‘American Fiction’ wins high prize at Toronto movie fest

By AFP

“American Fiction” — a satire about race, media and the way white audiences devour Black tradition — sealed its place as an early Oscars frontrunner by successful the coveted high prize Sunday on the Toronto International Film Festival.

The movie, the debut characteristic from Cord Jefferson, tells the story of Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), an creator and college professor who’s advised by his publishers that his writing is not “Black enough.”

So he adopts a pseudonym and writes a novel utilizing what he believes to be each staid concept about being African American. Of course, the guide is a monster hit, producers begin circling and Ellison should confront the results of his actions.

Adapted from Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” the film from the 41-year-old Jefferson — an Emmy-winning author who has labored on reveals like “Succession” and “Watchmen” — seems at what it means to be genuine in American tradition.

“When I made the film, I wasn’t yet thinking about how it would feel when it went out into the world,” Jefferson stated in a press release learn by pageant CEO Cameron Bailey at Sunday’s awards ceremony.

“The film is now in your hands and I am so grateful that it was embraced in this way. I share this with our brilliant cast led by Jeffrey Wright.”

The movie, which had its world premiere in Toronto, is scheduled for vast launch in North America in November.

Voted for by audiences, the People’s Choice Award at North America’s greatest movie pageant has develop into one thing of an early Oscars bellwether, predicting eventual Academy Award greatest image winners corresponding to “Nomadland” and “Green Book.”

“12 Years a Slave,” “The King’s Speech” and “Slumdog Millionaire” additionally started their journeys to Oscars greatest image glory with the Toronto prize.

The first runner-up prize on Sunday went to Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” a Nineteen Seventies-era dramedy set at a New England prep college, and second runner-up honors went to Japanese animation grasp Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.”

TIFF, which ran from September 7 till Sunday, is thought for attracting each A-list stars and a big crowd of cinephiles wanting to catch motion pictures earlier than most of the people.

Despite the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes, a good variety of bold-faced names promoted their work in Canada’s greatest metropolis, because of interim agreements reached with the unions or as a result of they labored as director or producer.

Some movies screening in Toronto weren’t topic to the strikes as a result of they had been independently or internationally produced.

Sean Penn, Sylvester Stallone, Taika Waititi, Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, Salma Hayek Pinault, Jessica Chastain, Ethan Hawke, Dakota Johnson and Elliot Page all appeared on the TIFF purple carpet.

Music stars Lil Nas X and Paul Simon additionally got here to Toronto to advertise new documentaries about their careers.
 

“American Fiction” — a satire about race, media and the way white audiences devour Black tradition — sealed its place as an early Oscars frontrunner by successful the coveted high prize Sunday on the Toronto International Film Festival.

The movie, the debut characteristic from Cord Jefferson, tells the story of Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), an creator and college professor who’s advised by his publishers that his writing is not “Black enough.”

So he adopts a pseudonym and writes a novel utilizing what he believes to be each staid concept about being African American. Of course, the guide is a monster hit, producers begin circling and Ellison should confront the results of his actions.googletag.cmd.push(perform() googletag.show(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2′); );

Adapted from Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure,” the film from the 41-year-old Jefferson — an Emmy-winning author who has labored on reveals like “Succession” and “Watchmen” — seems at what it means to be genuine in American tradition.

“When I made the film, I wasn’t yet thinking about how it would feel when it went out into the world,” Jefferson stated in a press release learn by pageant CEO Cameron Bailey at Sunday’s awards ceremony.

“The film is now in your hands and I am so grateful that it was embraced in this way. I share this with our brilliant cast led by Jeffrey Wright.”

The movie, which had its world premiere in Toronto, is scheduled for vast launch in North America in November.

Voted for by audiences, the People’s Choice Award at North America’s greatest movie pageant has develop into one thing of an early Oscars bellwether, predicting eventual Academy Award greatest image winners corresponding to “Nomadland” and “Green Book.”

“12 Years a Slave,” “The King’s Speech” and “Slumdog Millionaire” additionally started their journeys to Oscars greatest image glory with the Toronto prize.

The first runner-up prize on Sunday went to Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” a Nineteen Seventies-era dramedy set at a New England prep college, and second runner-up honors went to Japanese animation grasp Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron.”

TIFF, which ran from September 7 till Sunday, is thought for attracting each A-list stars and a big crowd of cinephiles wanting to catch motion pictures earlier than most of the people.

Despite the Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strikes, a good variety of bold-faced names promoted their work in Canada’s greatest metropolis, because of interim agreements reached with the unions or as a result of they labored as director or producer.

Some movies screening in Toronto weren’t topic to the strikes as a result of they had been independently or internationally produced.

Sean Penn, Sylvester Stallone, Taika Waititi, Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, Salma Hayek Pinault, Jessica Chastain, Ethan Hawke, Dakota Johnson and Elliot Page all appeared on the TIFF purple carpet.

Music stars Lil Nas X and Paul Simon additionally got here to Toronto to advertise new documentaries about their careers.