#TIFF According To: Kindred Spirit’s Caroline Clark

Kindred Spirit’s development & production executive Caroline Clark will be on the ground at the year’s Toronto Film Festival for the premiere of the Elliot Page drama and popular sales title Close to You.

Ahead of this year’s fest, the exec shared with THR the snack she can’t travel without, why she gets nostalgic at the Bell Lightbox, and the Airbnb experience that had her asking herself, “I work in Hollywood, right, how hard can acting be?”

My “only in Toronto” moment is…
Sobbing during a film screening, then trying to quickly clean yourself up before the lights come back on, only to realize that the entire audience is doing the same thing. Last year at TIFF, Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps got the best of me and Ana Leocha from Tango, as well as everyone else in the room. Toronto truly has the best audiences—you can feel genuine enthusiasm from the local community, and they’re eager to explore a wide range of films, not just the high-profile premieres.

My “Canadians are so nice” moment …
My first year at TIFF, I was an assistant attending a fancy party with a lot of famous people and I was feeling very anxious. I gave myself a pep talk and told myself to walk up to someone important and introduce myself. There was a group of guys in suits nearby, so I went over and struck up a conversation. We ended up chatting for a while, talking about movies and trading restaurant recommendations. I was so proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone and initiating a conversation.

As we were saying our farewells, I asked what company they worked for. Turns out, they were the drivers for the celebrity guests just making polite conversation with me. Bless those Canadians for entertaining my Hollywood small talk.

The one place I have to visit when in Toronto is…
The first movie that I produced had its world premiere in Cinema 2 at TIFF Bell Lightbox, so returning to that theater for a screening always reminds me of how nervous and excited I was that night, and how the filmmaker whose movie I’m seeing now must be feeling that same exact way.

The place I avoid during the festival is…
The Hyatt Regency – it’s industry headquarters during TIFF, so it’s always packed!

My favorite Canadian director/talent is (and why)…
I’m really impressed by people who create multifaceted careers for themselves, transcending any one particular category or path. For that reason, I’m deeply inspired by Charlotte Le Bon, an actress and model whose subsequent directorial debut was exceptional. To put it simply, Falcon Lake is a coming-of-age story about a reserved 13 year-old boy who forms a bond with a spirited 16 year-old family-friend while on vacation. Though love is at the center, pain, death, and longing linger throughout the film. Charlotte’s nuanced screenwriting (in collaboration with François Choquet and Bastien Vives) and thoughtful directing of her young actors (Joseph Engel and Sara Montpetit) created these incredibly slight, almost imperceptible shifts between friendship and romance, innocence and sexuality, and trust and betrayal, and reminded me of how quickly you can switch from feeling wholly seen by a person to feeling utterly discarded. Part of what was so impressive to me about Charlotte’s directorial debut was how she used every aspect of its form to the fullest, from the composition of each shot to the detailed layers of its sound design. The cinematography, in partnership with Kristof Brandl, was exquisite. While it feels more natural to say that every frame of the film could have been a painting, it actually first reminded me of a puzzle, as if each frame could crumble into a hundred pieces at any second. I loved the use of electronic music throughout the score, which felt natural to the characters but also contributed to the undercurrent of dread and unease throughout the film.

While I’m already on my soapbox, I’ll just add that Clement Virgo’s Brother was exquisite, I’ll be first in line to see Emma Seligman’s Bottoms, and Jérémy Comte’s “Fauve” redefined what short films were capable of for me.

The most Canadian thing about Toronto is…
All the streets are filled with maple syrup!

The one thing I won’t travel without (besides my phone) is…
Muddy Buddies.

Ryan Gosling or Ryan Reynolds?
Gosling.

In Toronto you should always…
Try a new restaurant! Toronto has some great spots. A friend introduced me to Byblos in 2018 and we still talk about that meal.

In Toronto you should never…
Rent an Airbnb! One year, I booked an Airbnb for the festival weeks in advance. The day of my trip, I received some odd arrival instructions from the host, which asked that I not bring any suitcases into the building lobby (an impossible request for a week-long work trip) and pretend to live in the building if anyone asked. I work in Hollywood, right, how hard can acting be? I put on my best, “Blah, I’m so bored, I live here,” face and marched through the front door, only to immediately be confronted with, “NO AIRBNB! Get out!” by the concierge. After some really bad acting followed by some genuine begging, he let me go up the elevators. It turns out Airbnbs in Toronto are very restricted.