Patricia Arquette, Lulu Wang, Finn Wolfhard, Barry Jenkins, Camila Morrone, Willem Dafoe and Colman Domingo mixed and mingled at Variety and Chanel’s annual female filmmaker dinner during the Toronto Film Festival.
At the glamorous event, held on Saturday night at Soho House and hosted by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh, VIP attendees nibbled on tuna tartare, striploin steak and heirloom tomato salad as they toasted the recipients of Chanel’s Women Writers’ Network. The year-round program is designed to advance the careers of women and non-binary alumni of the TIFF Writers’ Studio.
“Welcome to the most exclusive event of the Toronto Film Festival,” Setoodeh said. “This is one of our favorite events to host.” He added that Chanel and Variety had partnered since 2018 in celebrating female filmmakers at TIFF.
Inside the room, Arquette and Dafoe posed for pictures as “Dumb Money” screenwriters Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo sipped on espresso martinis. “We haven’t slept!” they said in unison, coyly adding their cocktails were off the menu.
Colman Domingo, Barry Jenkins, Lulu Wang and Raul Domingo at the Variety and Chanel Female Filmmakers Dinner held at Soho House Toronto on September 9, 2023 in Toronto, Canada.
Michael Buckner for Variety
Elsewhere at the dinner, “Stranger Things” star Wolfhard, who’s at the festival with his directorial debut “Hell of a Summer,” told German actor Christian Friedel that he couldn’t wait to watch “Zone of Interest,” the harrowing Holocaust drama that was the toast of Cannes and is playing at TIFF. “Jonathan Glazer is one of my favorite directors,” Wolfhard said to Friedel.
As Morrone went to find her seat, she passed by Domingo, the lead of Netflix’s “Rustin,” who was seated in a cozy booth next to Wolfhard, Friedel and “Sound of Metal” actor Paul Raci. “You’re at the fun table!” she joked. “I’m going to go sit with the adults.”
Variety’s co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh with TIFF’s CEO Cameron Bailey