WikiPortraits in September: TIFF, coronations and a Nobel laureate
Twelve photographers at TIFF, the Golden Lion in Venice, the Ig Nobels in Zurich, and a Nobel laureate's portrait shared by Canada's prime minister.
September is always the busiest month of the WikiPortraits year. Between September 1–October 8, our volunteer photographers uploaded an estimated 10,000 photos from 40 events to Wikimedia Commons. Film festivals filled much of the month, but we also covered a royal oath in Oslo and a coronation in Opobo, Nigeria.
As we roll into awards season, WikiPortraits caught film festivals in Busan, Toronto, Venice, Deauville and London, plus the Ig Nobel Prizes in Zurich. Zafer also looks back on a two-year road to the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Berlin.
Special highlight: When Canadian writer Anne Carson was named the 2026 Nobel laureate in Literature, Canada's prime minister used a 2024 WikiPortraits photo of her by Jay Dixit.
WikiPortraits at the 2026 Busan International Film Festival
WikiPortraits is back at the Busan International Film Festival, which runs October 6–15. Our team included Ariela Ortiz of the U.S., Omar Breeveld of Belgium, Daiei Onoguchi from Japan, and Leah Sim, a new volunteer who traveled from Seoul, and who also helped with translation. Sara Komatsu ran the shooting schedule. With the festival still underway, the team has already uploaded 150 photos from its first days of press conferences and open talks.
Highlights so far include Ju Ji-hoon, Shin Min-a, Lee Se-young and Lee Jong-suk at an open talk for THE REMARRIED EMPRESS, Iranian director Majid Majidi presenting MIDDAY MEAL, Fan Bingbing at a special talk for THE HANDMAIDEN, and Alfonso Cuarón, who came with his son, director Jonás Cuarón.
We are still getting our sea legs on Busan, and we learned so much in our second year. For example, press access at Busan often comes down to a lottery and Omar won one to photograph Shin Min-a. The team is already planning to apply early enough next year for the red badge that gets photographers access to the photo wall.
South Korea is also a great market for used Sony gear, so WikiPortraits stocked up on camera bodies and lenses for other parts of our network (including Africa!). We love the idea of a tricontinental WikiPortraits supply chain.
See more Busan photos on Wikimedia Commons.
Shout-out: Marlene Landu snags Boots Riley!
A quick shout-out to Marlene Landu, who applied for credentials at the 70th BFI London Film Festival and coordinated the hard-to-get red carpets among our London photographers. Thanks to her, WikiPortraits got Boots Riley's I LOVE BOOSTERS, which we couldn't get at SXSW. More from London in next month's newsletter.
See more London Film Festival photos on Wikimedia Commons.
WikiPortraits at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival is our busiest and most productive event of the year, typically with more than 500 different people photographed. With support from Wikimedia Canada, more than 12 WikiPortraits photographers covered this year's festival.
The People's Choice Award went to LA BOLA NEGRA, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's Spanish-language epic and the first Netflix film to win it. Sarran Hamilton photographed the two Javiers at the Tribute Awards, and Sarran's portrait of Ruth Madeley, star of BEING HEUMANN, gave her Wikipedia article its first photo.
Marlene Landu, last month's volunteer spotlight and the team's most prolific uploader in Toronto, was on the line for the world premiere of Chris Rock's MISTY GREEN.
The WikiPortraits team at TIFF included a strong Canadian contingent: Sarran Hamilton of Montreal; Gabriel Hutchinson, Enoch Leung, Kacy Bao, Josh Popov, Patrick Sue-Chan, Jean Yong and Tara Arsenault from the Toronto area; and Jay Dixit, who is spiritually from Ottawa. They were joined by Danielle G. Campbell, Vicki Liu, John Sears and Nicholas Nichols from the greater New York area and Marlene Landu came in from the UK. Kevin Payravi and Jennifer 8. Lee served as assignment editors, with help from Sara Komatsu.
See more TIFF photos on Wikimedia Commons.
Covering the Venice Film Festival with Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia Österreich
Five WikiPortraits photographers spent September 1–12 on Lido for the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, with support from Wikimedia Italia and Wikimedia Österreich.
The festival closed with May el-Toukhy's WOMAN UNKNOWN winning the Golden Lion. Astra Marina Cabras was inside the closing ceremony to photograph el-Toukhy with her award, as well as Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor receiving the Special Jury Prize for NAZA, the Gaza documentary whose roughly 25-minute standing ovation was reported as the longest in the festival's history.
Elsewhere on the Lido, Luca Fazzolari photographed Noel and Liam Gallagher at the premiere of the Oasis documentary, and Casey J. Newell, covering Venice for the first time, secured a permanent photo pass for the team midway through the festival.
