TIFF Adds Star-Studded Slate of Galas and Special Presentations

The Smashing Machine, Frankenstein among headliners

TIFF announced its full slate of Galas and Special Presentations, and the festival is set to come out swinging for its 50 th edition in September.

Selections added to the slate of headliners include the North American premieres of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein , the Oscar winner’s reimagining of the Mary Shelley classic. TIFF will also launch several films expected to be major players on the awards circuit this fall. Festival selections include UFC drama The Smashing Machine , which is brewing Oscar buzz for stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, and Ballad of a Small Player , which stars Colin Farrell as a gambling addict in the new film by Conclave ’s Edward Berger . Cannes winners It Was Just an Accident, Sentimental Value , Sirat , and The Secret Agent will also touch down in Toronto with hopes of mirroring last year’s success of Cannes favourites Anora, Emilia Pérez , and The Substance.

World premieres in the Galas include new films by Brian Cox ( Glenrothan ) and Aziz Ansari ( Good Fortune ), while regulars James Vanderbilt and David Mackenzie return with Nuremberg and Fuze , respectively.

On the Canadian front, TIFF added the world premiere of Tasha Hubbard’s Meadowlarks , a dramatic adaptation of her 2017 documentary Birth of a Family. Also making his dramatic debut is Oscar winner Daniel Roher ( Navalny ) who brings Tuner starring Dustin Hoffman. The festival will also screen the world premiere of Philippe Falardeau’s Lovely Day , the North American premiere of Zacharias Kunuk’s Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) , and documentaries about Lilith Fair , Degrassi , and Godspell . The festival will end with the closing night gala of Anne Émond’s Peak Everything . These titles join previously announced films including Mile End Kicks , Hamnet , and Steal Away.

 

Galas

* previously announced

 

*A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | France
North American Premiere

Adulthood | Alex Winter | USA
World Premiere

Driver’s Ed | Bobby Farrelly | USA
World Premiere

Eleanor the Great | Scarlett Johansson | USA
North American Premiere

Eternity | David Freyne | USA
World Premiere

Fuze | David Mackenzie | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Glenrothan | Brian Cox | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Good Fortune | Aziz Ansari | USA
World Premiere

*Hamnet | Chloé Zhao | United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

*Homebound | Neeraj Ghaywan | India
North American Premiere

*John Candy: I Like Me | Colin Hanks | USA
World Premiere

Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery | Ally Pankiw | Canada
World Premiere

Nuremberg | James Vanderbilt | USA
World Premiere

Palestine 36 | Annemarie Jacir | Palestine/United Kingdom/France/Denmark/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Jordan
World Premiere

Peak Everything | Anne Émond | Canada | Closing Night Gala
Toronto Premiere

* Roofman | Derek Cianfrance | USA
World Premiere

*She Has No Name | Peter Ho-Sun Chan | Hong Kong/China
North American Premiere

Sholay | Ramesh Sippy | India | 50th Anniversary Restoration
North American Premiere

Swiped | Rachel Lee Goldenberg | USA
World Premiere

*The Choral | Nicholas Hytner | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Two Pianos | Arnaud Desplechin | France
World Premiere

 

Special Presentations (in alphabetical order):

* previously announced

A Pale View of Hills | Kei Ishikawa | Japan/United Kingdom/Poland
North American Premiere

A Poet | Simón Mesa Soto | Colombia/Germany/Sweden
North American Premiere

Bad Apples | Jonatan Etzler | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Ballad of a Small Player | Edward Berger | United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

California Schemin’ | James McAvoy | United Kingdom/USA
World Premiere

Calle Malaga | Maryam Touzani | Morocco/France/Spain/Germany/Belgium
North American Premiere

Charlie Harper | Tom Dean, Mac Eldridge | USA
World Premiere

Christy | David Michôd | USA
World Premiere

Couture | Alice Winocour | USA/France
World Premiere

Dead Man’s Wire | Gus Van Sant | USA
North American Premiere

Degrassi: Whatever It Takes | Lisa Rideout | Canada
World Premiere

Easy’s Waltz | Nic Pizzolatto | USA
World Premiere

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert | Baz Luhrmann | Australia/USA
World Premiere

Eternal Return | Yaniv Raz | United Kingdom/USA
World Premiere

Frankenstein | Guillermo del Toro | USA
North American Premiere

*Franz | Agnieszka Holland | Czech Republic/Germany/Poland
World Premiere

*Good News | Byun Sung-hyun | South Korea
World Premiere

*Hedda | Nia DaCosta | USA
World Premiere

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You | Mary Bronstein | USA
Canadian Premiere

It Was Just an Accident | Jafar Panahi | Iran/France/Luxembourg
Canadian Premiere

It Would Be Night in Caracas | Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás | Mexico
World Premiere

Kokuho | Lee Sang-il | Japan
North American Premiere

Ky Nam Inn | Leon Le | Vietnam
World Premiere

Lovely Day | Philippe Falardeau | Canada
World Premiere

Meadowlarks | Tasha Hubbard | Canada
World Premiere

*Mile End Kicks | Chandler Levack | Canada
World Premiere

Monkey in a Cage | Anurag Kashyap | India
World Premiere

Nouvelle Vague | Richard Linklater | France
Canadian Premiere

Poetic License | Maude Apatow | USA
World Premiere

Primavera | Damiano Michieletto | Italy/France
World Premiere

Project Y | Lee Hwan | South Korea
World Premiere

*Rental Family | HIKARI | USA/Japan
World Premiere

Rose of Nevada | Mark Jenkin | United Kingdom
North American Premiere

Sacrifice | Romain Gavras | United Kingdom/Greece
World Premiere

Scarlet | Mamoru Hosoda | Japan
North American Premiere

Sentimental Value | Joachim Trier | Norway/France/Denmark/Germany/Sweden/United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

Silent Friend | Ildikó Enyedi | Germany/Hungary/France
North American Premiere

Sirāt | Óliver Laxe | France/Spain
North American Premiere

Sound of Falling | Mascha Schilinski | Germany
North American Premiere

*Steal Away | Clement Virgo | Canada/Belgium
World Premiere

*The Captive | Alejandro Amenábar | Spain/Italy
World Premiere

*The Christophers | Steven Soderbergh | United Kingdom
World Premiere

*The Lost Bus | Paul Greengrass | USA
World Premiere

The Secret Agent | Kleber Mendonça Filho | Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany
Canadian Premiere

The Smashing Machine | Benny Safdie | USA
North American Premiere

The Testament of Ann Lee | Mona Fastvold | UK
North American Premiere | Presented in 70mm

The Ugly | Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea
World Premiere

Three Goodbyes | Isabel Coixet | Italy/Spain
World Premiere

Train Dreams | Clint Bentley | USA
International Premiere

Tuner | Daniel Roher | USA
Canadian Premiere

Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) | Zacharias Kunuk | Canada
North American Premiere

*Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Rian Johnson | USA
World Premiere

You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution… | Nick Davis | USA
World Premiere

 



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