The 2012 Toronto Intenational Film Festival will kick off on September 6 with director Rian Johnson's sci-fi thriller "Looper," TIFF announced on Tuesday.
The Bruce Willis/Joseph Gordon-Levitt time-travel thriller (photo below) will serve as the gala opening-night attraction at a festival whose lineup will also include the world or international premieres of Ben Affleck's "Argo," Mike Newell's "Great Expectations," Roger Michell's "Hyde Park on Hudson," David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook," Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina," Neil Jordan's "Byzantium," Costa-Gavras's "Capital," the Wachowskis' "Cloud Atlas," Joss Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" and Derek Cianfrance's "The Place Beyond the Pines."
The festival will also present North American premieres of Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep," Billy Bob Thornton's "Jane Mansfield's Car" and Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder."
In additional, Toronto will showcase a number of international films that screened at the Cannes Film Festival, including Matteo Garrone's "Reality," Jacques Audiard's "Rust and Bone," Wayne Blair's "The Sapphires," Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt" and Pablo Larrain's "No."
"The Sessions," Ben Lewin's film that received praise at Sundance under its former title, "The Surrogate," is also part of the TIFF lineup.
Also on what an appears to be a full and deep lineup: Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut, "Quartet," "The Kids Are All Right" writer Stuart Blumberg's "Thanks for Sharing," Sally Potter's "Ginger and Rose," Noah Baumbach's "Frances Ha," Stephen Chbosky's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," with Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, and the animated "A Liar's Autobiography – the Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman."
The festival, which will run from September 6 through September 16, also announced its new BlackBerry People's Choice Award, an audience award that will allow moviegoers to use their tickets as ballots to vote at the theater or online.
Additional films will be announced in the coming weeks.
The announced lineup:
GALAS
A Royal Affair
Nikolai Arcel, Denmark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany North American Premiere
Starring Mads Mikkelsen and Alicia Vikander.
Argo (photo at right)
Ben Affleck, USA World Premiere
Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Kyle Chandler.
The Company You Keep
Robert Redford, USA North American Premiere
Starring Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Nick Nolte.
Dangerous Liaisons
Hur Jin-ho, China North American Premiere
Starring Dong-gun Jang, Zhang Ziyi
English Vinglish
Gauri Shinde, India World Premiere
Starring Sridevi.
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners
Shola Lynch, USA/France World Premiere
Great Expectations
Mike Newell, United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter and Jeremy Irvine.
Hyde Park on Hudson
Roger Michell, United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, Samuel West, Olivia Colman and Laura Linney
Inescapable
Ruba Nadda, Canada World Premiere
Starring Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei and Joshua Jackson.
Jayne Mansfield’s Car
Billy Bob Thornton, USA/Russia North American Premiere
Starring Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon, Billy Bob Thornton and John Hurt.
Looper
Rian Johnson, USA World Premiere
Starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano and Jeff Daniels.
Love, Marilyn
Liz Garbus, USA World Premiere
Featuring Elizabeth Banks, Lindsay Lohan, Evan Rachel Wood, Ben Foster, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Viola Davis, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Burstyn, Adrien Brody, Marisa Tomei and Glenn Close.
Midnight’s Children
Deepa Mehta, Canada/ United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Ronit Roy, Rahul Bose, Kulbushan Kharbanda, Soha Ali Khan, Anita Majumdar, Zaib Shaikh and Darsheel Safary.
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mira Nair, USA North American Premiere
Starring Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Liev Schreiber.
Silver Linings Playbook
David O. Russell, USA World Premiere
Starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro Jacki Weaver and Chris Tucker.
Thermae Romae
Hideki Takeuchi, Japan North American Premiere
Starring Hiroshi Abe, Aya Ueto.
Twice Born
Sergio Castellitto, Italy/Spain/Croatia World Premiere
Starring Penelope Cruz and Emile Hirsch.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
A Few Hours of Spring
Stéphane Brizé, France North American Premiere
Anna Karenina
Joe Wright, United Kingdom International Premiere
Starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
At Any Price
Ramin Bahrani, United Kingdom/USA North American Premiere
Starring Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron.
The Attack
Ziad Doueiri, France World Premiere
Byzantium
Neil Jordan, United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley and Saoirse Ronan.
Capital
Costa-Gavras, France World Premiere
Starring Gad Elmaleh and Gabriel Byrne.
