By Edward Lander

I’m old enough to remember when this campus hosted Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) red carpets. Hollywood royalty like Leonardo DiCaprio and Emma Stone graced Gould Street, and The Chrysalis (then Ryerson Theatre) held film screenings. 

Though these were nixed in the pandemic, Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) connection to the festival hasn’t gone away. Increasingly, Toronto Met talent is heading to TIFF to grace their King Street red carpets, not the other way around. And looking at this year’s TIFF lineup, it’s not hard to spot TMU students and alumni. 

Across two pages, arts & culture editor Sophie Wallace has curated coverage of the many current and former TMU students making waves at this year’s festival.

On page six, we meet Rodrigo Barriuso, a TMU film alum and director of Neverman, a film about Queer aging that follows a Trans woman entering long-term care. On the same page, Shreya Basu covers an on-campus panel with the director of Drifter, a film he calls a “love letter to car culture.” 

On page seven (and on the cover) we meet law and business grad Arianna Shannon, who stars in Sunburn, a film about a group of youth weathering a blackout in St. James Town. That film went on to win TIFF’s Best Canadian Feature Film award. 

That’s not all. Documentary film Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been from director Barry Avrich—who studied film at TMU in the early 80s—took home the People’s Choice Documentary Award.

It’s no secret Toronto is Hollywood North. And more of that talent is coming from one place—this campus. At a time when Canadian media is in a rare spotlight, this is even more exciting. So if this year’s lineup is any indication, we couldn’t be more eager for what’s to come.