120: Cameron Bailey on #TIFF20 and Planet Africa

Cameron Bailey is the artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The 2020 festival takes place September 10-19 adjusting to the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic. In this interview with TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers, Cameron discusses what shaped his career path and explains the significance of the image on his office wall (of M’Bissine Thérèse Diop in Black Girl). He also describes the history of TIFF’s Planet Africa section that he started in 1995. In honor of Planet Africa’s 25th anniversary, Cameron will host free online conversations on its Origin Stories (Sept 13) and on Black Film Now (Sept 16).
Among the documentaries playing at #TIFF20 are works by past guests of Pure Nonfiction. Hear their prior interviews and learn more about their new films at these links:
Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall
Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer’s Fireball: Visitors from a Darker World
Sam Pollard’s MLK/FBI
Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno
Dawn Porter’s The Way I See It

Other films discussed in this episode are Downstream to Kinshasa and 40 Years a Prisoner.

On Twitter: @cameron_tiff @TIFF_NET @thompowers @PureNonfiction