Caught in the Web
Chen Kaige, Japan/China International Premiere
Starring Mark Chao, Chen Hong and Gao Yuanyuan.
Cloud Atlas
Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, USA World Premiere
Starring Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Hugh Grant.
The Deep (Djúpi•)
Baltasar Kormákur, Iceland/Norway World Premiere
Starring Ólafur Darri Ólafsson.
Dormant Beauty
Marco Bellocchio, Italy/France International Premiere
Starring Isabelle Huppert, Toni Servillo, Alba Rohrwacher, Michele Riondino, Maya Sansa, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Brenno Placido, Fabrizio Falco, Gian Marco Tognazzi, Roberto Herlitzka.
Dreams for Sale
Nishikawa Miwa, Japan World Premiere
Starring Matsu Takako, Abe Sadavo and Tanaka Lena.
End Of Watch
David Ayer, USA World Premiere
Everybody Has A Plan
Ana Piterbarg, Argentina International Premiere
Starring Viggo Mortensen.
Foxfire
Laurent Cantet, France/Canada World Premiere
Starring Ali Liebert and Tamara Hope.
Frances Ha
Noah Baumbach, USA World Premiere
Starring Greta Gerwig.
Ginger and Rosa
Sally Potter, United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Annette Bening and Alessandro Nivola.
Hannah Arendt
Margarethe von Trotta, Germany World Premiere
Starring Janet McTeer and Barbara Sukowa.
The Hunt
Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark North American Premiere
Starring Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen and Annika Wedderkopp.
The Iceman
Ariel Vromen, USA North American Premiere
Starring Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, David Schwimmer, Michael Shannon and Ray Liotta.
Imogene
Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman, USA World Premiere
Starring Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, Darren Criss and Kristen Wiig.
The Impossible
J.A. Bayona, Spain/USA World Premiere
Starring Naomi Watts, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast and Ewan McGregor.
In the House
François Ozon, France World Premiere
Starring Kristin Scott Thomas.
Kon-Tiki
Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, United Kingdom/Norway/Denmark International Premiere
The Last Supper
Lu Chuan, China World Premiere
A Late Quartet
Yaron Zilberman, USA World Premiere
Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Ivanir, Imogen Poots, Christopher Walken and Catherine Keener.
A Liar’s Autobiography — The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman
Ben Timlett, Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson, United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Carol Cleveland and Philip Bulcock.
Lore
Cate Shortland, Australia/United Kingdom/Germany North American Premiere
Starring Saskia Rosendahl and Kai Malina.
Mr. Pip
Andrew Adamson, New Zealand World Premiere
Starring Hugh Laurie, Xzannjah Matsi, Healesville Joel, Eka Darville and Kerry Fox.
Much Ado About Nothing
Joss Whedon, USA World Premiere
Starring Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Jillian Morgese, Nathan Fillion, Spencer Treat Clark and Riki Lindhome.
No
Pablo Larraín, Chile/USA North American Premiere
Starring Gael García Bernal
Outrage Beyond
Takeshi Kitano, Japan North American Premiere
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky, USA World Premiere
Starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Nina Dobrev, Melanie Lynskey, Paul Rudd and Dylan McDermott.
The Place Beyond the Pines
Derek Cianfrance, USA World Premiere
Starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta and Eva Mendes.
Quartet
Dustin Hoffman, United Kingdom World Premiere
Starring Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins.
Reality
Matteo Garrone, Italy/France North American Premiere
Starring Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Nando Paone, Nello Iorio and Nunzia Schiano.
Rust and Bone
Jacques Audiard, France/Belgium North American Premiere
Starring Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts.
The Sapphires
Wayne Blair, Australia North American Premiere
Starring Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell.
The Sessions
Ben Lewin, USA International Premiere
Starring John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy.
Tai Chi 0
Stephen Fung, China North American Premiere
Thanks for Sharing
Stuart Blumberg, USA World Premiere
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad and Joely Richardson.
The Time Being
Nenad Cicin-Sain, USA World Premiere
Starring Wes Bentley and Frank Langella.
To The Wonder
Terrence Malick, USA North American Premiere
Starring Olga Kurylenko, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel McAdams.
Venus & Serena
Maiken Baird, USA World Premiere
Writers
Josh Boone, USA World Premiere
Starring Liana Liberato, Jennifer Connelly, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins and Kristen Bell.
Zaytoun
Eran Riklis, United Kingdom/Israel World Premiere
Starring Stephen Dorff.