The Toronto International Film Festival keeps expanding its lineup, adding more than 100 new features and 50 new shorts on Tuesday to a slate that now tops 300 films.
Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell, Robert Redford, Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Ben Mendelsohn, Shia LaBeouf, Kate Mara, Tom Hiddleston and Sandra Bullock are among the stars featured in the newly-added features, with Kendrick and Rockwell headlining the festival’s closing-night film, Paco Cabezas’ “Mr. Right.”
In the film, Kendrick plays a young woman who falls in love with a hitman played by Rockwell.
In addition to “Mr. Right,” the festival added four more galas: the world premiere of Catherine Hardwicke’s “Miss You Already,” with Toni Collette, Drew Barrymore and Dominic Cooper; Ryan Fleck’s Sundance debut “Mississippi Grind,” with Mendelsohn; and North American premieres of Alice Winocour’s “Disorder,” with Mattias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger, and Dito Montiel’s “Man Down,” with LaBeouf and Mara.
New special screenings include a number of high-profile world premieres, among them James Vanderbilt’s “Truth,” the story of Dan Rather’s fall from grace starring Redford as the CBS newsman and Blanchett as his producer, Marla Mapes; Marc Abraham’s “I Saw the Light,” a biopic of singer Hank Williams starring Hiddleston; Matthew Cullen’s “London Fields,” a crime thriller starring Depp and Amber Heard; David Gordon Green’s Bolivia-set political drama “Our Brand Is Crisis,” starring Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton; Rob Reiner’s rehab drama “Being Charlie.”
TIFF’s “world premiere” designation is a tipoff that “Truth,” “I Saw the Light” and the other films will not appear at the Telluride Film Festival, which takes place just before Toronto and does not announce its lineup in advance.
Other special screenings include North American premieres of Drake Doremus’ “Equals” and two films that played at Cannes, Nanni Moretti’s well-received “Mia Madre” and Natalie Portman’s directorial debut “A Tale of Love and Darkness.”
The City to City program, which in the past has showcased the films of Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Mumbai, Athens and Seoul, will focus for the first time on an English-speaking city, London.
Of the eight London-based films in the section, a number of the films touch on music: “Kill Your Friends” is a drama about the British music business starring Nicholas Hoult, James Corden and Rosanna Arquette; “London Road” is an adaptation of the National Theatre musical starring Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman; “Northern Soul” features Steve Coogan in a drama about the 1970s musical movement; and “Urban Hymn,” a drama from “Rob Roy” director Michael Caton-Jones about a troubled teen whose singing voice may provide her escape from tough circumstances.
The Contemporary World Cinema section added 60 films from 38 countries, including Naomi Kawase’s “An,” Ciro Guerra’s “Embrace of the Serpent,” Oliver Hermanus’ “The Endless River,” Eric Khoo’s “In the Room,” Matthew Saville’s “A Month of Sundays,” Nabil Ayouch’s “Much Loved,” Radu Muntean’s “One Floor Below,” Alex van Warmerdam’s “Schneider vs. Bax,” Corneliu Porumboiu’s “The Treasure” and Sion Sono’s “The Whispering Star.”
Several of the films will include extended post-screening Q&As in which filmmakers and scholars will discuss the issues raised by the work.
The Wavelengths section, which highlights adventurous and challenging shorts, features and art installations, will include work by such celebrated auteurs as Miguel Gomes (the three-part “Arabian Nights,” which premiered in Cannes), Chantal Ackerman (“No Home Movie,” a portrait of the director’s mother), Sergei Loznitsa (the found-footage film “The Event”) Roberto Minervi (the Louisiana-set “The Other Side”) and Ben Rivers (the Paul Bowles’ adaptation “The Sky Trembles and the Earth Is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers”).
The festival also announced 38 short films in its Short Cuts program, representing 35 different countries. The selections include “(Otto),” a new film from three Dutch directors, one of whom, Joris Oprins, was nominated for an Oscar last year for the animated short “A Single Life.”
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival will take place from Sept. 10-20. Additional programs will be announced in the coming weeks.
