Angelina Jolie on filming “Death in the Light of Day” in “Without Blood”

In case Hollywood has forgotten: When it comes to epic films, Angelina Jolie is one of the most successful filmmakers. Unbroken She directed a holiday blockbuster about World War II that appealed to religious audiences and grossed over $161 million worldwide, and in the Fremantle/The Apartment-produced Italian production of Without blood Visually, it can compete with the aesthetics of Terrence Malick, which can be seen in Days in Heaven in a film inspired by the Mexican Western era. Without blood is Jolie's sixth feature film as director.

Without blood celebrates its world premiere here at TIFF tonight, but the actress and filmmaker has just received the TIFF Tribute Award in the Impact Media category.

Alessandro Baricco's novel, which has no specific setting but possibly suggests a Latin American and Hispanic background, is about a woman, Nina, whose father was murdered by a gang when she was a child. Her father's murderer, Tito, discovers her as a child under a trapdoor and, moved by her innocence, leaves her alone. The older Nina (Salma Hayak) finds Tito (Demián Bichir) working at a newsstand. The two sit down to eat and talk everything out.

Angelina Jolie told us today at the Deadline TIFF Studio: “When I read the book, I hadn't read anything in a long time, as far as I can remember, that dealt with this very complex gray area of ​​the human condition. It wasn't about defining who is good and who is evil, which is absolute, but it was about the aftermath of a conflict. I've dealt with conflict a lot in the films I've directed and written, and that was one aspect of it, this aftermath, this idea that it would end, or how it follows us and what it does. It felt so true to how many people I know who have been through war feel. When I read it, I thought it was going to go one way, I was surprised it wasn't, and I was surprised I was glad it wasn't.”

One of the film's themes is “death in daylight,” says Jolie. Watch our video above, where Hayak and Bichir also talk about the safe space the actor's director, Jolie, offered them and the boundaries she tested – even when they were ahead of the production schedule.

Tonight at the TIFF Tribute Awards, Hayak beamed, saying Jolie was “the best actress and director I've ever worked with.”

Jolie’s fall has started off great as Netflix snaps up Pablo Larraín’s Mary in which she plays the famous opera singer Maria Callas during her final days in the 1970s. Without blood is also for sale here at TIFF.