Maddy Mahoney

Pamela Sugiman was raised with the knowledge that, in life, some people get a raw deal. Her father hadn’t committed any crime when he was sent to an internment camp for Japanese Canadians during the Second World War; he was just the wrong ethnicity. Interested in the nuances of injustice, she studied sociology and later entered academia, where she found that focusing on inequality could be her strength.

The gilded doors of Hollywood seldom open, and they’re notorious for quickly slamming shut. Getting through them requires a mix of talent and timing, and the odds heavily favour the usual suspects (namely, straight white dudes). But every now and then, a cohort of filmmakers hell-bent on changing the rules squeaks by. In recent years, five Torontonians have formed the vanguard of a new Hollywood with hit projects that include Feel Good, Reservation Dogs and Bottoms.

TIFF is the city’s annual golden hour. In the luminous final days of summer, Toronto undergoes a complete metamorphosis: A-listers touch down in private jets, movie fanatics roam the streets and Hollywood insiders brace themselves for 11 days of frantic deal-making. The city feels like one big red carpet. Over the past 50 years, the once-scrappy passion project has become one of the world’s most influential film events: maker of careers, predictor of Oscars.