The newly-announced films:
GALAS
“Disorder” (“Maryland”) Alice Winocour, France/Belgium
“Man Down” Dito Montiel, USA
“Miss You Already” Catherine Hardwicke, United Kingdom
“Mississippi Grind” Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden, USA
“Mr. Right” Paco Cabezas, USA CLOSING NIGHT FILM
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“45 Years” Andrew Haigh, United Kingdom
“About Ray” Gaby Dellal, USA
“Angry Indian Goddesses” Pan Nalin, India
“Being Charlie” Rob Reiner, USA
“Body” (“Body/Cialo”) Małgorzata Szumowska, Poland
“Equals” Drake Doremus, USA
“I Saw the Light” Marc Abraham, USA
“London Fields” Matthew Cullen United Kingdom/USA
“ma ma” Julio Medem, Spain/France
“The Meddler” Lorene Scafaria, USA
“Mr. Six” (“Lao Pao Er”) Guan Hu, China
“Mustang” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Turkey/France/Germany
“My Mother” (“Mia Madre”) Nanni Moretti, Italy/France
“Our Brand Is Crisis” David Gordon Green, USA
“A Tale of Love and Darkness” Natalie Portman Israel/USA
“A Tale of Three Cities” (“San Cheng Ji”) Mabel Cheung, China
“Truth” James Vanderbilt, USA
“The Wave” Roar Uthaug, Norway
“The Witch” Robert Eggers, USA/Canada
CITY TO CITY: LONDON
“Couple in a Hole” Tom Geens, United Kingdom/Belgium/France
“The Hard Stop” George Amponsah, United Kingdom
“Kill Your Friends” Owen Harris, United Kingdom
“Kilo Two Bravo” Paul Katis, United Kingdom
“London Road” Rufus Norris, United Kingdom
“Northern Soul” Elaine Constantine, United Kingdom
“The Ones Below” David Farr, United Kingdom
“Urban Hymn” Michael Caton-Jones, United Kingdom
CONTEMPORARY WORLD CINEMA
“25 April” Leanne Pooley, New Zealand
“3000 Nights” (“3000 Layla”) Mai Masri, Palestine/France/Jordan/Lebanon/United Arab Emirates/Qatar
“An” Naomi Kawase, Japan/France/Germany
“The Apostate” (“El Apóstata”) Federico Veiroj, Spain/France/Uruguay
“As I Open My Eyes” (“A peine j’ouvre les yeux”) Leyla Bouzid, Tunisia/France/Belgium
“Baba Joon” Yuval Delshad, Israel
“Box” Florin Șerban, Romania/Germany/France
“Campo Grande” Sandra Kogut, Brazil/France
“Chevalier” Athina Rachel Tsangari, Greece
“A Copy of My Mind” Joko Anwar, Indonesia/South
“Cuckold” Charlie Vundla, South Africa
“Embrace of the Serpent” (“El Abrazo de la Serpiente”) Ciro Guerra, Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina
“The Endless River” (“La Rivière sans fin”) Oliver Hermanus, South Africa/France
“The Fear” (“La Peur”) Damien Odoul, France
“Frenzy” (“Abluka”) Emin Alper, Turkey/France
“Girls Lost” Alexandra-Therese Keining, Sweden
“Granny’s Dancing on the Table” Hanna Sköld, Sweden
“A Heavy Heart” (“Herbert”) Thomas Stuber, Germany
“Homesick” (“De nærmeste”) Anne Sewitsky, Norway
“Hong Kong Trilogy: Preschooled Preoccupied Preposterous” Christopher Doyle, Hong Kong
“Honor Thy Father” Erik Matti, Philippines
“Invisible” (“Imbisibol”) Lawrence Fajardo, Philippines/Japan
“In the Room” Eric Khoo, Hong Kong/Singapore
“Incident Light” (“La Luz Incidente”) Ariel Rotter, Argentina/France/Uruguay
“I Promise You Anarchy” (“Te prometo anarquía”) Julio Hernández Cordón, Mexico/Germany
“Ivy” (“Sarmaşik”) Tolga Karaçelik, Turkey
“Jack” Elisabeth Scharang, Austria
“Journey to the Shore” (“Kishibe no tabi”) Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan/France
