We're creeping closer to August, which means that the fall festival season is just around the corner. Each and every year, Hollywood's best and brightest head to three major festivals- Venice, Telluride, and Toronto, in that exact order. We already know that Alexander Payne's Downsizing will be opening the Venice Film Festival, a prestigious slot recently held by Damien Chazelle's La La Land and Alejandro Inarritu's Birdman. But there have been rumors swirling about what films would be heading to Toronto and what films would be staying home for weeks now, which makes today's announcement a needed bit of clarification. The announcement of the Toronto slate also helps us piece together the Venice and Telluride lineups, thanks to TIFF's labeling of films as World, International, North American, or Canadian premieres. So without further delay, here are the movies that will be playing in the Gala and Special Presentations sections of the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.
Gala Presentations
-Breathe, dir. Andy Serkis
-The Catcher Was A Spy, dir. Ben Lewin
-C'est La Vie!, dir. Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano
-Darkest Hour, dir. Joe Wright
-Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, dir. Paul McGuigan
-Kings, dir. Deniz Gamze Erguven
-Long Time Running, dir. Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier
-Mary Shelley, dir. Haifaa Al Mansour
-The Mountain Between Us, dir. Hany Abu-Assad
-Mudbound, dir. Dee Rees
-Stronger, dir. David Gordon Green
-Untitled Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart Film, dir. Neil Burger
-The Wife, dir. Bjorn Runge
-Woman Walks Ahead, dir. Susanna White
Special Presentations
Opening Night Film- Lady Bird, dir. Greta Gerwig
Closing Night Film- Sheikh Jackson, dir. Amr Salama
-Battle of the Sexes, dir. Valerie Farris and Jonathan Dayton
-BPM (Beats Per Minute), dir. Robin Campillo
-The Brawler, dir. Anurag Kashyap
-The Breadwinner, dir. Nora Twomey
-Call Me By Your Name, dir. Luca Guadagnino
-Catch the Wind, dir. Gael Morel
-The Children Act, dir. Richard Eyre
-The Current War, dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
-Disobedience, dir. Sebastian Lelio
-Downsizing, dir. Alexander Payne
-A Fantastic Woman, dir. Sebastian Lelio
-First They Killed My Father, dir. Angelina Jolie
-The Guardians, dir. Xavier Beauvois
-Hostiles, dir. Scott Cooper
-The Hungry, dir. Bornila Chatterjee
-I, Tonya, dir. Craig Gillespie
-mother!, dir. Darren Aronofsky
-Novitiate, dir. Maggie Betts
-Omerta, dir. Hansel Mehta
-Plonger, dir. Melanie Laurent
-The Price of Success, dir. Teddy Lussi-Modeste
-Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, dir. Angela Robinson
-The Rider, dir. Chloe Zhao
-A Season in France, dir. Mahamet-Saleh Haroun
-The Shape of Water, dir. Guillermo del Toro
-The Square, dir. Ruben Ostlund
-Submergence, dir. Wim Wenders
-Suburbicon, dir. George Clooney
-Thelma, dir. Joachim Trier
-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, dir. Martin McDonagh
-Victoria and Abdul, dir, Stephen Frears
It's fascinating to look at this lineup, because I think it's easier to say what isn't going to Toronto than to break down all the titles that are coming to this year's fest. This Oscar season appears to be extremely front-loaded, and while many of these titles are released much later in the year, it still leaves the question- what's left for awards pundits and critics to see? We know that Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying will be opening the New York Film Festival in late September, with Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel closing the fest in October. Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Paul Thomas Anderson all have new films set for release in December, which leads to me to assume that they'll be the late-in-the-game wild cards that we all love. Clint Eastwood is also supposedly working on some kind of war movie, and I wouldn't put it past him to get that thing out before year's end.
The Greatest Showman seems like the kind of film that will avoid the festival circuit altogether (except maybe AFI in early November), and that first trailer seemed to indicate a much more commercial play. The Disaster Artist will likely go to Fantastic Fest and possibly AFI after its successful SXSW run, but it remains to be seen how much of a contender that James Franco project will be. Roman Israel, Esq. is a weird one that I'm not ready to predict, while Killing of a Sacred Deer feels like a New York play. AFI Fest seems like the likely destination for Molly's Game, and Wonder could very well skip the festivals entirely. The absence of Mary Magdalene was a bit of a surprise, but I wasn't shocked to see Blade Runner 2049 missing from today's announcement- seems like Warner will handle this in a similar manner to Dunkirk.
Other than that, TIFF has.....well, everything.
Toronto is undergoing a bit of a re-branding this year, as they realized that there were simply too many movies for festival-goers to handle. But it's worth noting that TIFF barely has any big-ticket world premieres this year- Venice and Telluride have really stolen their thunder in that regard. Their biggest world debuts for 2017 include Breathe, Disobedience, I, Tonya (a 2018 release), Kings, The Mountain Between Us, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Stronger, and The Current War, none of which seem poised to blow the roof off the race with the sole exception of the final title.
But for whatever TIFF may be lacking in premiere prestige, they make up for it with sheer volume of titles. Essentially, this lineup combines the Venice and Telluride packages, and we're in for a treat with some of the films this year. Downsizing and The Shape of Water seem poised to pull off the fall fest trifecta, which puts them in an enviable position for the race moving forward. Suburbicon and Three Billboards look to be raucously violent returns for promising filmmakers, while Joe Wright hopes to capture some of the Dunkirk magic with Darkest Hour. Battle of the Sexes could be a nice crowd-pleasing sleeper, while I'm very intrigued to see what Paramount ends up doing with Darren Aronofsky's mother! In addition, Sundance and Cannes favorites like Call Me By Your Name, BPM, and Palme d'Or winner The Square round out the tremendous lineup, ultimately making for a list of films that is beyond sensational.
