TIFF’s First-Ever TV Lineup Includes Jason Reitman’s ‘Casual’ and ‘Heroes Reborn’
Joining in the growing movement to include television programming at film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival announced today its inaugural lineup for Primetime, a section showcasing the best international television out there. Featuring episodic content from France, Iceland, Argentina and the United States, the new program will be made up of six total entries.
Most notable is the upcoming Hulu series from Jason Reitman. “Casual,” created by Zander Lehmann and directed by Reitman, will make its world premiere alongside “CROMO,” an eco-thriller from directors Lucia Puenzo (“XXY”) and Pabo Fendrik (“Blood Appears”); “Keith Richards: Under the Influence,” director Morgan Neville’s portrait of the Rolling Stones musician; and “Trapped,” a noir-ish thriller from “Everest” director Baltasar Kormákur. “The Returned,” a French series created by Fabrice Gobert, is the only show not to be celebrating its series premiere. The Emmy-winning supernatural drama will instead host the international premiere of Season 2.
READ MORE: TIFF 2015 Joins the TV Festival Fray with New ‘Primetime’ Program
Perhaps the most surprising inclusion, though, is NBC’s sequel series, “Heroes Reborn” from creator Tim Kring. The broadcast drama about superheroes doesn’t seem quite at home at a festival known for launching Oscar favorites, but it does mark the only “event series” among the festival’s first class of TV shows. NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt, while speaking at the network’s Television Critics Association presentation Thursday morning, said the show was accepted on the basis of its scripts. Episodes were not screened by TIFF programmers because the visual effects are still being finalized.
“Television has entered an artistic renaissance; we’re seeing, among other things, many filmmakers experimenting with that medium to broaden their forms of storytelling,” Festival Programmer Michael Lerman said in a statement. “The strongest storytellers are masters of change, and TV offers a narrative flexibility, a platform and a luxury for filmmakers to explore ways of telling longer stories that delve deeper into their characters.”
Primetime will include Q&A sessions with show creators following each screening, and the festival’s Industry Conference will also bring in creative producers and thinkers involved in long-form and episodic storytelling.
“The growing convergence and artistic equality between television and cinema has ushered in a new era of high-quality, small-screen programming,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “Primetime aims to spotlight the cross-pollination of these two moving image cultures, showcasing the bold and impressive work that’s being produced on an international scale.”
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Read the full list of entries below along with their official descriptions. The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10-20, 2015.
