In the first of many fall-festival program announcements to come over the next few weeks, the Toronto International Film Festival has revealed its first wave of gala premieres and special presentation screenings—featuring several Oscar-winning stars and a long list of awards hopefuls for this coming season.
The most notable announcement may be Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, in large part because the language used here indicates Toronto will not be the film’s first stop. Her adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel—which centers on William Shakespeare’s wife, Agnes—will make its “Canadian premiere” at TIFF, a designation which typically implies that the film will first screen at both the Venice and Telluride festivals. (A “north American premiere” at TIFF indicates that a film will first stop at Venice, while an “international premiere” signals a Telluride launch.) That would mark a significant show of confidence for a movie already trailed by a ton of hype: It’s Zhao’s first non-Marvel movie since Nomadland, which won Oscars for best picture and director, and the ensemble is led by recently nominated rising stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal (yes, he’s playing Mr. Shakespeare).
Since the pandemic, TIFF has struggled to land as many glitzy world-premieres as the festival did in its heyday. Last year, not a single best-picture Oscar nominee launched in Toronto—a rarity—while its coveted People’s Choice Award went to The Life of Chuck, which had a quiet U.S. theatrical release just last month via Neon. But the festival still screens the vast majority of fall awards players, even if many make other stops beforehand. And for this upcoming 50th edition it’s already firmed up some promising titles for world premieres.
That list includes The Lost Bus, Paul Greengrass’s new movie about the devastating wildfires in Paradise, California. This tragically timely drama was produced by Oscar winner Jaime Lee Curtis and stars Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey. Other world premieres to keep an eye on include Searchlight’s Rental Family, which stars Brendan Fraser and recently locked down an awards-friendly November release date, and Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man, the latest Knives Out movie from writer-director Rian Johnson. The previous two films in the mystery franchise got Oscar nominations for their screenplays, and this edition features an incredible cast led by Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, and Josh Brolin. And Daniel Craig, of course, returns as Detective Benoit Blanc. Netflix will stream the movie starting December 12.
Derek Cianfrance broke out in a major way with 2010’s Blue Valentine, but struggled to gain much traction with his starry follow-ups The Place Beyond the Pines and The Light Between Oceans. So there’s a lot of anticipation surrounding Roofman, his first feature in about a decade and another TIFF world premiere. It stars Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst and tells the wild true story of an Army Ranger turned McDonald’s restaurant robber whose life of crime starts catching up with him. Paramount will release the movie in October.
Other noted filmmakers set to launch their movies in Canada include Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland—returning with Franz, a biopic of Franz Kafka—and hometown favorite Clement Virgo, whose Steal Away stars Angourie Rice and Mallori Johnson. TIFF’s 50th edition takes place from September 4 to 14, with more lineup announcements to come next week. Stay tuned.
