woman" by Chiara Malta, with Jasmine Trinca, and "Sole" by Carlo Sironi, presented at the last Venice Exhibition.
If you look at the last 10 years, of the 11 films shown, 10 have won one or more Oscars. A triumph at the 2019 Oscars was, for example, "Green Book" which, on September 11th, 2018, was previewed at the Festival and won among the enthusiastic applause of the audience. The previous year was Martin McDonagh's "Three posters at Ebbing, Missouri" which saw the triumph of Frances McDormand's and Sam Rockwell's Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. Other winners at the Toronto and Best Film Award winners were "12 Years a Slave", "The King's Speech" and "The Millionaire", only in the last decade. The only Italian to win the Audience Award in Canada in the history of the Festival was Roberto Benigni in 1998 with "La Vita è bella": Best foreign film at the 1999 Oscars. The film also earned the Tuscan actor the award for Best main character.