Two outlets ran Colleen Sturtevant's Venice photos: Martin Cid Magazine used her photo of Russell Crowe at the WHAT LOVE BUILDS premiere, and so-me-app featured her Penélope Cruz in a red carpet roundup, alongside photos by Luca and Astra.
The WikiPortraits team in Venice included Luca Fazzolari, Casey J. Newell, Astra Marina Cabras, Harald Krichel and Colleen Sturtevant.
See more Venice photos on Wikimedia Commons.
From Athens to Berlin: photographing the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup
WikiPortraits photographer Zafer spent two years working toward the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, from EuroBasket Women in Athens to the qualifiers in Istanbul and finally Berlin, where Zafer shot 28 games in ten days.
WikiPortraits volunteer spotlight: Jorge Jaramillo
This month's WikiPortraits volunteer spotlight introduces Jorge Jaramillo, a Venezuelan photographer who shoots with a Sony A7R V. He discovered WikiPortraits through Kevin Payravi's photo of María Corina Machado, and shot his first red carpet with the team at the 2026 Tribeca Festival, where his subjects included Al Pacino and Edgar Ramírez.
In this Q&A, Jorge talks about his family's roots in photography, covering UN Digital Cooperation Day, and getting his clothes singed by embers at Barcelona's Correfoc.
WikiPortraits at the Ig Nobel Prizes in Zurich
For the first time in its 36-year history, the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony left the United States. On September 3, the prizes for achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think" were handed out at the Kongresshaus Zürich, and WikiPortraits photographer Lars Haefner was there.
Winners included Matilda Brindle and colleagues, for a more precise definition of kissing; Paul Piff and colleagues, for showing that upper-class people are more likely to take candy meant for children; and a soil science team that buried a thousand pairs of underpants in more than 25 countries.
See more Ig Nobel photos on Wikimedia Commons.
Canadian prime minister's Facebook account shares WikiPortraits photo of Nobel laureate Anne Carson
When the Swedish Academy named Canadian poet Anne Carson the winner of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature on October 8, the official Facebook account of Prime Minister Mark Carney shared Jay Dixit's WikiPortraits photo of Carson from the 2024 National Book Awards readings, with credit to Jay. Jay's mother emailed him a screenshot.
It is also a first for WikiPortraits: to already have a strong portrait on Wikipedia when the Nobel Prize laureate is announced.
WikiPortraits at the Deauville American Film Festival
On the Normandy coast, French volunteer Elyot Boudart covered the opening of the 52nd Deauville American Film Festival, which ran September 4–13. Brendan Fraser received a Talent Award, Nicolas Winding Refn and Sophie Thatcher presented HER PRIVATE HELL, and Elyot also photographed jury president Roschdy Zem and novelist Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, winner of the 2021 Prix Goncourt.
See more Deauville photos on Wikimedia Commons.
Around the world with WikiPortraits in September
Birgit Fostervold photographed Norway's King Haakon VIII arriving at the Storting on September 1 to take the oath of allegiance. Her portrait of the new king has so far been added to 45 language Wikipedias.
Ten days later, Birgit was in Arendal for the Kraft literature festival, where she photographed novelist Tore Renberg.
In Opobo, Nigeria, documentary photographer Dappa Solomon Ezekiel photographed the coronation of Jeki VI as Amanyanabo on September 26. As well, in Zambia Icem4k photographed President Hakainde Hichilema's second inauguration in Lusaka on September 1. (With Brigit's portrait of the new Norwegian king, WikiPortraits is trying to figure out if coronations and inaugurations are a new category to chase 🤔.)
Kevin Paul photographed the first Los Angeles Korean Film Festival, including director Yoon Ga-eun and actor Seo Su-bin.
Fresh from Venice, Casey J. Newell photographed Reese Witherspoon and her family at the Nashville Film Festival premiere of BROTHER SAVE US.
Also in September: WikiPortraits photographers covered NWSL soccer, European basketball, the San Jose Sharks and three NASCAR races, plus GalaxyCon Des Moines, Rose City Comic Con, and portraits around New York City and on Broadway.
Get involved with WikiPortraits!
WikiPortraits welcomes new volunteers. If there's an event in your region you think we should cover, let us know, and we'll help you get started.
Here are some of the events in the WikiPortraits calendar over the next few months:
- Latin Grammy Awards (November), a first for WikiPortraits... They said we will have a red carpet slot!
- Marrakech International Film Festival (Morocco, November)
- Nobel Prizes (Stockholm and Oslo, December)
Donate to WikiPortraits
WikiPortraits exists because of people like you. Donate to help support our photographers' efforts to add more quality Creative Commons-licensed portrait photos to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