“The Kind Words” (“Hamilim Hatovot”) Shemi Zarhin, Israel/Canada
“Koza” Ivan Ostrochovský, Slovakia/Czech Republic
“Lamb” Yared Zeleke, Ethiopia/France/Germany/Norway North American Premiere
“Last Cab to Darwin” Jeremy Sims, Australia
“Let Them Come” (“Maintenant ils peuvent venir”) Salem Brahimi, France/Algeria
“Magallanes” Salvador del Solar, Peru/Argentina/Colombia/Spain
“Mekko” Sterlin Harjo, USA
“A Month of Sundays” Matthew Saville, Australia
“Much Loved” Nabil Ayouch, Morocco/France
“Murmur of the Hearts” Sylvia Chang, Taiwan/Hong Kong
“One Breath” (“Ein Atem”) Christian Zübert, Germany
“One Floor Below” (“Un Etaj mai Jos”) Radu Muntean, Romania/France/Germany/Sweden
“Parisienne” (“Peur de rien”) Danielle Arbid, France
“Paths of the Soul” (“Kang Rinpoche”) Zhang Yang, China
“THE PEOPLE vs. FRITZ BAUER” (“Der Staat gegen Fritz Bauer”) Lars Kraume, Germany
“Price of Love” Hermon Hailay, Ethiopia
“Rams” (“Hrútar”) Grímur Hákonarson, Iceland
“Schneider vs. Bax” Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands/Belgium
“Song of Songs” (“Pesn pesney”) Eva Neymann, Ukraine
“Sparrows” Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland/Denmark
“Starve Your Dog” Hicham Lasri, Morocco
“The Steps” Andrew Currie, Canada
“Story of Judas” (“Histoire de Judas”) Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche, France
“Stranger” (“Zhat”) Yermek Tursunov, Kazakhstan
“Thank You for Bombing” Barbara Eder, Austria
“The Treasure” (“Comoara”) Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania/France
“Truman” Cesc Gay, Spain/Argentina
“The Whispering Star” (“Hiso Hiso Boshi”) Sion Sono, Japan
WAVELENGTHS SHORTS
Wavelengths 1: Fire in the Brain
“3D Movie” Paul Sharits, USA
“Fugue” Kerstin Schroedinger, Canada/Germany
“Prima Materia” Charlotte Pryce, USA
“The Fire in My Brain That Separates Us” Benjamin Ramírez Pérez, Germany
“Something Horizontal” Blake Williams, Canada/USA
“The Exquisite Corpus” Peter Tscherkassky, Austria
Wavelengths 2: YOLO
“A Distant Episode” Ben Rivers, UK
“An Old Dog’s Diary” Shai Heredia and Shumona Goel, India
“The Reminder” Behrouz Rae, USA
“Solo for Rich Man” Beatrice Gibson, UK
“YOLO” Ben Russell, USA/South Africa
“Analysis of Emotions and Vexations” Wojcieck Bakowski, Poland
“Bunte Kuh” Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour and Ryan Ferko, Canada/Germany
Wavelengths 3: Light Space Modulator
“Navigator” Björn Kämmerer, Austria/Germany
“Théodolitique” David K. Ross, Canada
“Office Space Modulation” Terrarea (Janis Demkiw, Emily Hogg, Olia Mishchenko) Canada
“Palms” Mary Helena Clark, Canada/USA
“Occidente” Ana Vaz, France/Portugal
“Terrestrial” Calum Walter, USA
“Tarlabaşı” Cynthia Madansky,Turkey
Wavelengths 4: Psychic Driving
“Actua1” Philippe Garrel, France (restored archival print courtesy of La Cinémathèque française)
“Time for Outrage!” Friedl vom Gröller, Austria
“Untitled” Behrouz Rae, USA
“Many Thousands Gone” Ephraim Asili, Brazil/USA
“Neither God nor Santa Maria” Samuel M. Delgado and Helena Girón, Spain
“Psychic Driving” William E. Jones, USA
“UNcirCling” John Creson and Adam Rosen, Canada
“Engram of Returning” Daïchi Saïto, Canada
WAVELENGTHS PAIRINGS
“Night without distance” (“Noite Sem Distância”) Lois Patiño, Spain/Portugal
Precedes previously announced feature-film “Minotaur” by Nicolás Pereda.
