TIFF UNCUT

Best known in cinephile circles for his collaborations with director Richard Linklater in the Before trilogy and BOYHOOD, Ethan Hawke is also no stranger to the Toronto International Film Festival as a writer, director, and actor. His latest directorial effort, SEYMOUR: AN INTRODUCTION, played at TIFF '15, while he also personified the late jazz trumpeter Chet Baker that year in BORN TO BE BLUE. In 2016, he returned to the Festival for dual appearances in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and MAUDIE. This year at TIFF, the Hawke appears in Paul Schrader's terse religious drama FIRST REFORMED, playing an ex–military chaplain grieving the death of his son. TIFF UN/CUT has unearthed a career-spanning conversation from 2014 in which the sensitive and soul-searching multi-hyphenate was joined by Jesse Wente, Director of Film Programmes at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Listen as Ethan Hawke tells you the story of his life as an actor, director, screenwriter, novelist, and — first and foremost — film lover.

Sarah Polley began her career in film at the age of four, appearing in the Disney movie ONE MAGIC CHRISTMAS. After her roles in Atom Egoyan's THE SWEET HEREAFTER, Terry Gilliam's THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN and Doug Liman's GO gained her attention as an emotionally intuitive and intelligent young actor, she attended the Director's Lab at the Canadian Film Centre in 2001. Polley's first feature AWAY FROM HER, an adaption of the Alice Munro short story "The Bear Came over the Mountain," which she wrote and directed, nabbed her a nomination for "Best Adapted Screenplay" at the 2008 Academy Awards. Her follow-up films, 2011's TAKE THIS WALTZ and the 2012 documentary STORIES WE TELL (all of which have premiered at TIFF) have cemented the filmmaker as one of Canada's most indelible auteurs. In this episode of TIFF Un/cut, you'll hear Sarah Polley interviewed onstage by documentary programmer Thom Powers in a discussion originally conducted for the 2012 Industry Doc Conference when STORIES WE TELL premiered at TIFF. They discuss the knotty complexities of revealing family secrets, how to show many sides of one story, and why documentary is her favourite medium. Sarah Polley's newest project, a forthcoming miniseries adaptation of Margaret Atwood's 1996 novel ALIAS GRACE on which she serves as showrunner and executive producer, will premiere at TIFF '17 with the series' star Sarah Gadon and director Mary Harron in attendance.

Hear from one of our country's most inspiring artists, who is still making documentaries about her Indigenous community at age 84 At age 84, Alanis Obomsawin is still crafting incisive documentaries about the Indigenous crisis in Canada with over 40 projects to her name in collaboration with the National Film Board. At the heart of her work is the act of listening to other people tell their stories as a way of survival. Her latest work, titled Our People Will Be Healed, is a portrait of the community in one of Manitoba's largest First Nations populations and will premiere at TIFF '17. The following audio is a conversation conducted by TIFF Digital Producer Malcolm Gilderdale when Obomsawin's heartbreaking film We Can't Make the Same Mistake Twice played the Festival last year. Hear the filmmaker detail how she first became drawn to telling the stories of her people, why she's always fought for education, and how being an artist means believing in your own self-worth. You can attend a free screening of her breakthrough 1993 documentary Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance this Sunday, August 27 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as part of Canada On Screen. Want to hear more inspiring conversations with your favourite filmmakers? Subscribe to TIFF UN/CUT over at iTunes, and please rate and review us!

In 2016, Richard Linklater brought his awesome casual hangout movie — and "spiritual sequel" to DAZED AND CONFUSED — EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! to TIFF Bell Lightbox. After screening the film, Linklater sat down for a talk moderated by Theresa Scandiffio, the Senior Director of TIFF's Adult Learning department. Their conversation spans Linklater's entire journey in film, from SLACKER, to DAZED AND CONFUSED, to the BEFORE movies, to BOYHOOD, to EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!, viewed through the lens of defining moments. Hear why Linklater is drawn to character-based ensemble films, the joys of working with emerging actors, and the three books every young film lover should read. You can catch a screening of Linklater's infectious 2003 comedy SCHOOL OF ROCK (written by TIFF '17 filmmaker Mike White) on August 16 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as part of our TIFF Kids Summer series.

The great Jill Soloway is the creator, writer, director, and executive producer of TRANSPARENT. While Soloway was at TIFF '16 with the show's third season, they delivered a keynote address at the TIFF Industry Conference on the female gaze — which we've reproduced here. On this week's TIFF UN/CUT, Soloway's keynote address explores the power of the gaze and the ways in which the cis male gaze has historically limited and controlled our view of ourselves and each other. Soloway reclaims the power of the gaze to reflect diverse and important voices while championing protagonism as a means to creative revolution. Jill is currently an ambassador for TIFF's Share Her Journey campaign, a five-year initiative prioritizing gender parity within the film industry. To find out more about the campaign, please visit http://www.tiff.net/shareherjourney/