Why should people see your films?
I select everything from the Festival's Opening Night Gala to the occasional film in Wavelengths or TIFF Docs, so it's hard to choose just one reason to see such a varied group. Except this: I take TIFF's mission "to transform the way people see the world through film" seriously, so whether you realize it or not, I'm out to transform you. It may already have happened.
What stands out in your memory when you think back on your discoveries as a Programmer?
I sat in a hot Mumbai apartment watching a film on a tiny television monitor that turned out to be one of the discoveries of that year's Festival. I climbed my way through Manila slum dwellings, following a director shooting the city as his backdrop. I've found Festival films at red carpet Cannes premieres, in cramped, sweaty edit suites, and on overnight flights with my laptop the only illumination in the cabin. I've found it doesn't much matter where you first see a film. Great cinema leaps out at you instantly.
The cinema mash-up of your dreams...?
I'd work in the world created by Jerry Maguire, I'd eat in the world of Tampopo and I'd walk the world of Hitchcock's Vertigo, Chris Marker's Sans Soleil and Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love all night long.
What movie villain do you most resemble?
Hans Gruber. I never can find my detonators.
Cameron Bailey is the Co-Director of the Toronto International Film Festival®. In this role, Bailey is responsible for the overall vision and execution of Festival programming, as well as maintaining relationships with the international film industry.
Born in London, Bailey grew up in England and Barbados before immigrating to Canada. He brings a comprehensive wealth of experience to his current leadership position. Serving as a programmer for the Festival for more than twelve years, he has been responsible for the annual selection of films from Africa, South Asia and the Philippines. In addition, he has programmed and hosted TIFF's highly successful subscription series Reel Talk, and headed the Festival's Perspective Canada series.
Bailey has held positions as a curator, a journalist and a writer. He has curated film series for Cinematheque Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the National Film Board of Canada, and Australia's Sydney International Film Festival. He has also served on awards juries in Canada and internationally, including the U.S., Turkey, Greece, South Korea, Burkina Faso and Tanzania, and has been a guest speaker at several Canadian universities, the Smithsonian Institution, Harvard University and the Banff Centre for the Arts.
As a journalist, Bailey reviewed films for Toronto's NOW Magazine, CBC Radio One and CTV’s Canada AM. He presented international cinema nightly on Showcase Television's The Showcase Revue, and produced and hosted the interview programme Filmmaker on the Independent Film Channel Canada. He has been published in The Globe and Mail, The Village Voice, CineAction!, and Screen, among others.
In 1997, Bailey completed his first screenplay, The Planet of Junior Brown, co-written with director Clement Virgo. The film was named Best Picture at the 1998 Urbanworld Film Festival in New York, and nominated for a Best Screenplay Gemini Award. Bailey also completed a video essay, Hotel Saudade, shot in Brazil. The film made its U.S. premiere in 2005 at New York's Museum of Modern Art.
In 2010-2011 Bailey was co-chair of the Arts & Culture Working Group of Toronto's CivicAction. He was also a member of the Creative Capital group that prepared a Mayor's report on Toronto's cultural sector, and he currently sits on the Tourism Toronto board. He is a former board member of the Ontario Film Development Corporation, and served on the Advisory Board of the Royal Ontario Museum's Institute for Contemporary Culture. In 2007, Bailey was a part of the delegation accompanying Governor-General Michaëlle Jean on her state visit to Brazil.