The 44th annual Toronto Film Festival ran from the 5th to the 15th of September, with Taika Waititi’s ‘Jojo Rabbit’ taking home the People’s Choice Award. The film received understandably mixed criticism, however, as it is a black comedy following a member of The Hitler Youth who discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their house. The 71st Primetime Emmy Awards were also held on Monday 23rd of September, where Game of Thrones, somewhat controversially, won the award for Outstanding Drama Series. Phoebe Walker-Bridge’s comedy series, Fleabag, proved to be the night’s big winner though, earning the awards for Outstanding Comedy Series, Writing, and Directing. In other film news, Wes Anderson’s new film has been confirmed for a 2020 release date, and titled The French Dispatch, it has been described as ‘a love letter to journalists.’ Horror fans will also be pleased to hear that Stephen King’s novella, In the Tall Grass, has been given a chilling film adaption which is due for a Netflix release in October.
Another Netflix production to watch out for is El Camino, the Breaking Bad sequel, which appears to take place directly after the events of the original series. In terms of television, the American broadcaster NBC has announced that it will launch its own streaming service, and has a reboot of the beloved series, The Office, in its sights. In lighter announcements, Amazon has revealed that The Lord of the Rings series will be returning to New Zealand, and our screens, within the next few years, and it is reported to have the largest production budget in television history, of a humble one billion dollars. At the cinema, Joaquin Phoenix’s highly anticipated rendition of the eponymous DC villain, Joker arrives on the 4th of October. Renée Zellweger’s biopic portrayal of Hollywood icon, Judy Garland, will be released in Irish cinemas on the same date.
