A Recap Of Photographing The Toronto International Film Festival
I have been to the Toronto International Film Festival for almost six years, and I remember the atmosphere of incredible movies as well as some of the biggest artists attending. Jump to 2025 now, and this year is the 50th year of the Toronto International Film Festival. I was lucky enough to serve as one of the photographers on the red carpet, and some of the biggest films of the year were playing.
Kevin Del Rosario and I attended under my photography name, but I went during the opening weekend, where a street festival also took place, featuring a handful of food trucks, organizers, and the Criterion Closet showing off their collection of movies… in a truck. We came in with a goal for the festival to bring our artistic skills to the test, and only use black and white film stock for editing and have a cinematic aesthetic with a slight glow to give off glam energy. I was able to photograph six red carpets, including Sentimental Value and Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie, both films released by Neon and Elevation Pictures, Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man, Searchlight Pictures’ Rental Family, Row K’s Dead Man’s Wire, and Focus Features’ Hamnet. From photographing Elle Fanning and Renate Revaste on the carpet to taking one of the best portraits of director Gus Van Sant, I never thought an insane weekend would be one of the biggest highlights of my career.
If I were to choose which one was my favourite to photograph, it would definitely be Wake Up Dead Man. It was the biggest event that all the audiences and movie fans pulled in to meet the stars. It had some of the biggest cast in a movie, including Daniel Craig, Cailee Spaeny, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Kerry Washington, and Mila Kunis. Funny thought that the morning of that I saw Ram Bergman, the producer, in the morning, so he gave me a point look, and it's amazing to have the photo to prove it. The whole world premiere was a reflection of the amount of effort put in over the last five years of working as a photographer for a world premiere. I’m very grateful to photograph these special moments. It was an entirely different world to me, but putting all the creativity into it was worth it.
It had been an amazing four-day weekend to support these incredible filmmakers and actors. Till next time, Toronto. An experience I will never forget.
I also had the time to photograph and talk to Tyler Strickland, the composer for the film festival’s opening night, John Candy: I Like Me. You can click on this link right here for the full interview and portrait session.
