By Dan Bayer 

My last day at the festival! I cannot believe it’s here. I am up early but am feeling good. Today is full of big movies, and it begins with two of the biggest: Taika Waititi’s "Jojo Rabbit" and Rian Johnson’s "Knives Out," back to back. I am nervous that I will not make it to "Knives Out," which screens second, as I have heard a lot of people stare their intention to go, but thankfully both films are being shown in two theaters at the same time, so hopefully, there won’t be an issue.

By Dan Bayer 

I’m definitely feeling the burn of the non-stop schedule of the past three days. I’ve seen so many movies that my head is starting to spin, and I’m worried that I don’t have an original thought left in my head to write any more reviews. I’m feeling a bit weighed down by it all, which makes me even more ready for my first screening, Marielle Heller’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” The reviews last night were ecstatic, so I get to the theater an hour early, coffee in hand. I’m not the only one, but they haven’t even started the line yet since they haven’t yet let in the big line of people here to see “Judy.” I’m glad that I will be more towards the front of the line and feel validated as twenty minutes later, with our line full, they let us into the theater. I feel a little less glad when a woman sits down next to me in the middle of a row and brings out her emotional support dog. I’m allergic and don’t want to spend half the movie sneezing. But she’s so sweet, and the dog is so well-behaved, that I can’t bring myself to say anything.

By Dan Bayer ​​

​Day three of this damn festival is over and I never thought I’d say this, but if I never see another film as long as I live, I might be okay with that. The sheer glut of movie-watching is definitely taking its toll, but this is also my busiest day of the fest. If I survived this, I can survive anything...hopefully.

By Dan Bayer ​

​Over the past couple of weeks, my Inbox has been flooded with emails - press releases, inquiries about interviews, festival info, even a few party invites! There have been so many that I have barely had time to read them all! It’s been frustrating because it made me more aware of even more films that sound interesting that I simply won’t have time for during my five days at TIFF. Arriving Wednesday afternoon at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a massive theater complex that includes a restaurant and a gift shop in addition to five screens, is like I’m entering Film Fantasyland, but it’s after I pick up my press pass and head to the Press & Industry Box Office at the hotel down the block that I feel like I’ve truly entered a different world. The Industry Centre is like my TIFF Inbox folder come to life, covered almost wall to wall in posters for films trying to get distribution, industry magazines out for anyone to take, food and drink… and lots of people milling about and chatting.

By Dan Bayer ​

​Over the past couple of weeks, my Inbox has been flooded with emails - press releases, inquiries about interviews, festival info, even a few party invites! There have been so many that I have barely had time to read them all! It’s been frustrating because it made me more aware of even more films that sound interesting that I simply won’t have time for during my five days at TIFF. Arriving Wednesday afternoon at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a massive theater complex that includes a restaurant and a gift shop in addition to five screens, is like I’m entering Film Fantasyland, but it’s after I pick up my press pass and head to the Press & Industry Box Office at the hotel down the block that I feel like I’ve truly entered a different world. The Industry Centre is like my TIFF Inbox folder come to life, covered almost wall to wall in posters for films trying to get distribution, industry magazines out for anyone to take, food and drink… and lots of people milling about and chatting.

By Dan Bayer ​

I have never really been one for film festivals. I have come to be wary of how films can build big buzz in the heat of a festival only to fizzle out completely when they get released, sometimes a year or more after they premiered. As a film lover and Oscar watcher, it has been frustrating to watch the conversation about a film go through an entire lifecycle before it’s even available for most of the public to see, at which point the very critics who strongly praised or disparaged a film have already moved on from the conversation.

So of course when Matt asked me if I was interested in covering this year’s Toronto International Film Festival for Next Best Picture, I said yes without hesitation.

By Matt Neglia 

A few days ago, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) announced a slew of films for their 2019 slate. Now, they added more films to their always impressive lineup.

Click below to see the new films added to this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

By Dan Bayer ​

I have never attended a film festival before. I’ve always watched them from afar, interested in what is playing and what gets distribution afterward, fascinated by how the narrative about certain films shift between their festival premieres and when they are released to the public. This year, all that changes: I will be attending the Toronto International Film Festival for Next Best Picture. Naturally, I’ve been eagerly anticipating the festival lineup announcement, and on Tuesday, we got our first glance at what will be playing as TIFF announced this year’s Galas and Special Presentations. This is where you will generally find the most high-profile releases of the festival, the ones with glitzy red carpet premieres and the like. But even among this group, some titles fill me with excitement more than most. Now that I’ve finally calmed down and lived with these titles for a couple of days, here is a baker’s dozen of the ones I’m most looking forward to getting on my schedule.

