TIFF at 50: Martin Katz on the film that blew his mind, what David Cronenberg did on 9/11

Martin Katz relocated from his native Winnipeg to Toronto in 1981 to attend law school, and segued into a film career, launching Prospero Pictures in 2001. He has produced five films for David Cronenberg, most recently TIFF 2024 selection The Shrouds. This year he attends with the world premiere of Bretten Hannam’s At The Place Of Ghosts in Platform.

What are some of your favourite memories from the festival?

The world premiere of John Wu’s The Killer, which premiered in 1989 and blew my mind. Since I moved to Toronto from Winnipeg in 1981 I have been to TIFF almost every year. That year was the premiere of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Diva, which exploded and made it clear to me what the language of cinema could do. I was hooked – both on cinema and on TIFF for the rest of my life.

We had Hotel Rwanda in TIFF 2004 for its world premiere as a special presentation. No-one had seen it and a wet print came straight from the lab in Johannesburg. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Terry George [writer-director] got up on stage at the Elgin Theatre and tried to calm down the crowd down, who were standing and cheering and crying. He welcomed Paul Rusesabagina [the hotel manager and central character in the film, who was credited with saving the lives of more than 1,200 guests during the Rwandan genocide] and his wife and people just went crazy. Films were delayed as a result of the ovation. We won the People’s Choice Award that year, and went on to be nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, and won awards at many other festivals. 

What were you doing when 9/11 happened midway through the festival?

I had launched Prospero Pictures in 2001 and that day we were shooting Spider, the first of five features David Cronenberg and I have done together. We came back the next day and had two minutes of silence on set, then continued on for the last four days of filming. Friends from all over the world were stuck in Toronto, sitting around in my office and in bars and restaurants for days while the transportation systems of the world slowly came back online. We were back the following year with the North American premiere of Spider. 

What makes TIFF special?

It’s a festival in a city full of cinephiles. I love Cannes, but I don’t think there’s a festival where we can get as genuine an audience in the tens of thousands of people who go and enjoy it that is comparable to the audience at TIFF.

How have you seen the festival evolve?

When I started going you could pay CAD $99 [around USD $250 in today’s prices] and get into anything. I would see 30 movies in 10 days. It’s very hard to do that now, because the success of the film festival is such that it’s just hard to get your hands on tickets. That’s a benefit of the festival and a challenge for cinephiles who love seeing movies at the festival.

How would you like to see it evolve in the future?

I’d like to think that one day there’ll be even more screenings, so that there are even more opportunities to see films.

• TIFF at 50: Deepa Mehta on her first memory of feeling Canadian