Toronto Film Festival preview: 15 movies you can't afford to miss

01 of 15

Black Mass

Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) has crafted an electrifying crime epic starring Johnny Depp as James "Whitey" Bulger and featuring a career-making performance from Joel Edgerton as an FBI agent with conflicted loyalties. (Sept. 18)

02 of 15

Demolition

Jean-Marc Vallée, the director of Dallas Buyers Club and Wild, returns to the subject of grief with the story of Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal), a successful investment banker who finds his life unraveling after the unexpected death of his wife. Davis forms an odd connection with a vending machine customer service rep (Naomi Watts), with whom he begins exchanging letters after he loses money in the machine. Canada’s Vallée will debut the film on opening night — a showy premiere months in advance of his April 2016 theatrical release.

03 of 15

Where to Invade Next

Michael Moore’s first documentary in six years, focused on what Moore believes is America’s militant obsession with infinite war, will have its world premiere on opening night of the festival. It’s a project Moore has kept under wraps — one that will surely divide audiences but in typical Moore fashion should also have them laughing, with the premise that the Pentagon should stand down... he’ll do the invading for them. (TBD)

04 of 15

Our Brand is Crisis

Patti Perret

In a role originally written for a man -- producer George Clooney was initially attached -- Sandra Bullock stars as political strategist "Calamity" Jane Bodine in David Gordon Green's (Pineapple Express) sharp-edged drama, based on a 2005 doc about Americans hired to work on a Bolivian presidential campaign. (Oct. 30)

05 of 15

Sicario

For the follow-up to his acclaimed 2013 thriller, Prisoners, Denis Villeneuve has directed a harrowing modern-day morality tale starring a mesmerizing Emily Blunt as Kate Macer, an FBI agent coerced into participating in an anti-drug-cartel task force run by two cagey government operatives (Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro). (Sept. 18)

06 of 15

The Martian

When you lose a man in space, it takes a lot of people to get him back. If that man happens to be Matt Damon, in an adaptation of Andy Weir's best-selling novel, it takes an army of A-listers including Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, and Kate Mara — and the vision of director Ridley Scott. (Oct. 2)

07 of 15

I Saw the Light

Tom Hiddleston, the man otherwise known as Loki, transforms his English accent into a Southern twang, straps a guitar to his chest, and does all his own singing in this biopic of country-music legend Hank Williams from director Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius). (Nov. 27)

08 of 15

Trumbo

Bryan Cranston leads this Jay Roach-directed drama about 1940s Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, whose career was destroyed when he was blacklisted for being a Communist, but refused to surrender. (Nov. 6)

09 of 15

The Danish Girl

This Eddie Redmayne film has already been declared a bona fide Oscar contender after its rapturous debut at the Venice Film Festival. Now the Tom Hooper-directed drama starring Redmayne as the first known person to undergo gender-confirmation surgery, will have its North American premiere in Toronto, where it can officially kick off its Oscar campaign. (Nov. 27)

10 of 15

Brooklyn

Brooklyn, a trans-Atlantic romance about a young Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan) who must decide what kind of life is meant for her as she travels to the U.S in pursuit of greater financial opportunity, debuted first at the Sundance Film Festival and was immediately scooped up by Fox Searchlight for an end-of-year release. Directed by John Crowley (Boy A) from a script by Nick Hornby (Wild), Brooklyn is the rare film that examines the interior of a young woman’s journey into adulthood. (Nov. 6)

11 of 15

Freeheld

Julianne Moore gracefully tackles the true tale of Laurel Hester in Peter Sollett's (Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist) portrait of the gay New Jersey cop with terminal cancer whose fight to bequeath her pension to her domestic partner (Ellen Page) in 2005 prompted a historic victory. (Oct. 2)

12 of 15

Spotlight

Already screened in Venice and Telluride, Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight comes to Toronto with some solid reviews behind it. The film centers on the Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigative journalism team and its Pulitzer Prize-winning work uncovering the systemic corruption inside the Catholic Church’s handling of pedophile priests. Starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Stanley Tucci in a true ensemble piece, Spotlight is already drawing comparisons to All the President’s Men. (Nov. 6)

13 of 15

Room

Brie Larson (Short Term 12) delivers a devastating performance as a nurturing mother surviving the most brutal circumstances in this adaptation of Emma Donoghue's best-selling novel from director Lenny Abrahamson (Frank). (Oct. 16)

14 of 15

He Named Me Malala

We all know the story of the Malala Yousafzai, the then 15-year old girl who was shot in the head for having the audacity to go to school in Pakistan’s Swat Valley and advocate for girls’ education. This new documentary from filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) takes us inside Malala’s life now, from her continued advocacy for education to her everyday life with her parents and brothers. The film debuted to solid reviews in Telluride and may become an art-house must-see. (Oct. 2)

15 of 15

Stonewall

Roland Emmerich's Stonewall tells the story of the 1969 riots in New York's Greenwich Village that sparked the gay-rights movement. One of the film's potential breakouts is Jonny Beauchamp (in blue jeans), who plays androgynous street kid/hustler Ray, based in part on the late Ray Castro, the man known as the only out gay person arrested on the first night of the riots. (Sept. 25)