TIFF Galas Announced

Backstage I'm trying not to panic as I've lost my lodging in Toronto (damn you stranger who cancelled my airbnb!) and so many places are already full. But as I try not to panic and calmly search for other places to crash, TIFF has announced their gala and special presentation programs. "Even if you have to sleep in the street, Nathaniel," they taunt me with this fatefully timed announcement, "you'll still want to come."*

(The initial list of films is rarely fully complete one but here's the bulk of what they'll be premiering)

GALA PRESENTATIONS
These ones get the full red carpet premiere treatment

Jake Gyllenhaal in "Demolition"

• Beeba Boys (Deepa Mehta, Canada)
• Demolition (Jean-Marc Vallée, USA) starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an investment banker who can't deal with his grief and starts destroying things. 
• The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, Australia) starring Kate Winslet
• Eye in the Sky (Gavin Hood, UK) starring Helen Mirren & Aaron Paul
• Hyena Road (Paul Gross, Canada) 
• Forsaken (Jon Cassar, Canada) father and son Don & Kiefer Sutherland star
• Freeheld (Peter Sollett, USA) starring Julianne Moore & Ellen Page
• Legend (Brian Helgeland, UK) starring Tom Hardy as the twin Kray brothers
• Lolo (Julie Delpy, France) Julie Delpy still doing everything for herself! 
• The Man Who Knew Infinity (Matthew Brown, UK) starring Dev Patel & Jeremy Irons

• The Martian (Ridley Scott, USA) starring Matt Damon
• The Program (Stephen Frears, UK) starring Ben Foster
• Remember (Atom Egoyan, Canada) starring Christopher Plummer
• Septembers of Shiraz (Wayne Blair, USA) starring Adrien Brody and Salma Hayek about a jewish family during the 1979 Iranian Revolution
• Stonewall (Roland Emmerich, USA) on the 1969 riots 

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Leading filmmakers in some cases. But in some cases they may have played elsewhere but they're still billed as premieres of some kind (North-America premiere or what have you)

Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl are trapped during a Chilean coup in 1973 (Colonia)

• Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson) oooh, it's stop motion animation from Kaufman
• Beasts of No Nation (Cary Fukunaga) before its Netflix premiere I guess
• Black Mass (Scott Cooper, USA) starring Johnny Depp
• Brooklyn (John Crowley, UK) reviewed at Sundance
• The Club (Pablo Larraín)
• Colonia (Florian Gallenberger, Germany) starring Emma Watson & Daniel Brühl
• The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, UK) starring Eddie Redmayne & Alicia Vikander
• The Daughter (Simon Stone, Australia)
• Deephan (Jacques Audiard, France) the Palme D'Or winner this year
• Desierto (Jonás Cuarón)
• Families (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, France) starring Mathieu Amalric

Jason and Nicole are grown siblings moving back in with their eccentric parents (THE FAMILY FANG)

• The Family Fang (Jason Bateman, USA) starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman
• Guilty (Meghna Gulzar, India) starring Irrfan Khan
• The Idol (Hany Abu-Assad, UK/Palestine)
• I Smile Back (Adam Salky) starring Sarah Silverman, played at Sundance
• The Lady in the Van (Nicolas Hytner, USA) starring Maggie Smith
• Len and Company (Tim Godsall, USA) starring Rhys Ifans
• The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos) premiered at Cannes
• Louder than Bombs (Joachim Trier)
• Maggie's Plan (Rebecca Miller) starring Greta Gerwig, Julianne Moore & Ethan Hawke
• Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhang-ke, China)
• Office (Johnnie To, China/HongKong) starring Chow Yun Fat
• Parched (Leena Yadav, UK)

Brie Larson in ROOM (and Short Term 12 proved she's great onscreen with child actors)

• Room (Lenny Abrahamson, Ireland/Canada) starring Brie Larson 
• Sicario (Denis Villeneuve) starring Emily Blunt
• Son of Saul (László Nemes, Hungary) Hungary's Oscar submission. Premiered at Cannes
• Spotlight (Tom McCarthy
• Summertime (Catherine Corsini, France)
• Sunset Song (Terence Davies) 
• Trumbo (Jay Roach, USA) starring Bryan Cranston & Helen Mirren in a Hollywood blacklist drama
• Un Plus Une (Claude Lelouch, France) starring Jean Dujardin
• Victoria (Sebastian Schipper, Germany) previously discussed by our German correspondent
• Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA) 
• Youth (Paolo Sorrentino) the Cannes hit

Which movies are you most curious to read about? 