By Matt Neglia 

A few days after the Toronto International Film Festival announced their lineup for this year's festival, now we have received the same announcement from the Venice Film Festival. Both lineups mark the beginning of Phase 1 of the awards season, as we look ahead to the films which may or may not be in contention for the Oscars.

Click below to see the lineups for both festivals.

By Daniel Howat 

​We’ve officially come to the end of the Toronto International Film Festival, which means we’ve seen the premieres of almost every major Oscar contender for the year. While Venice and Telluride had plenty of high profile premieres, like “Roma,” “A Star Is Born,” and “First Man,” Toronto saw plenty of debuts itself. These debuts have greatly shaken up the Oscar race. Let’s break down what we learned from the films that premiered at TIFF.

First, a note...There were concerns over the changes to the voting system for Toronto’s People’s Choice Award. This award is seen as a great indicator for the upcoming Oscar contenders. Since 2008, all but one winner of this award was nominated for Best Picture, and three have won. This year, however, Toronto publicly posted a link to vote on the award. Anyone, regardless of whether they attended the festival, could enter their email and submit a vote. And they could vote as many times as they wanted. This seemed concerning.

Toronto responded to these concerns on Twitter stating: “Once we receive an online vote, we take many steps to ensure the submissions are legit - including checking the origins of the votes and if they are coming from ticket holders. Don’t worry, we got this.”

This makes sense, even if it seems like there would be less confusing methods to tally these votes.

By Daniel Joyaux 

Hello! My name is Daniel and I’ll be one of your TIFF tour guides for the next few days along with Next Best Picture's own Beatrice Loayza. This is my ninth straight TIFF and I had tickets for 42 films. I saw a lot of the major Oscar-y stuff including "Roma," "First Man," "If Beale Street Could Talk," "Widows," "Boy Erased," and "The Front Runner," along with a good amount of foreign films, indies, documentaries, and various other weird little things that randomly seemed interesting to me a few weeks ago when I tried to plow through over 250 film descriptions and plot a coherent schedule in under five days.

By Kt Schaefer 

In July of 2017, the Toronto International Film Festival announced its "Share Her Journey" initiative, a 5-year plan to increase opportunities for women in all aspects of the film process, but especially for women directors. While it seemed very timely, 2017 being the year that #MeToo and #TimesUp began, TIFF started out its history in 1976 with a strong dedication to showcasing women’s voices. With the help of a programming track they called ‘Womanscene’ the first TIFF, then called the ‘Festival of Festivals’, managed to have a third of its content produced by women directors which was remarkable for the time. As is the case this year, 1976 saw a variety of genres from the contributions of these women allowing everyone in attendance to see how much they had to contribute to the art form.

However, films by women were not only relegated to the ‘Womanscene’ track as several women opted not to participate for fear of having their work marginalized due to being seen as somehow different from the films that men make. One of those on the outside of that special track was “Harlan County U.S.A.”, documentarian Barbara Kopple’s first film. After she and her crew spent more than a year with the miners and their families they created a film that provided insight into a section of American life that isn’t often given a voice, the labor classes endless struggle against those who would exploit them. The dark story of a group of miners attempting to unionize against desperate odds eventually went on to win that year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Throughout the intervening years, TIFF has offered women great opportunities to have their work seen and appreciated. This year will see one of film's most iconic female directors, Claire Denis, whose first film “Chocolate” was shown to great acclaim in 1988, make her English language debut. In “Chocolate” Denis chose to tell a story of a woman’s return to her childhood home in French-controlled Cameroon. Once there the film delves into her childhood memories, showing the turmoil near the end of the occupation when social rules were in flux and her own household was thrown into conflict by unexpected visitors and the presence of the ‘houseboy’ Protee (Isaach De Bankole). Although very different from her upcoming release, it set a standard for her work that has only improved over the years.

