This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, stars and creators of the hit television series 'Broad City'. The show, which launched as a web series in 2009, will end it astonishing run this year after five critically adored seasons on Comedy Central. Glazer and Jacobson talk about the early days of 'Broad Ci…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Nathanaël Karmitz, Managing Director of the mk2 audio visual group, about France's unwavering appetite for the theatrical experience. With many arthouse and independent theatres struggling worldwide to attract patrons, France's culture of movie going seems stronger than ever. Last year – despite…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with documentarian Bing Liu. Liu’s debut feature film, Minding the Gap, tells the story of three young men (including Liu) in Rockford Illinois, who use skateboarding as a way to cope with their traumatic home lives. The film, which topped several best of 2018 lists, will be playing as part of TIFF Next Wa…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff sits down with Jonathan Frantz, a filmmaker, producer, and member of Isuma, an Inuit-led media-arts collective founded by Zacharias Kunuk. Frantz recently produced 'Edge of the Knife', a drama set in the 19th century and directed by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. The film is particularly notable as the first…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with Shawn Finnie, Associate Director of Member Relations at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to talk about how the Academy has worked to address concerns over the lack of diversity in its membership, nominees, and award winners. In 2012, the Academy was 77% male and 94% white. In 2018 thos…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff chat with some of the smartest people in the business to find out what film and television projects we should be looking forward to in the coming year. First, Vanity Fair’s K. Austin Collins calls in to talk about some of this year’s Hollywood films, including James Gray’s 'Ad Astra', Steven Soderbergh's '…

This week on TIFF Long Take, in the second of two parts, Rob and Geoff look back on stories and themes that shaped the year in film and television by revisiting some of their favourite conversations from 2018. Excerpts include: - FiveThirtyEight’s Walt Hickey, Ella Koeze, and Rachel Dottle on whether it’s time for a new Bechdel test - #OscarsSoWhit…

This week on TIFF Long Take, in the first of two parts, Rob and Geoff look back on stories and themes that shaped the year in film and television by revisiting some of their favourite conversations from 2018.Excerpts include: - Filmmaker and producer Mark Duplass on preserving artistry in the “tent-pole era” - Filmmaker Debra Granik on the challeng…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff look into how blockchain technology and crypto currency could revolutionize the way that we finance and consume films. To guide them, the two welcome Luke Bradley, Director of Communications at the Blockchain Research Institute, as well as Christopher Woodrow, Chairman and CEO of MovieCoin. Bradley discuss…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob chats with IndieWire’s Anne Thompson about Netflix’s recent foray into the world of theatrical releases. Last month the company announced that three of its upcoming films would open exclusively in select theaters in the US and abroad for one to three weeks before they debuted online. The films include director Alfon…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff welcome the VP of Creative Affairs at ‘See Saw Films’, Negin Salmasi. Founded in 2008, the relatively small ‘See Saw’ have punched far above their weight in the increasingly competitive indie film landscape, producing critically and commercially successful films like 'The King’s Speech', and 'Lion', as wel…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff chats with actor and screenwriter Zoe Kazan. It’s been a busy few months for Kazan. In October, the feature film 'Wildlife' — which she co-wrote with her partner, Paul Dano, and which had its Canadian premiere at TIFF in September — opened to great critical acclaim. Most recently, she starred in “The Gal Who Got R…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with director Joseph Kahn. Long considered one of the most prolific and commercially successful music video directors, Kahn has recently made his return to feature films with ‘Bodied’, the story of ambitious graduate student who becomes immersed in the world of battle-rap. Written by Canadian battle-rapper…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with television writer, director, and producer Sam Esmail. Best known as the creator of the hit television series ‘Mr. Robot, Esmail recently directed all ten episodes of the new series ‘Homecoming’; an adaptation of the extremely popular podcast created by Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg. The se…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with ‘Faculty of Horror’ podcast co-host Alexandra West, to discuss the ever increasing legitimacy of the horror films. Thanks in part to the overwhelming critical praise of films like Jennifer Kent’s 'The Babadook', Robert Egger’s 'The Witch', David Robert Mitchell’s 'It Follows', and Jordan Peel…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with director and screenwriter, Dee Rees. Beginning with her excellent semi-autobiographical debut 'Pariah' (2011), Rees has earned the reputation as one of her generation’s most exciting filmmakers. Her most recent feature film, 'Mudbound' (2017), earned 4 Academy Award nominations, including a Best Adapt…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with renowned documentarian and director, David Gelb. Starting with his critically acclaimed debut film, 'Jiro Dream’s of Sushi', Gelb’s aesthetically beautiful and emotionally rich profiles of great chefs have had a significant impact on the genre of food documentary. He has since gone on to crea…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with Romanian super producer, Ada Solomon. Over the last 10 years, Ada has played a large role in the Eastern European film industry, producing some of the region’s most exciting films including: Maren Ade’s 'Toni Erdmann', Cãlin Peter Netzer’s 'Child’s Pose', and most recently Radu Jude’s 'I Do N…

