News Round-up: From Telluride to Toronto

The rain and the cold of the Telluride Film Festival is over, Johnny Depp was placed by some pundits in top spot for the Best Actor after Black Mass screened.  On to the Toronto Film Festival where Jake Gyllenhaal’s Demolition was screened, and The Martian received its premiere. The latter was described by The Toronto Sun’s Steve Tilley as a “captivating adventure.”

• This week, we had the new trailers for more Oscar contenders; Room  and Carol. We were also treated to the first trailer of The Program starring Ben Foster and Our Brand is In Crisis
• Ava DuVernay launched Array, a new distribution collective for filmmakers of diverse backgrounds, including blacks, Latinos, women and more in her efforts to diversify storytelling and validate minority voices through film.

• Ava DuVernay will be honored at The Toronto Film Festival with the Roger Ebert Tribute award, better known as the Golden Thumb Award,
• The Danish Girl took home the Queer Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. The Jury Grand Prize was awarded to “Anomalisa,” Charlie Kaufman Duke Johnson. The full list of winners can be found here.
• M. Night Shyamalan return to the silver screen with The Visit is set to take the top spot at the box office.