tiff toronto weekend

Here's what the opening weekend of TIFF 2022 looked like in Toronto

The first weekend in the 2022 edition of the Toronto International Festival Film (TIFF) was jam-packed with red carpets, special screenings and major celebrity sightings.

Almost returning to pre-2019 standards, the opening weekend saw many celebrations. 

Friday

The madness kicked off with a special midnight premiere of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story with appearances from lead Daniel Radcliffe and Yankovic himself.

While standing outside the red carpet by Royal Alexandra Theatre, Yankovic was surprised to see a flash mob of his own lookalikes.

That afternoon saw an important discussion about Black women leading their own stories with Viola Davis and her castmates from The Woman King, which premiered to the world on Friday night.

Davis, John Boyega and cast members walked the red carpet outside Roy Thompson Hall.

One of the most anticipated events of that night was an intimate conversation with Taylor Swift for the first ever screening of her short film All Too Well.

Though the event started at 7 p.m., her devoted Swifties stood in line for hours to catch a glimpse of the 11-time Grammy winner.

Friday also saw Nicolas Cage, Julia Stiles, and Fred Hechinger hit the carpet for the Butcher's Crossing premiere.

Saturday

Sterling K. Brown and Mark Duplass were at the Princess of Wales Theatre for the premiere of Biosphere on Saturday afternoon.

While Jennifer Lawrence was met with a giant crowd at the Royal Alexandra Theatre for the red carpet screening of Causeway.

She posed for multiple fans photo who were more than happy to see the Oscar winner.

But probably the most hyped event for Saturday night was spotting the legendary queen Oprah Winfrey walk the red carpet in a silver-sequinned gown.

Alongside Tyler Perry, the duo was in town for the Sidney premiere, a documentary chronicling the life of actor Sidney Poitier.

Gayle King (Oprah's bestie) and Poitier's family were also at the premiere.


Sunday

Sunday afternoon saw the cast of Catherine Called Birdy, including director Lena Dunham, hit the red carpet at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.

Then, Winfrey and Perry were back again, this time for A Jazzman's Blues at Roy Thompson Hall.

With just six more days of the festival, there's still some opportunities to check out some great films and maybe snap a couple of celebs.

Lead photo by

Fareen Karim


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