World premieres of John Wells‘ “August: Osage County,” Jason Reitman‘s “Labor Day,” Matthew Weiner’s “You Are Here” and Steve McQueen‘s “12 Years a Slave” will highlight the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Tuesday morning.
The festival will kick off with Bill Condon‘s WikiLeaks movie “The Fifth Estate,” starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Julian Assange, and close with Daniel Schecter’s Elmore Leonard adaptation “Life of Crime.”
For Reitman, the booking of “Labor Day” (left) means a return to the festival where he premiered all of his movies until 2011’s “Young Adult,” and to the city where a square outside festival headquarters is named after his family.
Also in the extensive lineup of galas and special presentations: Alfonso Cuaron’s ComicCon sensation “Gravity” (which is also opening the Venice Film Festival), Ron Howard’s auto-racing drama “Rush,” Stephen Frears’ “Philomena,” Kelly Reichardt’s “Night Moves,” Jean-Marc Vallee’s “The Dallas Buyers Club” and Abdelatif Kechiche’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Blue Is the Warmest Color.”
See photos: 15 of the Movies Set to Light Up Toronto – And Awards Season
If recent history is any indication, one of those films – or something else screening at Toronto this year – will win the Academy Award for Best Picture next March. Since “Slumdog Millionaire” took Toronto by storm in 2008, the festival has served as a key showcase for every single Best Picture winner: “Slumdog,” “The Hurt Locker,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Artist” and “Argo.”
At least for now, the lineup is missing a number of films thought to be key awards-season players, including Paul Greengrass’ “Captain Phillips,” the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” and Bennett Miller’s “Foxcatcher.”
The 17 galas, 56 special presentations and one Midnight Madness selection revealed at a press conference on Tuesday are only a part of the TIFF lineup, to which hundreds more films, including extensive slates of documentaries and Canadian features, will be added over the next few weeks. Typically, a handful of high-profile titles are added as well.
Other films announced on Tuesday include “The Railway Man,” Jonathan Teplitzky’s drama starring Colin Firth as a real-life British officer who tracks down the Japanese officer who tortured him in a World War II prison camp; Peter Chadwick’s “Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom” (right), with Idris Elba as the South African hero; Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin,” with Scarlett Johansson as an alien in human form; “Devil’s Knot,” Atom Egoyan’s fictionalized drama based on the West Memphis 3 case; “Can a Song Save Your Life?,” with “Once” director John Carney and a cast that includes Kiera Knightley; Nicole Holofcener’s “Enough Said,” with Catherine Keener; and “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His & Hers,” the feature debut of Ned Benson, with James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain in two different versions of the same story.
The announced films also included several directed by actors: Jason Bateman’s “Bad Words,” Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s “Don Jon,” Ralph Fiennes’ “The Invisible Woman” and Keanu Reeves’ “Man of Tai Chi.”
And only one day after the project was first announced by A&E IndieFilms, actor/comic Mike Myers’ documentary about a legendary rock ‘n’ roll talent manager, “Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon,” was announced as the sole doc among the festival’s galas.
In addition to “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” the Cannes entries going to Toronto include Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty,” Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s “Like Father, Like Son,” Jim Jarmusch’s “Only Lovers Left Alive,” Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past” and Francois Ozon’s “Young and Beautiful.”
Gia Milani’s “All the Wrong Reasons,” a drama that features one of the last performances from Cory Monteith and was reported to be set for Toronto, was not on the list of galas and special performances, and a Toronto spokesperson declined to comment on whether it had been booked. Director Milani is Canadian and the film was shot in Nova Scotia, which means it could be held back for a subsequent announcement of Canadian programming.
The documentary website RealScreen has reported that docs at Toronto will include Errol Morris’ “The Unknown Known: The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfield,” Alex Gibney’s “Lance Armstrong: The Road Back,” Jennifer Baichwal’s “Watermark” “and Claude Lanzmann’s “Les Dernier des Injustes” (“The Last of the Unjust”), though those announcements will come at a later date.
This year’s TIFF opens on Sept. 5 and runs through Sept. 15.