This week on of TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with South African film producer, and founder of the production company ‘Big World Cinema’, Steven Markovitz. Over his thirty years in the film business, Markovitz has produced over 40 films in on the continent of Africa, and has seen his fair share of challenges trying to get these projects fi…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with Kit Steinkellner, creator of the acclaimed new television series Sorry For Your Loss. Since writing the pilot script on spec, Steinkellner has overseen every step of the series’ production, culminating with its recent premier on the new streaming platform Facebook Watch. The series which star…

With another Toronto International Film Festival in the books, Rob and Geoff sit down with the founder of 'The Black List', Franklin Leonard, to talk about the films, performances, trends, and stories that had the industry talking at this year's TIFF. Franklin talks about the most buzzed about films of the slate, how the various studios and distrib…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with one of the film’s most exciting young actors, Steven Yeun. Steven is probably best known for his role as Glenn Rhee on 'The Walking Dead', but since leaving the show has leaned more towards independent and international cinema with roles in Bong Joon-ho’s 'Okja', Boots Riley’s 'Sorry To Bothe…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Daniel Sawka, director of the timely social drama Icebox. The film, which premieres at TIFF 2018, tells the story of a 12 year old Honduran boy, interned at a US immigration detention centre, and has gained added resonance in the wake the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration polic…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff welcome TIFF’s Director and CEO, Pier’s Handling. This will be Handling’s final festival in charge of TIFF, having assumed his current position in 1994. He originally joined the festival in 1982. Handling looks back on the films that made him a cinephile, his first exposure to the Toronto International Fil…

In 2018 alone, three documentaries: Won’t You Be My Neighbor, RBG, and Three Identical Strangers have exceeded $10 million at the domestic box office, a remarkable trend considering only 25 other documentaries has reached this milestone in the past 35 years. To find out what is leading to this sudden increase in the genre’s popularity, Rob and Geof…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff sits down with independent filmmaker Desiree Akhavan. Following her acclaimed 2014 debut, Appropriate Behavior, Akhavan’s latest is an adaptation of Emily. M Danforth’s novel The Miseducation of Cameron Post. The film, which stars Chloë Grace Moretz and Sasha Lane, won the Grand Jury Prize for US Drama at this yea…

