Ask any true cinephile what their favorite season is and the answer is usually Fall. The fall festival season, with its numerous influential events, is always filled with excitement and surprises, whetting everyone's appetites with breakout stars and breakout sales. The world's greatest filmmakers debut their latest masterpieces and new auteurs are crowned. With the Fall festival season officially underway, Sessions projects are already breaking records and winning awards.
On the heels of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, where Sessions project Armageddon Time was well received, receiving a standing ovation for filmmaker James Gray's semi-autobiographical drama, the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off with a record-breaking sale for a film that wasn't even an official entry at the renowned event.
Alexander Payne's The Holdovers, which reunites the award-winning filmmaker with his Sideways star Paul Giamatti, was acquired by Focus Features for a whopping $30mm. The deal is presumed to be the biggest ever acquisition in TIFF's history. The 70's era drama will be released by Focus in winter 2023 and is rumored to be in the same vein as Payne's beloved Sideways.
Meanwhile, TIFF kicked off with the first showing of Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans. The master director's coming-of-age, nostalgia-drenched ode to cinema debuted to rave reviews and ultimately won the People's Choice Award, catapulting it into the Best Picture Oscar discussion. Starring Paul Dano, Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen, the highly anticipated drama will be released in theaters by Universal on November 11.
Another eagerly anticipated film debuted at TIFF, for its Midnight Screenings. Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, starring Daniel Radcliffe in the titular role and Evan Rachel Wood as Madonna, received raucous laughter and acclaim, winning TIFF's People's Choice Award in the Midnight Madness category. Roku Channel will stream the parody biopic November 4.
We're thrilled for all of our Sessions Family projects, and can't wait to see all of these deserving award winners on the big and little screen! Congratulations to all of the talented team members!