San Francisco Frontiers - GameStop stock frenzy, true crime in focus at Toronto film fest

TIFF, the biggest film festival in North America, has opened with a stacked lineup of debuts and marquee screenings against the backdrop of a strike by Hollywood actors and writers over pay, the use of artificial intelligence in art and other issues.

First up on Friday: Oscar-nominated actress Anna Kendrick ("Up in the Air," "Pitch Perfect") makes her directorial debut -- and stars -- in "Woman of the Hour," the stranger-than-fiction true story of a murderer who appeared on "The Dating Game."

Rodney Alcala, who was eventually sentenced to death in California for five murders committed in the 1970s, was a contestant on the popular American television program in the midst of his killing spree.

Each episode featured three bachelors who answered questions from a woman hidden behind a wall, who would choose the winner based on their answers. The couple would go on a date paid for by the show.

Kendrick plays contestant Cheryl Bradshaw, who would win a date with Alcala -- and refuse to go because of his worrying behavior.

- 'The little guy' -

Next up will be "Dumb Money," with an all-star cast including Seth Rogen and Paul Dano, about the amateur investors who turned GameStop into a Wall Street phenomenon in 2021.

The film follows Keith Gill (Dano), who invested his life savings in GameStop and posted on social media about it under the username Roaring Kitty.

Other small-time investors got in on the tip, and the so-called "meme stock" blew up amid wild trading in January 2021.

The surge was seen as driven at least in part by retail investors communicating on the Reddit platform who collaborated in an effort to retaliate against short sellers.

Seasoned investors viewed GameStop's movements as divorced from fundamental questions about the company's financial performance and its prospects.

"This story gives a voice to the little guy, and takes us on a wild, subversive ride that hopefully, in some small part, shines a light on the disparity of wealth in this country," director Craig Gillespie said in pre-screening notes offered to the media.

Gillespie said he hoped the film -- based on Ben Mezrich's book "The Antisocial Network" -- would help "continue the conversation that the system needs to change."

While Gillespie is expected on the red carpet in Toronto, Dano, Rogen, Pete Davidson and other cast members are not expected to promote the film due to the ongoing actors' strike.

- Full lineup -

The Toronto film fest has been a launchpad for numerous Oscar-winning films in years past, and the filmmakers behind the 2023 crop of starry projects are hoping some of that awards pixie dust will be sprinkled on them.

TIFF's annual People's Choice Award has become an increasingly accurate Academy Awards bellwether, predicting eventual best picture winners such as "Green Book" and "Nomadland."

Also on Friday, French filmmaker Ladj Ly will unveil "Les Indesirables," a follow-up look at marginalized communities in the suburbs of Paris four years after his Oscar-nominated debut feature "Les Miserables."

TIFF only returned to full strength in 2022, after two years of online or hybrid events staged amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The festival in Canada's largest city runs until September 17.

B.Johnson--SFF