1981 Toronto International Film Festival

1981 Toronto International Film Festival

Festival poster
Opening film	Ticket to Heaven
Closing film	Threshold
Location	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hosted by	Toronto International Film Festival Group
Festival date	September 10, 1981 (1981-09-10)–September 19, 1981 (1981-09-19)
Language	English
Website	tiff.net

The 6th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 10 and September 19, 1981. The festival screened films from more than twenty different countries. Ticket to Heaven, a Canadian film, was selected as the opening film.^[1] Another Canadian film, Threshold, was chosen as the closing film.^[2] The People's Choice Award was awarded to Chariots of Fire, directed by Hugh Hudson; the film later won an Oscar for Best Picture.^[3]

The Canadian documentary Not a Love Story, about the pornography industry, was also featured at the festival. Initially it was banned by the Ontario Censor Board, but later they allowed a single screening of film during the festival. With all the media attention surrounding this decision, public interest in the film increased. However, the Censor Board refused to permit a second screening of the film.^[4][5][6]

Awards[]

Award[7][8]	Film	Director
People's Choice Award	Chariots of Fire	Hugh Hudson

Programme[]

Gala[]

• Chariots of Fire — Hugh Hudson^[9]
• Cutter's Way — Ivan Passer^[9]
• Cutting It Short — Jiří Menzel^[10]
• Heartaches — Donald Shebib^[11]
• Man of Iron — Andrzej Wajda^[9]
• Montenegro — Dusan Makavejev^[10]
• Neige — Jean-Henri Roger and Juliet Berto^[11]
• Only When I Laugh — Glenn Jordan^[9]
• Threshold — Richard Pearce^[11]
• Ticket to Heaven — Ralph L. Thomas^[11]

Buried Treasures[]

• An Actor's Revenge — Kon Ichikawa^[11]
• An Affair to Remember — Leo McCarey^[11]
• Bird of Paradise^[11]
• Glen or Glenda — Ed Wood^[11]
• The Indian Tomb — Fritz Lang^[11]
• Lumière d'été — Jean Grémillon^[11]
• Mikey and Nicky — Elaine May^[11]
• Some Call It Loving — James B. Harris^[11]
• The Tiger of Eschnapur — Fritz Lang^[11]
• Track of the Cat — William A. Wellman^[11]

Critic's Choice[]

• L'Altra donna — Peter Del Monte^[11]
• Angels of Iron — Thomas Brasch^[9]
• Asphalt Night (Asphaltnacht) — Peter Fratzscher^[11]
• Beads of One Rosary — Kazimierz Kutz^[11]
• Céleste — Percy Adlon^[11]
• Charlotte — Frans Weisz^[11]
• Desperado City — Vadim Glowna^[9]
• Diva — Jean-Jacques Beineix^[12]
• In Search of Famine — Mrinal Sen^[11]
• Jaguar — Lino Brocka^[9]
• Killer of Sheep — Charles Burnett^[11]
• Looping — Rolf Bührmann, Walter Bockmayer^[11]
• Malou — Jeanine Meerapfel^[11]
• The Mark of the Beast — Pieter Verhoeff^[11]
• Pixote — Héctor Babenco^[11]
• The Pretenders — Jos Stelling^[11]
• Short Circuit — Patrick Grandperret^[11]
• Squeeze — Richard Turner^[13]

Culture Under Pressure[]

A curated program of films about minority groups under cultural pressure from the majority.^[14]

• Aziza — Abdellatif Ben Ammar^[11]
• Babylon — Franco Rosso^[14]
• Chuquiago — Antonio Eguino^[11]
• Far from Home — Sohrab Shahid-Saless^[14]
• Gaijin: Roads to Freedom — Tizuka Yamasaki^[14]
• Hazal — Ali Özgentürk^[11]
• Magic in the Sky — Peter Raymont^[14]
• Palermo or Wolfsburg — Werner Schroeter^[14]
• Take Your Ten Thousand Francs and Get Out — Mahmoud Zemmouri^[11]
• (Les voleurs de job) — Tahani Rached^[14]

Laughing Matters[]

A program of classic comedy or comedy-drama films from throughout cinematic history,

