The Key West Film Festival announced today that its Opening Night film will be Martin Scorcese’s critically acclaimed “The Irishman” (Netflix) and that it will close with Trey Edward Shults “Waves” (A24), which takes place in nearby Hollywood, FL. Orlando-based director Shults will appear for a Q&A.

As part of its ongoing tradition – now in its 5th year – of having Opening and Closing Night films curated by top critics, the films were selected by K. Austin Collins of Vanity Fair and Jen Yamato of The Los Angeles Times. Collins will be joined by Yamato for a pre-screening discussion about “The Irishman” on Wednesday, November 20, and both critics will conduct a Q&A with Mr. Shults following the screening of “Waves” on Saturday night, November 23.

KWFF began its Critic’s Choice program in 2015, in which two of the nations top critics curate the opening and closing night films. Past curating critics have included Kenneth Turan and Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times, Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post, Eric Kohn of indiewire, Emily Yoshida of New York Magazine, David Fear of Rolling Stone, Joshua Rothkopf of Time Out New York and Amy Nicholson of MTV News.
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By Creative Media Times

The 44th Toronto International Film Festival has recently wrapped up, with writer-director-actor Taika Waititi’s black comedy “Jojo Rabbit” taking home the top prize, winning the festival’s Grolsch People’s Choice Award on Sunday.

Set during the Second World War, the movie follows a German boy who finds out that his mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. The movie is based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens.

Jojo Rabbit triumphed over early awards favorites such A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood featuring Tom Hanks and Todd Phillips’ Joaquin Phoenix-starrer Joker among others. Noah Baumbach’s comedy-drama Marriage Story took second place, while Bong Joon-ho’s comedy thriller Parasite won third place.

Other winners at TIFF 2019 awards include The Twentieth Century for Best Canadian First Feature Film, Antigone for Best Canadian Feature Film, and The Platform for People’s Choice Midnight Madness award.

The award has historically been a strong harbinger for awards season success, leading up to the Academy Awards. As recently as last year People’s Choice winner “Green Book” went on to win Academy Award for Best Picture. Six years prior, 12 Years a Slave also won the People’s Choice Award before it eventually won the Oscar best picture.

Starring the film’s writer-director Taika Waititi, “Jojo Rabbit” also stars Scarlett Johansson, Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, and Sam Rockwell. The film is set for limited release on October 18, 2019.