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Culture & Style

Talking TIFF with artistic director Cameron Bailey

The Toronto International Film Festival’s artistic director and co-head Cameron Bailey shares his career journey with Soho House Toronto member Jordan Sowunmi
By Jordan Sowunmi
This week marks the start of the 43rd annual Toronto International Film Festival, with a packed schedule of highly anticipated films, ranging from the Judy Garland biopic Judy to the adaptation of Donna Tart’s novel The Goldfinch.  

As artistic director, Cameron Bailey has been credited with bringing a diverse range of exciting films to the festival, from Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. This year, half of the films in the festival program are directed or co-directed by women. 

Ahead of the festival, Bailey met with member Jordan Sowunmi to share how he worked his way to this position, and how he selects films for the highly coveted spots. Here are the highlights from their chat:

What was your first job pursuing film?
‘In university, I wrote about film and music for the campus newspaper. When I graduated, within eight months I started writing for Now magazine in Toronto. Looking back, I realize I had a very fortunate exit from university into professional life, because I know for a lot of people it took years for them to find their footing. I do believe my writing experience helped a lot.’

What were some of the early challenges you faced in your career?
‘It took a while to figure out my identity when it came to film. In university, I was interested in experimental film, documentary and non-conventional movies — I was really excited to discover all the things that film could do. That meant I came up immersed in difficult, challenging cinema from around the world and that’s what I wanted to write about. But when you’re writing for a newspaper, with Hollywood movies opening nearly every weekend, you have to shift your focus. Figuring that out was a challenge, as was being one of the few black critics in the country. I had to find my voice, and figure out what lane I would be in.’
 
movie still from slumdog millionaire, a couple standing at a train station together

How did you make the transition from film journalism to programming?
‘By accident. In university, I did a bit of curation, hosting a couple of film events for other students. When I got back to Toronto, I did a retrospective of Paul Robeson’s films, and then did a retrospective of the work of Canadian filmmaker Jennifer Hodge, who’d made a number of groundbreaking documentaries. After that I was approached by TIFF and they asked me to come on board as programmer for the Canadian film selection. I actually turned them down the first time they asked because I didn’t think I had enough experience. Fortunately, they asked me a second time and luckily I was smart enough to say yes.’

What are you looking for during festival season to mark a strong film?
‘There’s some feeling that I still get when I’m watching a film that just takes me to another level. It comes when it has an intensity of impression, a kind of facility with technique and the story that it’s telling. It surprises you and unsettles you and should knock you off your feet a bit. These are things you feel in your gut. All the films I’ve brought in, like Slumdog Millionaire and The Hurt Locker, were ones where I had that feeling — the kind that makes you excited to do what you’re doing. It’s an excitement that comes from being in the presence of great work, but also the excitement of, “I can’t wait to show this to people.”’

Have you ever had that excitement to show a film and it’s not panned out?
‘Oh yes. Our reactions to films are so personal, so I may feel something that means I want to share the film with people, but then they may not get it or feel what I felt. The opposite has happened, too, where I’ve seen a film that I thought was just alright that people go crazy for. All those reactions are valid.’

Listen to the full interview here.