The Business
Creative Space
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 34 SEPTEMBER 4, 2019
Photographed by Saty + PrathaCameron Bailey
and Joana Vicente
TIFF co-heads on programming in the #MeToo era
and why the festival is embracing the streaming age:
‘We’re platform agnostic’ By Etan VlessingO
n a sweltering day in
August, Joana Vicente
notes the lack of a
landline phone or much else in
fellow Toronto International
Film Festival co-head Cameron
Bailey’s calm and pared-down
Bell Lightbox office. “He’s mini-
malist,” says Vicente, whose own
office is almost equally spartan —
but at least has a working phone.
Indie producer Vicente has
made — together with her hus-
band, Jason Kliot — more than
40 films, mostly low-budget art
house fare from such directors
as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley
and Steven Soderbergh. She was
brought on at TIFF in November
as part of an executive shuffle
after the departure of longtime
CEO Piers Handling and execu-
tive director and COO Michele
Maheux. In the 10 months that
followed, she and Bailey, a former
film critic who has been the fest’s
artist director since 2012, set out
to put their stamp on the 44-year-
old event, which will screen a
total of 342 titles this year.
With Vicente focusing on the
business side — last year the fest
generated roughly $143 million
for the local economy — and
Bailey handling programming,
the duo’s first move was to
embark on a “listening tour” in
which they sat down with promi-
nent industry figures to take the
temperature of the film world.
The next step was the addition of
a number of “Tribute Galas” to
honor the likes of Meryl Streep
and Joaquin Phoenix. Vicente
readily admits that the galas
serve a purpose beyond upping
star power: “It’s a fundraising
event,” she says, adding that TIFF
works year-round and has “a
number of activities that need to
be supported.”
Ahead of the fest frenzy Sept. 5
to 15, Vicente and Bailey sat down
with THR to discuss how they
divide their duties, their commit-
ment to diversity and how they
avoid controversy.How do you divide your roles within
the fest?
JOANA VICENTE We bot h a re t r y-
ing to work in a holistic way,
where we think through things.
I think Cameron’s made some
great steps with the festival, to
get more women on the team,
and giving more personality to
each section of the festival. Weboth went on a listening tour to
other festivals and Los Angeles
and New York and met with the
industry to get a feel for what we
can do better.What did you hear?
The industry values that we’re an
audience festival, but at the same
time a great place to get businessdone, and a great platform with
press to launch a film. It was a
good time to hear what people
are nervous about, what’s chang-
ing. We will tweak and adapt as
change comes to us.One complaint about the fest is
that it has been too front-loaded,
making it hard for the industry