The Toronto International Film Festival announced Monday two of the event's top sections, with 63 films in the Gala and Special Presentations programs.
Along with other major fall festivals in Telluride, Venice and New York, Toronto has long served as part of a tipping point for the year in film, launching awards season contenders.
While there will still be plenty more titles to be announced in the coming weeks for this year's TIFF, which runs from Sept. 5-15, Monday's announcement featured a significant number of films to keep an eye on.
Among the films making their world premieres at the festival are Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste and returning the filmmaker to a contemporary setting after several period films, and Gia Coppola’s drama “The Last Showgirl,” starring Pamela Anderson as a 50-something dancer who finds her life at a crossroads.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste in “Hard Truths” by Mike Leigh.
(Bleecker Street)
Other world premieres include Edward Burns’ drama “Millers in Marriage,” starring Julianna Margulies, Gretchen Mol and Minnie Driver, and David MacKenzie’s thriller “Relay,” starring Riz Ahmed, Lily James and Sam Worthington. Also making their world premieres at TIFF are Sydney Freeland’s sports drama “Rez Ball,” with a script co-written by “Reservation Dogs” co-creator Sterlin Harjo, and Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside,” a boxing drama with a script by Barry Jenkins.
Angelina Jolie directed and wrote the screenplay for the war drama “Bloodless,” an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s book starring Salma Hayek and Demián Bichir.
Julianna Margulies and Gretchen Mol in “Millers in Marriage” by Edward Burns.
(Images of the Republic)
Among the films making their international premieres at TIFF (dedicated festival-goers might want to try to scope out what’s also on view at Venice or Telluride) will be “All Quiet on the Western Front” director Edward Berger’s papal drama “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci; Morgan Neville’s animated Pharrell Williams documentary “Piece by Piece”; and Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut, “The Piano Lesson,” an adaptation of August Wilson’s play starring his brother John David Washington and produced by his father Denzel Washington.
The world premiere of “Better Man,” directed by Michael Gracey of “The Greatest Showman,” a musical biopic of Robbie Williams starring the singer himself, is sure to arouse a lot of curiosity.
Numerous titles from this year’s Cannes Film Festival will be among those screening at TIFF, including Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner “Anora,” Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” which earned an ensemble acting award for Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofía Gascón, as well as Jia Zhang-Ke’s “Caught by the Tides,” Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” Rungano Nyoni’s “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada,” Guy Maddin’s “Rumours” and David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds.”
Mikey Madison in “Anora”.
(Cannes Film Festival)
Titles previously announced as premiering at this year’s festival include Ron Howard’s survival drama “Eden,” starring Ana de Armas, Sydney Sweeney and Vanessa Kirby; John Crowley’s “We Live in Time,” starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield; Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch,” starring Amy Adams; musician Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut, “K-Pops,” and “Elton John: Never Too Late,” a tour documentary directed by RJ Cutler and John’s husband, David Furnish.
Also previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of David Gordon Green’s “The Nutcracker,” starring Ben Stiller, and close with Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut, the musical comedy “Debs.”
The 2023 edition of TIFF launched Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” which won the coveted People’s Choice Award and went on to earn Jefferson the Oscar for best adapted screenplay, along with nominations for actor Jeffrey Wright and supporting actor Sterling K. Brown, as well as best score and film.