I had a blast at last year's TIFF, and judging by the looks of this year's roster, I wish I was going again. Oh well. Here's to a great Oscar season! I'll certainly have more news on the race for the gold in the coming weeks.
Gala Presentations
-Breathe, dir. Andy Serkis
-The Catcher Was A Spy, dir. Ben Lewin
-C'est La Vie!, dir. Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano
-Darkest Hour, dir. Joe Wright
-Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool, dir. Paul McGuigan
-Kings, dir. Deniz Gamze Erguven
-Long Time Running, dir. Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier
-Mary Shelley, dir. Haifaa Al Mansour
-The Mountain Between Us, dir. Hany Abu-Assad
-Mudbound, dir. Dee Rees
-Stronger, dir. David Gordon Green
-Untitled Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart Film, dir. Neil Burger
-The Wife, dir. Bjorn Runge
-Woman Walks Ahead, dir. Susanna White
Special Presentations
Opening Night Film- Lady Bird, dir. Greta Gerwig
Closing Night Film- Sheikh Jackson, dir. Amr Salama
-Battle of the Sexes, dir. Valerie Farris and Jonathan Dayton
-BPM (Beats Per Minute), dir. Robin Campillo
-The Brawler, dir. Anurag Kashyap
-The Breadwinner, dir. Nora Twomey
-Call Me By Your Name, dir. Luca Guadagnino
-Catch the Wind, dir. Gael Morel
-The Children Act, dir. Richard Eyre
-The Current War, dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
-Disobedience, dir. Sebastian Lelio
-Downsizing, dir. Alexander Payne
-A Fantastic Woman, dir. Sebastian Lelio
-First They Killed My Father, dir. Angelina Jolie
-The Guardians, dir. Xavier Beauvois
-Hostiles, dir. Scott Cooper
-The Hungry, dir. Bornila Chatterjee
-I, Tonya, dir. Craig Gillespie
-mother!, dir. Darren Aronofsky
-Novitiate, dir. Maggie Betts
-Omerta, dir. Hansel Mehta
-Plonger, dir. Melanie Laurent
-The Price of Success, dir. Teddy Lussi-Modeste
-Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, dir. Angela Robinson
-The Rider, dir. Chloe Zhao
-A Season in France, dir. Mahamet-Saleh Haroun
-The Shape of Water, dir. Guillermo del Toro
-The Square, dir. Ruben Ostlund
-Submergence, dir. Wim Wenders
-Suburbicon, dir. George Clooney
-Thelma, dir. Joachim Trier
-Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, dir. Martin McDonagh
-Victoria and Abdul, dir, Stephen Frears
It's fascinating to look at this lineup, because I think it's easier to say what isn't going to Toronto than to break down all the titles that are coming to this year's fest. This Oscar season appears to be extremely front-loaded, and while many of these titles are released much later in the year, it still leaves the question- what's left for awards pundits and critics to see? We know that Richard Linklater's Last Flag Flying will be opening the New York Film Festival in late September, with Woody Allen's Wonder Wheel closing the fest in October. Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott, and Paul Thomas Anderson all have new films set for release in December, which leads to me to assume that they'll be the late-in-the-game wild cards that we all love. Clint Eastwood is also supposedly working on some kind of war movie, and I wouldn't put it past him to get that thing out before year's end.
The Greatest Showman seems like the kind of film that will avoid the festival circuit altogether (except maybe AFI in early November), and that first trailer seemed to indicate a much more commercial play. The Disaster Artist will likely go to Fantastic Fest and possibly AFI after its successful SXSW run, but it remains to be seen how much of a contender that James Franco project will be. Roman Israel, Esq. is a weird one that I'm not ready to predict, while Killing of a Sacred Deer feels like a New York play. AFI Fest seems like the likely destination for Molly's Game, and Wonder could very well skip the festivals entirely. The absence of Mary Magdalene was a bit of a surprise, but I wasn't shocked to see Blade Runner 2049 missing from today's announcement- seems like Warner will handle this in a similar manner to Dunkirk.
Other than that, TIFF has.....well, everything.
Toronto is undergoing a bit of a re-branding this year, as they realized that there were simply too many movies for festival-goers to handle. But it's worth noting that TIFF barely has any big-ticket world premieres this year- Venice and Telluride have really stolen their thunder in that regard. Their biggest world debuts for 2017 include Breathe, Disobedience, I, Tonya (a 2018 release), Kings, The Mountain Between Us, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, Stronger, and The Current War, none of which seem poised to blow the roof off the race with the sole exception of the final title.
But for whatever TIFF may be lacking in premiere prestige, they make up for it with sheer volume of titles. Essentially, this lineup combines the Venice and Telluride packages, and we're in for a treat with some of the films this year. Downsizing and The Shape of Water seem poised to pull off the fall fest trifecta, which puts them in an enviable position for the race moving forward. Suburbicon and Three Billboards look to be raucously violent returns for promising filmmakers, while Joe Wright hopes to capture some of the Dunkirk magic with Darkest Hour. Battle of the Sexes could be a nice crowd-pleasing sleeper, while I'm very intrigued to see what Paramount ends up doing with Darren Aronofsky's mother! In addition, Sundance and Cannes favorites like Call Me By Your Name, BPM, and Palme d'Or winner The Square round out the tremendous lineup, ultimately making for a list of films that is beyond sensational.
I had a blast at last year's TIFF, and judging by the looks of this year's roster, I wish I was going again. Oh well. Here's to a great Oscar season! I'll certainly have more news on the race for the gold in the coming weeks.
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