In 2018, TIFF will show over 70 feature films directed by women, not to mention the short films on offer, and the variety on display is staggering. With films from all over the world and almost every conceivable genre, there is something for every cinema fan to enjoy.

​Here are just a few of the films that will be playing over the course of the festival, some from the biggest names in the industry and a couple from those who are just starting down their path as directors.

By Daniel Howat 

​Believe it or not, Oscar season is in full swing already. Venice and Telluride hosted numerous high profile premieres, like “Roma,” “First Man,” “The Favourite,” and many more. The next stop on the Oscar circuit is the Toronto International Film Festival, where plenty more films are premiering, hoping to get their awards buzz rolling.

TIFF has become a statistical force in the Oscar race as of late. Since 2008, all but one winner of TIFF’s People’s Choice Award has gone onto a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Three of those won Best Picture (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” and “12 Years A Slave”). Last year, as the film entered the festival, it wasn’t clear if “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” was a serious Oscar contender. And then it won the People’s Choice Award. From that moment on, no one underestimated its power in the race, even when they hated the movie. It’s just about as close as you get to a guaranteed nomination (though the record is bound to break someday soon).

There are plenty of films gunning for the award this year. Let’s dive into the films holding their premiere in Toronto this week that we're most excited for.

By Matt Neglia 

​The official lineup for the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has been announced. Of course, as always, there are a misture of foreign films, commercial films, Oscar contenders and more!

Click below to see which films will be coming to the popular festival this year.

By Josh Tarpley

As we near the end of September it is apparent the awards race is in full swing. Whether it be a constant barrage of film festival tweets or individuals weeding out their Oscar predictions, movie fans have fully transitioned out of the Summer blockbuster season and we have arrived in the Fall. Though most pundits are confident in the Oscar chances of films like “Call Me By Your Name,” “The Post” and “The Shape of Water,” the festival circuit is helping us shape the field and we already have our first surprise entry.

By taking TIFF’s People’s Choice award, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” is now a real player in this year’s race. Click beyond the jump to read more about the effect of TIFF’s People's Choice Award and the chances of “Three Billboards.”

​By David Baldwin

TIFF runs for 11 days every year, starting the first Thursday after Labour Day. It is sheer madness whether you want to take in movies, sneak into parties or swiftly move around looking for celebrities – or for the real die-hards, a mix of all three. I have long given up on the party scene and am slowly starting to give up on getting pictures with celebrities (Waiting four hours for Ryan Gosling to say no kind of puts you off that kind of experience), so that leaves me with taking in as movies as I possibly can, in the shortest amount of time possible. This year, my time was confined to 9 of the 11 days of the festival. So as I bid TIFF adieu, here are some thoughts on the final two days of films I saw – plus a few bonus titles I saw at pre-screenings before the festival.

By David Baldwin

​The days are starting to blend together. I know I’m writing this in the wee hours of Thursday morning, but I really have no sense of which movie I saw on which of the past three days. I am doing pretty good on not falling asleep during movies (Which may change today), but I am finding my mind drifting off into some other realm of reality all too frequently. And after watching 26 movies in seven days, that is a whole lot of drifting to do.​

​By David Baldwin

​TIFF is a cruel and unforgiving mistress. You can dip your toe in and catch a handful of movies, or jump head first and see four-five movies in a day. Sleep is a precious commodity, and if you’re not careful – you may doze through portions of your movie. This has already affected me multiple times in the past, but none more embarrassing than last fall. I slept through the majority of the now-titled "The Assignment" in an aisle seat in the Ryerson Theatre, just one row over from Sigourney Weaver. Freakin’ Ellen Ripley watched me sleep through her movie! It does not get any worse than that. ​I tell you this, so you can understand the frame of mind I went into Saturday and Sunday with, where I had 4 and 5 movies scheduled (Tying my personal best for number of movies in one day). While I have yet to top "Call Me By Your Name," a few movies came close.

​Click below to find out what.

By David Baldwin

Although the team here at Next Best Picture was unable to acquire passes to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year, we received an offer from David Baldwin of Geek Speak Magazine, The Movie Chasm and more to give us his personal recaps of the festival, the films he has seen and his overall general thoughts on how they may or may not factor into this year's Oscar race.

Click below to read his personal journey through days 1 and 2 at TIFF.