Talking Heads Concert Pic ‘Stop Making Sense’ to Screen at Toronto Film Festival

The Toronto Film Festival has unveiled plans for a 40th anniversary world premiere of a remastered Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense by director Jonathan Demme.

A24’s restored 4K version of the celebrated band’s 1983 Hollywood residency will screen on a supersized Imax screen at TIFF, and Talking Heads band members will reunite for a post-screening Q&A led by Spike Lee on Sept. 11. Director Lee teamed with the former frontman of the Talking Heads’ new wave band on the immersive movie American Utopia, which offered a live-capture performance of Byrne’s Broadway show.

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Imax will livestream Demme’s time capsule feature from the Toronto festival in select theaters worldwide, along with the Q&A to include original band members Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison.

A24 recently acquired the Stop Making Sense concert film and completed a 4K restoration ahead of the first look in Toronto. That will be followed by an exclusive commercial release in Imax theaters Sept. 22, followed by a release in multiplexes a week later.

Stop Making Sense captured a live performance from Talking Heads’ legendary concert tour, and was shot over three nights at Hollywood’s Pantages Theater. Directed by Demme and produced by Gary Goetzman (The Silence of the Lambs, Mamma Mia!, Band of Brothers), Stop Making Sense had an impact on both music and cinema.

“Some people say you’ll never find a better concert documentary than Stop Making Sense. I’m one of those people. Talking Heads is at the top of their form. Working with Jonathan Demme, they build their performance scene by scene, song by song into a work of pure, cathartic power. Maybe you’ve seen it before. But you’ve never seen it in Imax,” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said in a statement.

The Toronto Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 7 to 17.

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