Comments

[MARK]

Anything were Actresses are in contention for awards,esp Fonda's role in Youth.

[cash]

"Colonia" sounds more than a little like "Missing," the Sissy Spacek/Jack Lemmon movie from the early 1980s.

[Paul Outlaw]

Wow. Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett (a little young, but ok) as Kidman and Bateman's parents? I'll bite.

[Dave S.]

I would really love a big, breakout role for Brie Larson but don't know if "Room" will be it. I feel like "Wild" @ last year's Oscars reaffirmed that even an excellent adaptation of a bestseller can and will get overlooked in favor of more Great Man movies...

[ConMan]

For the first time in my life, I wish I lived in Canada.

I NEED 'Room' in my life. I'm probably the only one in the world who has faith in it for the Oscars.

[Volvagia]

Five Yes:

The Dressmaker
The Martian
Stonewall
Anomalisa
The Lobster

Five No:

Black Mass
The Family Fang
Hyena Road
The Danish Girl
Sicario

Five Maybe:

Freeheld
Youth
Lolo
Spotlight
The Program

[billylbil]

Demolition
Dressmaker
Legend
Black Mass
Danish Girl
Family Fang
Maggie's Plan
Sicario
Trumbo
Un Plus Une

[Suzanne]

I'm hoping these are good:

Freeheld
The Martian
Maggie's Plan
Spotlight (I hope that Adam Sandler movie was a blip for McCarthy)
Trumbo
Where to Invade Next

This is a really good line-up though, maybe it will be a more promising fall after all?

[Roark]

This initial announcement confirms my long standing suspicion that this is going to be an epically great fall festival season. If the Gala and Special Presentation section is this stacked etc etc etc. I'm most interested in hearing about:

--THE DANISH GIRL, because I suspect it might end up being The Movie at the Oscars this year
--THE MARTIAN, because I really want to believe that Ridley Scott can make another great movie (and especially another great scifi movie)
--ANOMALISA, because CHARLIE KAUFMAN!
--DESIERTO, because viewing highly relevant social issues (border security & immigrant rights) through a genre lense, with Garcia Bernal in the lead, seems very promising
--MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART, because I loved Jia Zhang Ke's last film, and though Cannes reviews were mixed, the descriptions of this one captured my imagination.

[cal roth]

Oh I miss Dujardin. I hope this is a good role. I am still in love with him in The Artist.

[Donovan W.]

All the awards contenders (go figure).

But the ones I'm interested in, regardless of potential for year-end honors (or lack thereof), are:
The Danish Girl
The Family Fang
<I>Freeheld
I Smile Back
<I>Remember
<I>Sicario
<I>Stonewall

And maybe some others... I'm not sure how picky I should be :)

[Donovan W.]

Oops - I somehow forgot <I>Spotlight

[Sawyer]

I've wanted Rebecca Miller to make a great film for a long time. While all of her movies are entertaining and well-crafted, they don't transcend. Wow me girl!

[Joseph W]

I expect Crimson Peak to be announced as a big premiere in the Midnight series. Del Toro does a lot of work in Toronto.

I'm excited for The Lobster, all the foreign Cannes titles plus Youth, Brooklyn and the big LGBT films : The Danish Girl. Stonewall and Freeheld. Hopefully Carol gets added later too.

[Joseph W]

Oh - and they're also showing Vertigo with the Toronto Symphony on the last day of the festival. That will be cool.

[Fadhil]

The Family Fang
The Lady in the Van
The Dressmaker
Freeheld
Demolition
The Danish Girl
The Martian
Sicario
Youth

[T-bone]

Lolo
Youth
Stonewall
Brooklyn
Room
Dheepan
The Lobster

Seems like a great lineup!

[eurocheese]

I need to win the lottery and go to this.

[Glenn Dunks]

TOO MUCH! TOO MUCH! How can anyone honestly be expected to remain sane at TIFF I'll never understand.

[James T]

I mostly want to read about:

The Dressmaker
Anomalisa
The Danish Girl
The Family Fang