2018 Toronto International Film Festival lineup announced

The floodgates of awards season are officially open as the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its selections, with the Timothée Chalamet-starring Beautiful Boy and This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman’s drama Life Itself with Oscar Isaac and Olivia Wilde among the festival’s slate of world premieres.

Other films in the 2018 lineup include Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, Steve McQueen’s crime drama Widows. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born and Damien Chazelle’s Ryan Gosling-starring First Man will also arrive at Toronto after making their world premieres at the Venice Film Festival.

“We have an exceptional selection of films this year that will excite Festival audiences from all walks of life,” festival director and CEO Piers Handling said in a statement Tuesday. “Today’s lineup showcases beloved auteurs alongside fresh voices in filmmaking, including numerous female powerhouses. The sweeping range in cinematic storytelling from around the world is a testament to the uniqueness of the films that are being made.”

Typically balancing a heavy rotation of flashier, star-studded Oscar vehicles and blockbusters with smaller prestige titles and international works from world-renowned auteurs, TIFF has evolved to establish itself as the largest public film festival in the world since its 1976 inception. The annual event consistently launches several contenders into the Oscar race each year, most recently films like Margot Robbie’s I, Tonya, Denzel Washington’s Roman J. Israel, Esq., and Jessica Chastain’s Molly’s Game — all of which held world premieres at last year’s festival.

While not every Oscar-nominated film debuts at TIFF, the festival is still a key stepping stone for prior-festival films eyeing the Academy podium. Last year, best picture champion The Shape of Water as well as nominees Darkest Hour, Call Me by Your Name, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and Lady Bird each made TIFF stops on the festival tours.

Though TIFF is a non-competitive festival, it does allow attendees to vote on their favorite film of the 11-day stretch. Its prestigious People’s Choice Award has gone to nine eventual best picture winners or nominees since 2008 — most recently being awarded to Three Billboards in 2017.

The first portion of TIFF’s 2018 lineup, which will show throughout the festival’s Sept. 6-16 run (tickets available now here), includes:

GALAS
Beautiful Boy | Felix van Groeningen, USA
World Premiere

Everybody Knows | Asghar Farhadi, Spain/France/Italy
North American Premiere

First Man | Damien Chazelle, USA
Canadian Premiere

Galveston | Mélanie Laurent, USA
Canadian Premiere

The Hate U Give | George Tillman, Jr., USA
World Premiere

Hidden Man | Jiang Wen, China
International Premiere

High Life | Claire Denis, Germany/France/Poland/United Kingdom
World Premiere

Husband Material | Anurag Kashyap, India
World Premiere

The Kindergarten Teacher | Sara Colangelo, USA
Canadian Premiere

The Land of Steady Habits | Nicole Holofcener, USA
World Premiere

Life Itself | Dan Fogelman, USA
World Premiere