TIFF Bell Lightbox: New Fellini exhibit and top-notch programming give Toronto a reason to smile

Don’t be misled to think we’re giving credence to the seemingly inexhaustible notion of a Montreal/Toronto rivalry. It’s just that when it comes to venues designed for marvelling at that almighty silver screen, our formerly world-renowned city has been reduced to a sad shadow of its former self, while Toronto has managed to keep up with the times. Remember eXcentris’ state-of-the-art screening rooms and the sheer number of theatres Montreal once had (Le Parisien, Égyptien, Loews, Le Faubourg, Palace) dedicated to arthouse fare? 

Montreal institutions should sharpen their pencils and jot down a few notes about breakthroughs at the other end of the 401. The TIFF Bell Lightbox would be a good place to start. Unveiled last fall as the film festival and Cinématheque’s permanent new digs, this bona fide shrine to cinema boasts five screening rooms, a three-story atrium, a restaurant, a café, a student centre and two exhibition rooms.

Yesterday, the Bell Lightbox raised the curtain on Fellini: Spectacular Obsessions, a multi-disciplinary look into the Italian neorealist’s creative process. It’s the exhibit’s first and only North American stop, and it’ll be supplemented by Fellini / Felliniesque: “Dream” Double Bills, a film programme wherein cinematic luminaries such as Miranda July, Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta and Isabella Rossellini pair their favourite Fellini title with another movie that has inspired them. TIFF Bell Lightbox Artistic Director Noah Cowan took time out of his busy Cannes schedule in May to reflect on Il Maestro’s legacy and the early days of the Lightbox.

Fellini: Spectacular Obsessions will take us through to Bell Lightbox’s one-year mark. What preliminary conclusions can you draw from your first year programming the space?
We are really pleased with the building and how it is being used by both familiar and new audiences. Our special events (in particular our free programming) have been immensely successful. The Tim Burton exhibition was a great success. Our new releases are doing extremely well. We did exceptionally well with Incendies, now into its 18th week on screen! The film has exceeded our expectations and is our highest-grossing new release to date. Films like Kings of Pastry and 2001: A Space Odyssey (screened in 70mm) also did very well for us.

We have of course learned a lot. The prospect of how we schedule the building going forward is an exciting one based on our learnings to date – our first season was very ambitious and looking ahead we are really trying to find the perfect blend of programming to offer a schedule that attracts a diverse and growing audience.
 

Photo courtesy of TIFF
 

You’ve said that Montreal’s eXcentris was a key inspiration during the project’s development. What did you learn from eXcentris’ successes and failures?
eXcentris was more of a spiritual inspiration. Daniel [Langlois] and his team really thought about what it means to show films in a much deeper way than a conventional movie house. Going there feels like an event, something special. He also paid such close attention to the quality of experience and so it became easier for us to understand the “gold standard.” Learning to make a space that could co-exist with the chains and yet stand somewhat outside the turf fights of the film exhibition world was also vital for us.

Since eXcentris’ realignment, Montreal has struggled to find ways to screen – let alone celebrate – auteur and independent filmmaking. What’s your understanding of the situation, as someone looking at it from the outside?
I hear that eXcentris may go back to being a movie theatre in all its venues now, which I think is great news. There are plenty of opportunities for collaboration and we would like that to start whenever the situation is resolved.
 

TIFF Bell Lightbox // Photo credit: Maris Mezulis
 

Fellini never shied away from scathing critiques of Italian society. Were he still alive today, how do you think he’d feel about the country’s culture purveyors and the media’s Berlusconi-assisted hedonism?
Berlusconi is so ridiculous that he may even have exhausted Fellini’s talents for satire. That being said, one aspect of the Fellini exhibition that we love is how he perfectly captures a cultural moment that changed film, photography and the way we see our world.
 

Claudia Cardinale and Federico Fellini during the production of FEDERICO FELLINI’S 8 12

What was it about this exhibition that made you want to bring it to Canada?
Fellini has had a unique impact on culture as a whole – not just cinema. In many ways, he shaped and defined what our culture has become, from the paparazzi madness to MTV and reality television. This show illustrates in great detail how he did it. By focusing on La Dolce Vita and how he drew much of the film from screaming tabloid headlines and details captured by the media of the day, we feel immersed in the Rome of the ‘60s and then travel into Fellini’s head to see how that heady time was turned into great art on screen. It’s truly exhilarating.
 

What are some contemporary filmmakers whose work you might be tempted to describe as “Felliniesque”?
I think just about everyone who engages in cinema as a source of fantastical inspiration owes a huge debt to Fellini. People like Michel Gondry, Wes Anderson, Miranda July immediately spring to mind, but also Canadians like David Cronenberg, Atom Egoyan and Denis Villeneuve. He teaches other artists that they have the duty to reimagine the world for us.

Fellini: Spectacular Obsessions 
From June 30 to September 18
TIFF Bell Lightbox | 350 King West, Toronto | tiff.net