CAMERON BAILEY

Film festivals like those in Cannes and Venice are hard to compete with in terms of glamour. But the power of the Toronto International Film Festival is in its audiences. It's the largest public film festival in the world. We were able to deliver the festival in every which way.”Cannes, Venice, Telluride and the upcoming New York Film Festival have gone forward this year with entirely in-person festivals, but Toronto is straddling normal and virtual — and keeping some of its pandemic innovations. We’re still here to provide that experience of film that’s going to transform people.

The Toronto International Film Festival is uniquely reliant on crowds, which has made its 2021 edition particularly challenging during the pandemic.

Filmmakers Denis Villeneuve and Alanis Obomsawin are among those being honored at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

The adaptation of the Broadway hit and Tony-winner “Dear Evan Hansen,” Edgar Wright’s ’60s London themed “Last Night in Soho,” and “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” are just a few of the major films coming to the Toronto International Film Festival this September.

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Frances McDormand in a scene from the film "Nomadland" by Chloe Zhao. (Searchlight Pictures via AP)After picking up Venice's Golden Lion award, Chloé Zhao’s “ Nomadland " has won another prestigious honor: The Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award. Zhao's film features Frances McDormand as a widowed wanderer of the modern American West. Set for a Dec. 4 release, “Nomadland” has already been hailed as a top Oscar contender, but winning the audience award at TIFF is promising for its Oscar chances. Other People's Choice winners include Michelle Latimer's documentary “Inconvenient Indian," about Indigenous peoples in North America, and Roseanne Liang's midnight madness selection “Shadow in the Cloud," with Chloë Grace Moretz.

This year, three of the four major fall film festivals, including Venice, are going forward despite the pandemic. This year, three of the four major fall film festivals all but Telluride, which had to cancel are going forward despite the pandemic. For a season predicated on badge-wearing throngs and marquee movies, its meant rethinking what a film festival is. A situation like this forces you to assess what is fundamental, says Dennis Lim, director of programming for the New York Film Festival. Anyone in Canada will be able to buy tickets to TIFF screenings, and New York Film Festival films will be briefly available nationwide.

This combination photo shows actor-director Werner Herzog, left, and actress-director Regina King. The Toronto International Film Festival on Thursday unveiled a lineup featuring the directorial debut of Regina King and the latest documentary from Herzog. Toronto, which is set to run Sept. 10-19, has plotted a largely virtual 45th edition due to the pandemic. In normal years, TIFF is the largest film festival in North America. Some of the films will play first at the much smaller Venice Film Festival the week prior in September.

NEW YORK The 45th Toronto International Film Festival will be a much diminished event this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it has an opening-night film. Spike Lee's filmed version of David Byrne's Broadway theatrical concert American Utopia will kick off the largely virtual fall festival. TIFF's Toronto headquarters currently remain closed. The former Talking Heads frontman's American Utopia played at New York's Hudson Theatre from October 2019 through February 2020. With David Brynes American Utopia, he brings Byrnes classic songs and joyous stagecraft to the screen just when we need it.