In Conversation With... Pedro Almodóvar

A giant of contemporary cinema and the recipient of this year’s Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media at the TIFF Tribute Awards, Pedro Almodóvar has delighted audiences with films that are vivid, urgent, and human. At this year’s Festival, the iconic Academy Award–winning writer-director of All About My Mother (1999), Talk to Her (2002), and Pain and Glory (2019) presents the North American premiere of his highly anticipated short film Strange Way of Life, a thoughtful meditation on the relationship between a sheriff (Ethan Hawke) and a rancher (Pedro Pascal) and their shared past. Presented by Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello and produced by Almodóvar’s production company El Deseo, Strange Way of Life is as stylish and layered as his award-winning feature films, and just as provocative. By interrogating and subverting the western, one of cinema’s foundational genres, Almodóvar has crafted yet another standout entry in the ever-evolving canon of queer cinema. Following a screening of the film, Almodóvar will join us for an extended onstage conversation about his desire to bring this singular project to the big screen, and how it fits within his vibrant oeuvre.