Peter Howell: Popular TIFF programmer, a champion of Canadian film, retiring

Attendees of the Toronto International Film Festival know senior programmer Steve Gravestock by his name and by his well-worn Montreal Expos baseball cap. But maybe not by his face.

It’s been a running gag for many years for Gravestock, the fest’s shy champion of Canadian films, to hide his mug behind his cap, in photos the festival puts in its film guide and also online.

“I just didn’t really want to be recognized that much,” Gravestock confessed during a Zoom interview.

He can’t hide anymore. Gravestock, 63, is retiring from TIFF at the end of this month, after more than a quarter century with the organization, primarily selecting, nurturing and elevating films from Canada and Nordic countries.

The spotlight shines brightly on him at TIFF Bell Lightbox as TIFF celebrates his achievements with its annual Canada’s Top Ten mini festival (Jan. 26 – 29) that Gravestock helped launch two decades ago and has shepherded ever since. This year’s roster includes Clement Virgo’s “Brother,” David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” Anthony Shim’s “Riceboy Sleeps” and Chandler Levack’s “I Like Movies.”

TIFF is also screening a special retrospective series, Seen the North (on now through Jan. 24), featuring some of Gravestock’s favourite films and programming choices.

Such 21st century Canuck classics as Guy Maddin’s whimsical memoir “My Winnipeg,” Jennifer Baichwal’s industrial reckoning doc “Manufactured Landscapes” and the late Jeff Barnaby’s Indigenous revenge drama “Rhymes for Young Ghouls” happened on Gravestock’s watch at TIFF.

A number of his festival selections have received Oscars attention, among them Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” and Philippe Falardeau’s “Monsieur Lazhar,” both nominated for the category now called Best International Feature.

“It was a dream job, and I am forever grateful to the filmmakers who trusted us with their films (from Canada and internationally), the audiences who supported them, and the awesome people I got to work with … Basically, it just felt like the right time,” Gravestock said of his retirement.

He plans to spend more time at home writing about film as well as more time in bars playing guitar and trumpet with his rock band, the Di Palmas, jokingly titled as a misspelled nod to filmmaker Brian De Palma.

Gravestock, whose favourite adjective is “cool,” looked more like a rocker than a cineaste during our Zoom chat. He sported a lumberjack shirt and his familiar unruly beard and hair, topped with the black fedora that is his other headgear of choice.

He’ll be missed on the film festival scene, both by his TIFF colleagues and by the many Canadian filmmakers whom he helped bring to greater prominence, not only in this country but the world.

“Steve is the very best of old-school TIFF,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. “We both began in scrappier days and what impresses me most is how he’s kept that wild-man spirit even as he kept evolving. Sure, he talks like a crusty old sailor but his insights into cinema can be as sophisticated as any elite professor’s.

“He’ll go to the wall for filmmakers he believes in and he’s always stood up for the unique character of Canadian cinema. That he can also debate the nuances of Bengali directors or Filipino art house film just makes him cooler. As does his wailing on the guitar.”

Winnipeg auteur Maddin said he got to know Gravestock so well during the many times the filmmaker brought one of his avant-garde gems to TIFF that “he’s become a dear friend, and as a result, I’m a friend of the festival, too.

“I feel nurtured, an invaluable assurance for a Canadian filmmaker trying to find an audience in this cruel world. Steve has given us directors the viewers we need, and given those viewers his hyper-informed context for the work he’s programmed. In short, he’s given both filmmaker and audience all his love and smarts! Win-win!”

Gravestock, as usual, downplays his achievements, preferring to describe himself as part of a Canadian film programming team that also includes Ravi Srinivasan, Kelly Boutsalis, Norm Wilner and Anita Lee, TIFF’s new chief programming officer.

Gravestock has had many titles at TIFF over the years — he actually started with the fest as a publicist in 1995 — and many responsibilities have been put on his shoulders. But he’s always seen himself as more of a worker than a boss.

“It’s much more fun to just deal with the films and the filmmakers than to manage departments. That’s cool, too (being the boss), but I’d just rather watch movies.”

Over the 19 TIFF September festivals that Gravestock has programmed Canadian content, choosing from hundreds of submissions every year, he’s seen how the national emphasis has shifted from trying to compete with Hollywood to embracing independent views and voices, especially diverse ones in recent years.

“When I started, there was a belief in a more conventionally commercial industry and bigger-budget titles, which still happens, but I don’t think it’s quite the same emphasis as it used to be … there’s less angst about it. (Canadian film) is also much more inclusive and with more diverse kinds of productions than there was when I started, for sure.”

An ironic thing about Gravestock is that although he’s an indefatigable supporter of Canuck cinema, he’s no fan of the country’s most successful living filmmaker, Ontario-born James Cameron.

He said he hasn’t seen Cameron’s “Titanic” or “Avatar,” two of the high-grossing films of all time, and he has no intention of seeing “Avatar: The Way of Water,” Cameron’s new “Avatar” sequel that is also setting box-office records.

They’re just too big for Gravestock, who prefers films told on a more intimate scale. He’s also no fan of the Oscars: “I find that people talk about Oscars too much and there’s way better movies that aren’t Oscar-nominated.”

All this being said, Gravestock has seen and likes “every Marvel movie,” which has a lot to do with the comic books he read as a kid growing up in Ontario and B.C.

“You know what they say: ‘A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,’” Gravestock joked. “Also, I grew up on Marvel Comics.”

One thing has never varied: Gravestock’s support for Canadian films, especially the low-budget, curious and enveloping kind like the films of Guy Maddin.

“He’s kept my name alive in far-flung places during those too-frequent times of industry-enforced inactivity,” said the appreciative Maddin.

“I shudder to think where I’d be without Steve. And I can really talk baseball with him, too.”

Steve Gravestock’s three favourite Canadian films programmed during his TIFF tenure

● My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin, 2007): “I was really proud of showing this. I just liked the way he played with the form and that you couldn’t really tell what was true and what wasn’t. I think it’s the apex of Guy’s career.”

● Manufactured Landscapes (Jennifer Baichwal, 2006): “I think it’s a very Canadian movie and one of the great, great environmental films. The directorial voice doesn’t insist that you look at things a certain specific way. You’re not being told how to respond.”

● Rhymes for Young Ghouls (Jeff Barnaby, 2013): “Jeff was a really unique voice. The film is really striking visually and the story is very powerful. The way he mixed genres to tell a very serious and true story was important.”