The lineup:
OPENING NIGHT
The Fifth Estate Bill Condon, USA (World Premiere)
CLOSING NIGHT
Life of Crime Daniel Schecter USA (World Premiere)
GALAS
American Dreams in China Peter Ho-Sun Chan, Hong Kong/China (North American Premiere)
The Art of the Steal Jonathan Sobol, Canada (World Premiere)
August: Osage County John Wells, USA (World Premiere)
Cold Eyes CHO Ui-seok and KIM Byung-seo, Korea (North American Premiere)
The Grand Seduction Don McKellar, Canada (World Premiere)
Kill Your Darlings John Krokidas, USA (International Premiere)
The Love Punch Joel Hopkins, France (World Premiere)
The Lunchbox Ritesh Batra, India/France/Germany (North American Premiere)
Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom Peter Chadwick (World Premiere)
Parkland Peter Landesman, USA (World Premiere)
The Railway Man Jonathan Teplitzky, Australia/United Kingdom (World Premiere)
The Right Kind of Wrong Jeremiah Chechik, Canada (World Premiere)
Rush Ron Howard, United Kingdom/Germany (International Premiere)
Shuddh Desi Romance Maneesh Sharma, India (Canadian Premiere)
Supermensch The Legend of Shep Gordon Mike Myers, USA (World Premiere)
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
All Is By My Side John Ridley, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Attila Marcel Sylvain Chomet, France (World Premiere)
Bad Words Jason Bateman, USA (World Premiere)
Belle Amma Asante, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Blue Is The Warmest Color Abdellatif Kechiche, France (North American Premiere)
Burning Bush Agnieszka Holland, Czech Republic (North American Premiere)
Can a Song Save Your Life? John Carney, USA (World Premiere)
Cannibal (Caníbal) Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain/Romania/Russia/France (World Premiere)
Dallas Buyers Club Jean-Marc Vallée, USA (World Premiere)
Devil’s Knot Atom Egoyan, USA (World Premiere)
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him and Her Ned Benson, USA
Dom Hemingway Richard Shepard, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Don Jon Joseph Gordon-Levitt, USA (Canadian Premiere)
The Double Richard Ayoade, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Enough Said Nicole Holofcener, USA (World Premiere)
Exit Marrakech Caroline Link, Germany (International Premiere)
Felony Matthew Saville, Australia (World Premiere)
For Those Who Can Tell No Tales Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia and Herzegovina (World Premiere)
Gloria Sebastián Lelio, Chile/Spain (North American Premiere)
Going Away (Il est parti dimanche) Nicole Garcia, France (World Premiere)
Gravity Alfonso Cuarón, USA/United Kingdom (North American Premiere)
The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) Paolo Sorrentino, Italy (North American Premiere)
Half of a Yellow Sun Biyi Bandele Nigeria/United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Hateship Loveship Liza Johnson, USA (World Premiere)
L’intrepido Gianni Amelio, Italy (North American Premiere)
Ida Pawel Pawlikowski, Poland (World Premiere)
The Invisible Woman Ralph Fiennes, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Joe David Gordon Green, USA (North American Premiere)
Labor Day Jason Reitman, USA (World Premiere)
Like Father, Like Son Hirokazu Kore-Eda, Japan (North American Premiere)
Man of Tai Chi Keanu Reeves, USA/China (North American Premiere)
MARY, Queen of Scots Thomas Imbach, France/Switzerland (North American Premiere)
Mystery Road Ivan Sen Australia (International Premiere)
Night Moves Kelly Reichardt, USA (North American Premiere)
Omar Hany Abu-Assad, Palestine (North American Premiere)
One Chance David Frankel, USA (World Premiere)
Only Lovers Left Alive Jim Jarmusch, USA (North American Premiere)
The Past (Le Passé) Asghar Farhadi, France/Italy (North American Premiere)
Philomena Stephen Frears, United Kingdom (North American Premiere)
Pioneer Erik Skjoldbjærg, Norway (International Premiere)
Prisoners Denis Villeneuve, USA (World Premiere)
Quai d’Orsay Bertrand Tavernier, France (World Premiere)
REAL (リアル～完å…¨なるé¦-長竜のæ–¥～) Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Japan (North American Premiere)
Starred Up David Mackenzie United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Third Person Paul Haggis, Belgium (World Premiere)
Those Happy Years (Anni Felici) Daniele Luchetti Italy (World Premiere)
Tracks John Curran, United Kingdom/Australia (North American Premiere)
12 Years a Slave Steve McQueen, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
Under the Skin Jonathan Glazer, USA/United Kingdom (North American Premiere)
Violette Martin Provost, France/Belgium (World Premiere)
Visitors Godfrey Reggio, USA (World Premiere)
Walesa. Man of Hope. (Walesa. Czlowiek z nadziei.) Andrzej Wajda, Poland (North American Premiere)
We are the Best! Lukas Moodysson, Sweden (North American Premiere)
Le Week-End Roger Michell, United Kingdom (World Premiere)
You Are Here Matthew Weiner, USA (World Premiere)
Young and Beautiful (Jeune & jolie) François Ozon, France/Belgium (North American Premiere)
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane Jonathan Levine (free screening)
