For one night during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Soho House Toronto felt less like a private club and more like a cozy dinner party at a friend’s home.

On September 11, Chanel and Variety welcomed an intimate group of actors, filmmakers, and industry tastemakers to the seventh annual Women in Film Dinner. Guests gathered around candlelit tables, catching up over dinner in a room that felt removed from the rush outside.

Chanel ambassadors Ayo Edebiri and Lily-Rose Depp joined Michelle Yeoh, Sarah Paulson, Patricia Arquette, Courteney Cox, Mackenzie Davis, and Tommy Dorfman. Also in the room were Colman Domingo, Seth Rogen, Luke Evans, and David Harbour, along with directors Siân Heder, Rachel Morrison, and Marie Kreutzer.

The evening celebrated the Chanel Women Creators’ Network, an alumnae program created in 2020 as an extension of TIFF’s Share Her Journey Writers’ Lab. The network helps women in film develop their work and build lasting connections within the industry.

This year’s participants—Amelia Eloisa, Hanna Västinsalo, Shannon Walsh, and Shannon Welby—were honoured alongside the more established names in attendance. The intimate setting made the evening feel less like another stop on the festival circuit. Instead, it became a gathering of people committed to making more room for women in film and the stories they want to tell.

Images courtesy of Chanel.