The festivities that filled day two of TIFF 2019 kicked off before noon at the Four Seasons Hotel. The hotel hosted a brunch in partnership with TIFF’s Share Her Journey initiative to honour Dame Anna Wintour, Vogue’s legendary editor-in-chief, with the first-ever icon award in recognition of her advancement of women in film, television and the arts. Toronto’s fashion set turned up for the occasion, which marked Dame Anna’s first official visit to Toronto in her nearly three-decade reign over the publication. The short and sweet sit-down for 100 was hosted by filmmaker Barry Avrich, PR pro Halla Rafati, Rogers Telefund executive director Robin Mirsky and the hotel’s general manager Konrad Gstrein. Fashion plates Sylvia Mantella and Suzanne Rogers served as hosts; Joana Vicente, executive director and co-head of TIFF, and actor Dakota Johnson were also out.
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A few hours later, the pre- and post-premiere parties were well underway downtown. Bisha Hotel’s rooftop spot Kost was the place for a party hosted by World Class to celebrate the world premiere of The Friend. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite was joined by the film’s stars Jason Segel and Dakota Johnson to celebrate.
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The big ticket of night two was the party to celebrate the world premiere of Destin Daniel Cretton’s American justice drama Just Mercy. The film’s stars Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson, along with producer Bryan Stevenson, who wrote the book from which the film was based, were all in attendance at an Audi-hosted bash at The Fermenting Cellar.
West on King Street earlier in the evening, the Nordstrom Supper Suite served its first batch of boldface names at a series of parties. Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill and Rainn Wilson were out with director Roger Michell ahead of the premiere of their film Blackbird. Later, Heather Graham, Sophie Nélisse and Jodi Balfour gathered for a post-premiere celebration for their film The Rest of Us. That Blackbird crew then headed to RBC House for their official after-party. The same space later hosted the party to celebrate the world premiere of Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, with leads Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke both on-hand.
Elsewhere in the city, Mongrel House gave a joint party to toast the Canadian distributor’s 2019 TIFF offering, including Alla Kovgan’s Cunningham, Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory. Over at Arcane, Entertainment One’s Best of the Fest hosted some 800 guests, among them actors Stephan James and Jason Priestley, designers Dean and Dan Caten, and Sweetness In The Belly director Zeresenay Mehari and stars Kunal Nayyar and Wunmi Mosaku.
On the docket for Saturday night: the world premiere party for Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers, with star Jennifer Lopez scheduled to attend. And over at the Four Seasons, the annual Hollywood Foreign Press bash returns. Expected at that one? Everyone.