Calling all movie-loving Canadians! Your time is again nigh. After last year’s event was lightly derailed owing to the strikes, the Toronto International Film Festival is back and scheduled to run from September 5 through 15. And boy, are they bringing out the big guns. Gia Coppola’s Pamela Anderson–starring The Last Showgirl, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, and Sean Baker’s Anora will be coming to Toronto as of July 22. Perhaps most exciting to any murderers in the building, however, is the presence of Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez. That film just won its quartet of female stars a Best Actress award at Cannes — one for Zoe Saldaña; Adriana Paz; the film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón; and newly minted Emmy nominee, Benny Blanco apologist, and birthday girl Selena Gomez. Who’s the most presitigious member of Taylor Swift’s squad now, Emma Stone?
The previously announced slate includes Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut, The Deb, which will close out the show on September 15. It’s a huge coup for Wilson, who is currently being sued for defamation by some of The Deb’s producers. Wilson had accused producers of sexual harassment and embezzlement and claimed they were trying to block the film’s premiere at TIFF. “Beyond grateful that THE DEB will be shared with audiences in Toronto this September!” she wrote on Instagram. “Thank you TIFF for the selection of a film so close to my heart, a film I’ve fought to make as a first-time female director.”
This year’s fest will also include K-Pops, an Anderson .Paak–directed dramatic comedy inspired by his own life. Here’s hoping he brings that damn wig to bestow strong bob energy to the carpet.
The festival will additionally honor two Canadians, plus one worthy American who seems appropriately nice. On the northern side, Canadian director David Cronenberg will receive the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award, per a press release, and Korean Canadian actress Sandra Oh will be the inaugural Tribute Awards Honorary Chair. In the American category, Amy Adams will receive the TIFF Tribute Performer Award for her work on Nightbitch, which will also premiere at the festival. “Returning to TIFF feels like coming home, and I’m excited to serve as honorary chair for this year’s Tribute Awards,” Oh said in a press release. Below, find all the films scheduled to play the festival.
Galas
Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe — Cosima Spender
Better Man — Michael Gracey
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight — Embeth Davidtz
Eden — Ron Howard
Elton John: Never Too Late — R.J. Cutler, David Furnish
Harbin — Woo Min-ho
Meet the Barbarians — Julie Delpy
Nutcrackers — David Gordon Green
Oh, Canada — Paul Schrader
Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band — Thom Zimny
Superboys of Malegaon — Reema Kagti
The Deb — Rebel Wilson
The Friend — Scott McGehee, David Siegel
The Penguin Lessons — Peter Cattaneo
The Return — Uberto Pasolini
The Shrouds — David Cronenberg
The Wild Robot — Chris Sanders
Unstoppable — William Goldenberg
Will & Harper — Josh Greenbaum
Special Presentations
40 Acres — R.T. Thorne
All of You — William Bridges
All We Imagine As Light — Payal Kapadia
Anora — Sean Baker
Bird — Andrea Arnold
Bring Them Down — Christopher Andrews
Can I Get a Witness? — Ann Marie Fleming
Carnival Is Over — Fernando Coimbra
Caught by the Tides — Jia Zhang-Ke
Conclave — Edward Berger
Emilia Pérez — Jacques Audiard
Hard Truths — Mike Leigh
Harvest — Athina Rachel Tsangari
Heretic — Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
I’m Still Here — Walter Salles
I, the Executioner — Ryoo Seung-wan
K-Pops — Anderson .Paak
Love in the Big City — E.oni
Millers in Marriage — Edward Burns
Misericordia — Alain Guiraudie
Nightbitch — Marielle Heller
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl — Rungano Nyoni
Piece by Piece — Morgan Neville
Quisling — The Final Days — Erik Poppe
Relay — David Mackenzie
Rez Ball — Sydney Freeland
Riff Raff — Dito Montiel
Rumours — Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson
Sharp Corner — Jason Buxton
Shepherds — Sophie Deraspe
Sketch — Seth Worley
The Assessment — Fleur Fortuné
The Cut — Sean Ellis
The End — Joshua Oppenheimer
The Fire Inside — Rachel Morrison
The Girl With the Needle — Magnus von Horn
The Last Showgirl — Gia Coppola
The Life of Chuck — Mike Flanagan
The Order — Justin Kurzel
The Piano Lesson — Malcolm Washington
We Live in Time — John Crowley
Went Up the Hill — Samuel Van Grinsven
Without Blood — Angelina Jolie
Young Werther — José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço
This post has been updated.