Last week, Disney and Fox shareholders approved a deal that would see Disney acquire 21st Century Fox for a whopping $71.3 billion. The deal - which includes properties like Fox Searchlight, X-Men, Avatar, The Simpsons, and many more - gives Disney an unprecedented market share in the film and television industry. To find out how this acquisition w…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff speak with Nadira Azermai, founder of the script analysis company, ScriptBook. Founded in 2015, ScriptBook claims they will be able to save film studios a fortune using artificial intelligence to more accurately identify which scripts will lead to financially successful films. Azermai discusses how ScriptB…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff are joined by TIFF’s Director of Programming, Kerri Craddock, to discuss some of the most exciting and anticipated titles on this year’s Toronto International Film Festival slate. Craddock gives her thoughts on some of the Gala and Special Presentation titles that TIFF just announced, including Elizabeth C…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with filmmaker Boots Riley. Although he is perhaps better known as an activist and the front man for the popular political hip-hop group The Coup, Riley has recently focused his talents on filmmaking, writing, and directing the critically adored 'Sorry to Bother You', starring Lakeith Stanfield, T…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with award winning independent film director and writer, Debra Granik. Granik, whose films include Down to the Bone and Winter’s Bone, is recognized as one of film’s great talent spotters, casting actors Jennifer Lawrence and Vera Farmiga in their star-making roles. Her latest film, Leave No Trace…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with one of the industry’s most versatile and compelling actors, Ben Foster. Whether he’s playing a Texas bank robber in 'Hell or High Water', Lance Armstrong in 'The Program', or William S. Burroughs in 'Kill Your Darlings', Foster’s legendary range has earned him a wide variety of eclectic roles…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff sits down with Vanessa Matsui, the creator and star of the web series 'Ghost BFF'. A dark comedy about depression, 'Ghost BFF' is yet another example of creators using the web series medium as an alternative to network or cable television. The show, which was recently greenlit for a second season, is distributed b…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya whose latest film, ‘Marlina: The Murderer in Four Acts’, was released earlier this year to great acclaim. The movie, which follows a Sumba woman taking revenge against the the men who have wronged her, is the director’s Indonesian spin on the Spaghetti Western genre. S…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with Pixar animation artist, Domee Shi. Shi made history this month, when her animated short film ‘Bao’ became the first Pixar short to be directed by a woman. The film, which is based loosely her experiences as a child of Chinese immigrants in Toronto, is currently being shown prior to screenings…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with documentary filmmaker Sarah Burns, best known for her acclaimed film The Central Park Five, which she co-directed with her father, legendary documentarian Ken Burns, and her husband, David McMahon. Her second film, a documentary about Jackie Robinson, was released on PBS in 2016. Burns talks about wha…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob chats with producer and YouTube personality Adi Shankar. Last month, Shankar (whose films include Dredd and The Grey) launched The Apu Screenwriting Contest, an online competition to which writers are encouraged to submit a spec script for The Simpsons that subverts, pivots, or writes off the character of Apu. A mai…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with acclaimed writer and director Ramin Bahrani. Bahrani, who is best known for his independent dramas 'Man Push Cart', 'Chop Shop' and '99 Homes', has recently released the new film through HBO; an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian classic ‘Fahrenheit 451’, starring Michael B. Jordan and Michae…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with the founder of MoviePass, Stacy Spikes. MoviePass has been making waves in the industry for the last few months after unveiling a plan that allows its users to see one movie a day in theatres for $9.95 a month. While many cinephiles are applauding the company for championing the in-cinema exp…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with actor and filmmaker Mark Duplass. Along with his brother, Jay, the Duplass brothers have become two of the most influential figures in independent film, writing and directing films like 'The Puffy Chair', 'Cyrus', and 'Jeff, Who Lives at Home', as well producing films like 'Safety Not Guaranteed', 'Th…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with director and screenwriter Jason Reitman. Although only 40 years old, Reitman already seems like a seasoned veteran in Hollywood, with four Oscar nominations to his name as well an impressive filmography of critical and commercial successes like 'Juno', 'Up in the Air', and 'Young Adult'. His …

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with celebrated director Andrew Haigh. Over the last decade Haigh has established himself as one of the most daring new filmmakers in the industry, writing and directing films 'Weekend', and '45 Years', as well as creating the HBO series 'Looking'. His latest film, 'Lean on Pete', was released ear…

Last month, the Chilean film 'A Fantastic Woman' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and made history as the first Oscar-winning film with a transgender performer in the lead. Now transgender activists in Chile are hoping to use the film’s success to push forward a 2013 bill that would allow transgender people to legally change the…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sit down with celebrated character actor and filmmaker Steve Buscemi. Although his name rarely appears at the top of the credits, Buscemi has gained a level of recognition comparable to most A-List actors, with iconic roles in films like Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Ghost World. He can also…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Geoff chats with social activist and founder of the famous #OscarsSoWhite movement, April Reign. Reign has recently started a new project, Akuarel; a digital database for minorities seeking work in Hollywood and other creative industries. Reign talks about how she started an online movement completely by accident, how t…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff sat down with veteran Canadian film producer J. Miles Dale, who recently brought a Best Picture Oscar home to Toronto for his work on The Shape of Water. Even though the movie is not typically viewed as a “Canadian film,” Dale argues that its success has been a watershed moment for our national cinema, giv…

Editing is one of the most integral parts of any film, yet a good editor often doesn’t receive the level of recognition that a director, cinematographer, or composer would. To take a closer look at the often unappreciated craft Rob and Geoff sit down with one of the best film editors working today, Tatiana S. Riegel. Over her 30 year career Riegel …

One of the most interesting success stories in Hollywood this decade has been the meteoric rise of A24. The upstart distributor has built a reputation as one the film industry’s top tastemakers, releasing films like Lady Bird, Ex Machina, Room, The Witch, and a little film called Moonlight. To get the story of how A24 went from nonexistence to Best…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff chat with Katey Rich and Richard Lawson, the hosts of Vanity Fair’s 'Little Gold Men' podcast, about the biggest winners, surprises, and storylines coming out of the 90th Academy Awards. Rich and Lawson chat about the thrill of seeing James Ivory and Jordan Peele step to the podium, the agony of watching L…

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob sits down with renowned screenwriter and director, Alex Garland. Over the last 20 years, Garland’s films, including 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Ex Machina, have helped him stand out as a fresh voice in the crowded landscape of modern science fiction. His latest film, Annihilation, starring Natalie Portman and Oscar…