The stars are all over this year’s Toronto International Film Festival lineup—but that’s to be expected. The real surprise here is that, in a bit of a twist, they’ll likely be able to appear in Canada, despite ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike rules that largely prohibit promotional appearances at film festivals. Why? A whole bunch of those stars also happen to be filmmakers.
This year’s preliminary TIFF lineup, released Monday, includes films directed by the likes of Tony Goldwyn (Ezra), Michael Keaton (Knox Goes Away), Kristin Scott Thomas (North Star), Chris Pine (Poolman), Viggo Mortensen (The Dead Don’t Hurt), Ethan Hawke (Wildcat), and Anna Kendrick (Woman of the Hour). What’s more, these are all sales titles, meaning they’re not beholden to a studio (and thus, the AMPTP) yet. It’s great, necessary timing for the fall-festival community, which is reeling from studio pullbacks in the wake of the dual SAG and WGA strikes.
That said, TIFF still appears to be playing its usual role of awards-season central station. Each year, TIFF immediately follows the overlapping Venice and Telluride festivals, presenting films that previously premiered at those events. Indeed, the most newsworthy part of this lineup may be the number of Telluride debuts we can infer, based on premieres that have been labeled “Canadian” or “International” debuts rather than “worldwide” debuts. (Telluride does not announce its lineup until just before Labor Day Weekend.) Netflix’s Nyad and Rustin, which feature already buzzy performances from Annette Bening and Colman Domingo, respectively, both appear to be going that route, as does Focus’s The Holdovers—which reunites Sideways director Alexander Payne and star Paul Giamatti—and Apple’s Fingernails, whose killer cast includes Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, and Jeremy Allen White.
Toronto will also bring in the top prize winners from Cannes, Neon’s Anatomy of a Fall and A24’s The Zone of Interest—both of which star German actress Sandra Hüller, presumably not bound by SAG-AFTRA rules—as well as a few Sundance successes like Netflix’s Fair Play. Several sales titles beyond those aforementioned celeb-directed ones could also catch fire as late-season contenders, if they play well. Kate Winslet portrays war photographer Lee Miller in the biopic Lee, from Ellen Kuras, while Jessica Chastain top-lines Michel Franco’s Memory.
Notably, while the list is littered with implicit Telluride debuts—Anatomy of a Fall can also be counted on showing up at the earlier fest—the list is much smaller, among notable titles, when it comes to presumed Venice launches. (One seeming exception is Richard Linklater’s Hitman.) Venice recently lost its opening film, Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers (which is moving to a 2024 release), due to the ongoing strikes; we’ll have to see whether the typically starry fest has been further affected by postponed titles when it announces its lineup on Tuesday. Major fall films yet to secure a festival announcement include Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, and David Fincher’s The Killer; according to the lineup, none of these four are debuting at TIFF. We’ll soon know whether more of their rollouts have changed for them, or if Toronto simply wasn’t in the cards for these films.
See the full lineup below.
GALAS
- Concrete Utopia Um Tae-Hwa | South Korea North American Premiere Sales Title - North America Rights Available
- Dumb Money Craig Gillespie | USA World Premiere
- Fair Play Chloe Domont | USA International Premiere
- Flora and Son John Carney | Ireland/USA Canadian Premiere
- Hate to Love: Nickelback Leigh Brooks | Canada World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Lee Ellen Kuras | United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- Next Goal Wins Taika Waititi | USA World Premiere
- NYAD Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | USA International Premiere
- Punjab ’95 Honey Trehan | India World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Solo Sophie Dupuis | Canada World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- The End We Start From Mahalia Belo | United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - North American Rights Available
- The Movie Emperor Ning Hao | China World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- The New Boy Warwick Thornton | Australia North American Premiere Sales Title – North American Rights Available
- The Royal Hotel Kitty Green | Australia/United Kingdom Canadian Premiere
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
- A Difficult Year Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | France International Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- A Normal Family Hur Jin-ho | South Korea World Premiere Sales Title - North American Rights Available
- American Fiction Cord Jefferson | USA World Premiere
- Anatomy of a Fall Justine Triet | France Canadian Premiere
- Close to You Dominic Savage | Canada/United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- Days of Happiness Chloé Robichaud | Canada World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- El Rapto Daniela Goggi | Argentina North American Premiere Sales Title - North American Rights Available
- Ezra Tony Goldwyn | USA World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Fingernails Christos Nikou | USA International Premiere
- Four Daughters Kaouther Ben Hania | France/Tunisia/Germany/Saudi Arabia North American Premiere Sales Title - Some Rights Available
- His Three Daughters Azazel Jacobs | USA World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Hitman Richard Linklater | USA North American Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon Alex Gibney | USA World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Kidnapped Marco Bellocchio | Italy/France/Germany North American Premiere
- Knox Goes Away Michael Keaton | USA World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- La Chimera Alice Rohrwacher | Italy/France/Switzerland North American Premiere
- Last Summer Catherine Breillat | France North American Premiere
- Les Indésirables Ladj Ly | France World Premiere Sales Title - North America Rights Available
- Memory Michel Franco | USA/Mexico North American Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Monster Kore-eda Hirokazu | Japan North American Premiere
- Mother Couch Niclas Larsson | USA World Premiere
- North Star Kristin Scott Thomas | United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- One Life James Hawes | United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Pain Hustlers David Yates | USA World Premiere
- Poolman Chris Pine | USA World Premiere Sales Title - Some Rights Available
- Reptile Grant Singer | USA World Premiere
- Rustin George C. Wolfe | USA International Premiere
- Seven Veils Atom Egoyan | Canada World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- Shoshana Michael Winterbottom | United Kingdom/Italy World Premiere Sales Title - North American Rights Available
- Sing Sing Greg Kwedar | USA World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available
- Smugglers Ryoo Seung-wan | South Korea North American Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Swan Song Chelsea McMullan | Canada World Premiere Sales Title - Some Rights Available
- The Beast Bertrand Bonello | France/Canada North American Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- The Burial Maggie Betts | USA World Premiere
- The Convert Lee Tamahori | Australia/New Zealand World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- The Critic Anand Tucker | United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - Some Rights Available
- The Dead Don’t Hurt Viggo Mortensen | Mexico/Canada/Denmark World Premiere Sales Title - North American Rights Available
- The Holdovers Alexander Payne | USA International Premiere
- The Peasants DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman | Poland/Serbia/Lithuania World Premiere Sales Title - Some Rights Available
- The Zone of Interest Jonathan Glazer | United Kingdom/Poland/USA Canadian Premiere
- Together 99 Lukas Moodysson | Sweden/Denmark World Premiere
- Unicorns Sally El Hosaini, James Krishna Floyd | United Kingdom/USA/Sweden World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Uproar Paul Middleditch, Hamish Bennett | New Zealand World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Wicked Little Letters Thea Sharrock | United Kingdom World Premiere Sales Title - International Rights Available
- Wildcat Ethan Hawke | USA International Premiere Sales Title - North American Rights Available
- Woman of the Hour Anna Kendrick | USA World Premiere Sales Title - US Rights Available