“Santa Teresa and Other Stories” (“Santa Teresa y Otras Historias”) Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, Mexico/Dominican Republic/USA
Preceded by “Paradox of Praxis 5” Francis Alÿs, Mexico
“False Start” (“Faux Départ”) Yto Barrada, Morocco/USA
Previously announced was the pairing of Isiah Medina’s “88:88” preceded by Denis Côté’s short film “May We Sleep Soundly”
WAVELENGTHS FEATURES
“Afternoon” (Na ri xia wu) Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan
“Arabian Nights: The Restless One” Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland
“Arabian Nights: The Desolate One” Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland
“Arabian Nights: The Enchanted One” Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France/Germany/Switzerland
“Eva Doesn’t Sleep” Pablo Agüero, France/Argentina/Spain
“The Event” Sergei Loznitsa, Netherlands/Belgium
“Lost and Beautiful” (“Bella e perduta”) Pietro Marcello, Italy
“No Home Movie” Chantal Akerman, Belgium
“The Other Side” Roberto Minervini, France/Italy
“The Sky Trembles and the Earth is Afraid and the Two Eyes Are Not Brothers” Ben Rivers, United Kingdom
WAVELENGTHS INSTALLATIONS
“Fallen Objects” Shambhavi Kaul, USA/India
“Fireworks (Archives)” Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thailand/Mexico
SHORT CUTS
“(Otto)” Joris Oprins, Marieke Blaauw and Job Roggeveen, Netherlands
“7 sheep” Wiktoria Szymanska, Poland/United Kingdom/Denmark/Mexico
“Barbados” Misha Manson-Smith, USA
“Beneath the Spaceship” (“Under Rymdskeppet”) Caroline Ingvarsson, Sweden
“Bird Hearts” Halfdan Olav Ullmann Tøndel, Norway
“Blue Spring” Andreea Cristina Bortun, Romania
“The Boyfriend Game” Alice Englert, Australia
“Bunny” Megha Ramaswamy, India
“The Call” Zamo Mkhwanazi, South Africa
“Concerning the Bodyguard” Kasra Farahani, USA
“(Deszcz) Rain” Malina Maria Mackiewicz, Australia
“Dragstrip” Pacho Velez and Daniel Claridge, USA
“Dream the Other” (“Soñar el otro”) Abril Schmucler Iñiguez, Mexico
“El Adiós” Clara Roquet, Spain
“End of Puberty” (“Kamaszkor vége”) Fanni Szilágyi, Hungary
“Exit/Entrance or Trasumanar” Federica Foglia, Italy/Canada
“The Fantastic Love of Beeboy & Flowergirl” Clemens Roth, Germany
“A Few Seconds” Nora El Hourch, France
“Following Diana” (“Sendiri Diana Sendiri”) Kamila Andini, Indonesia
“Hide & Seek” Kimie Tanaka, France/Japan/Singapore
“Latchkey Kids” (“Yaldey Mafteah”) Elad Goldman, Israel
“The Magnetic Nature” (“El ser magnético”) Mateo Bendesky, Argentina
“Maman(s)” Maïmouna Doucouré, France
“New Eyes” Hiwot Admasu Getaneh, France/United Kingdom
“Nulla Nulla” Dylan River, Australia
“One Last Night” (“Laila Acharon”) Kerem Blumberg, Israel
“Oslo’s Rose” The Sporadic Film Collective, Norway
“Paradise” (“Het Paradijs”) Laura Vandewynckel, Belgium
“Peacock” (“Furiant”) Ondrej Hudecek, Czech Republic
“People Are Becoming Clouds” Marc Katz, USA
“Peripheria” David Coquard-Dassault, France
“Rate Me” Fyzal Boulifa, United Kingdom
“The Return of Erkin” Maria Guskova, Russia
“Semele Myrsini Aristidou,” Cyprus/Greece/USA
“The Signalman” (“O Sinaleiro”) Daniel Augusto, Brazil
“The Society” (“Al mujtamaa”) Osama Rasheed, Iraq/Germany
“A Tale of Love, Madness and Death” (“Un Cuento de Amor, Locura y Muerte”) Mijael Bustos Gutiérrez, Chile
“THAT DOG” Nick Thorburn, USA
“Tuesday” (“SALI”) Ziya Demirel, Turkey/France
“Violet” Maurice Joyce, Ireland
“Waves ’98” Ely Dagher, Lebanon/Qatar
“Wellington Jr.” Cécile Paysant, France