• 10 — Blake Edwards^[11]
• À Nous la Liberté — René Clair^[11]
• The Americanization of Emily — Arthur Hiller^[11]
• Annie Hall — Woody Allen^[11]
• The Apartment — Billy Wilder^[11]
• The Awful Truth — Leo McCarey^[9]
• Baby Doll — Elia Kazan^[11]
• The Baker's Wife — Marcel Pagnol^[11]
• The Bed Sitting Room — Richard Lester^[11]
• Boudu Saved from Drowning — Jean Renoir^[11]
• Bringing Up Baby — Howard Hawks^[11]
• The Chess Players — Satyajit Ray^[11]
• Dr. Strangelove — Stanley Kubrick^[11]
• Duck Soup — Leo McCarey^[11]
• Fanfare — Bert Haanstra^[11]
• The Fireman's Ball — Miloš Forman^[11]
• Five Day Lover — Philippe de Broca^[11]
• The General — Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton^[11]
• The Gold Rush — Charlie Chaplin^[11]
• Hail the Conquering Hero — Preston Sturges^[11]
• Happiness — King Vidor^[11]
• The Heartbreak Kid — Elaine May^[11]
• Hellzapoppin' — H. C. Potter^[11]
• Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 — Alain Tanner^[11]
• Laurel and Hardy Shorts — various directors^[11]
• Lolita — Stanley Kubrick^[11]
• Lord Love a Duck — George Axelrod^[11]
• M. Hulot's Holiday — Jacques Tati^[11]
• Macunaíma — Joaquim Pedro de Andrade^[11]
• Mickey One — Arthur Penn^[11]
• Il minestrone — Sergio Citti^[11]
• Modern Times — Charlie Chaplin^[11]
• Nashville — Robert Altman^[11]
• Nights of Cabiria — Federico Fellini^[11]
• The Nutty Professor — Jerry Lewis^[11]
• A Pacemaker and a Sidecar (L'Eau chaude, l'eau frette) — André Forcier^[11]
• The Paleface — Norman Z. McLeod^[11]
• Pat and Mike — George Cukor^[11]
• Polyester — John Waters^[9]
• A Report on the Party and the Guests — Jan Němec^[11]
• Seduced and Abandoned — Pietro Germi^[11]
• Shampoo — Hal Ashby^[11]
• Shoot the Piano Player — François Truffaut^[11]
• The Sheep Has Five Legs — Henri Verneuil^[11]
• Simon of the Desert — Luis Buñuel^[11]
• Taking Off — Miloš Forman^[11]
• Twentieth Century — Howard Hawks^[11]
• W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism — Dušan Makavejev^[11]
• Whiskey Galore! — Alexander Mackendrick^[11]
• Zazie dans le Métro — Louis Malle^[11]

Less Is More[]

Films from independent studios.

• The Dark End of the Street — Jan Egleson^[15]
• Day by Day (Les Grands enfants) — Paul Tana^[11]
• A Flight of Rainbirds (Een vlucht regenwulpen) — Ate de Jong^[11]
• The Grass Is Singing — Michael Raeburn^[15]
• Jet Lag — Gonzalo Herralde^[11]
• Looks and Smiles — Ken Loach^[15]
• She Dances Alone — Robert Dornhelm^[15]
• Street Music — Jenny Bowen^[15]
• The Vulture — Yaky Yosha^[15]

Real to Reel[]

Documentary films.

• Being Different — Harry Rasky^[15]
• Blood Wedding — Carlos Saura^[15]
• The Followers (Les Adeptes) — Gilles Blais^[15]
• A Free Life^[11]
• From Mao to Mozart: Isaac Stern in China — Murray Lerner^[15]
• Image Before My Eyes — Joshua Waletzky^[15]
• Mur Murs — Agnès Varda^[15]
• P4W: Prison for Women — Holly Dale and Janis Cole^[15]
• Soldier Girls — Nick Broomfield and Joan Churchill^[15]

Special Presentations[]

• The Contract — Krzysztof Zanussi^[11]
• The Crime of Cuenca — Pilar Miró^[11]
• Fårö Document — Ingmar Bergman^[11]
• Fool's Gold^[11]
• Gamin^[11]
• The Gardener^[11]
• The Heiresses — Márta Mészáros^[11]
• Imagine the Sound — Ron Mann^[11]
• In Defense of People — Rafigh Pooya^[11]
• Krieghoff — Kevin Sullivan^[11]
• Malevil — Christian de Chalonge^[11]
• Not a Love Story — Bonnie Sherr Klein^[9]
• A Time to Rise — Anand Patwardhan^[11]

3-D[]

A late-night program of genre and cult films exhibited in 3D film format.

• Bwana Devil — Arch Oboler^[11]
• Dial M for Murder — Alfred Hitchcock^[11]
• Flesh for Frankenstein — Paul Morrissey^[11]
• Fort Ti — William Castle^[11]
• House of Wax — Andre DeToth^[11]
• Inferno — Dario Argento^[11]
• Miss Sadie Thompson — Curtis Bernhardt^[11]
• Phantom of the Rue Morgue — Roy Del Ruth^[11]

Yılmaz Güney[]

Retrospective of the films of Turkish director Yılmaz Güney.

• Elegy (Agit)^[11]
• The Enemy (Düşman)^[11]
• The Father (Baba)^[11]
• The Herd (Sürü)^[11]
• Hope (Umut)^[11]

World of Animation[]

Several programs of animated short films, presented under the titles Best British Animation, NFB Animation, Independent Animation, Ottawa Festival I & II, Animation & Commercials, Cinémathèque québécoise I & II and Best of Animation.^[11] However, sources are not currently available to confirm the titles of individual short films aired within the programs.

References[]

External links[]

• Official site
• TIFF: A Reel History: 1976 - 2012
• 1981 Toronto International Film Festival at IMDb