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?