The 42nd edition of TIFF is on. Today Piers Handling and Cameron Bailey let the world know ours is still the festival to beat. They shared films in the Gala and Special Presentations sections in a news conference today at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto.
The 14 Galas and 33 Special Presentations represent 25 World Premieres, eight International Premieres, six North American Premieres, and eight Canadian Premieres, with films from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, India, Egypt, and Cambodia.
This year’s TIFF will be a bit less frantic as it’s been slimmed down but remains the number one film festival in the world. Organizers say “TIFF offers a refreshed, more tightly curated Festival, with a renewed commitment to bold, director-driven programming, continued support of female filmmakers, and enough star power to fuel 400,000 festival-goers”
Key dates for access to TIFF are found at the end of the story.
GALAS 2017
Opening Night film – TBD
Breathe | Andy Serkis, starring Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy and Hugh Bonneville
The Catcher Was A Spy | Ben Lewin, with Paul Rudd as Major League Baseball player Moe Berg, who was a spy for the Office of Strategic Services
Darkest Hour | Joe Wright, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, and Lily James and Ben Mendelsohn
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool | Paul McGuigan, starring Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters and Vanessa Redgrave
Long Time Running | Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, starring Gord Downie and The Tragically Hip
Mary Shelley | Haifaa Al Mansour, starring Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth, Joanne Froggatt, Tom Sturridge, Maisie Williams and Stephen Dillane
The Mountain Between Us | Hany Abu-Assad, starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet
Mudbound | Dee Rees, starring starring Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Mary J. Blige and Carey Mulligan
Stronger | David Gordon Green, starring Jake Gyllenhaal Tatiana Maslany
Untitled Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart Film | Neil Burger starring same
The Wife | Björn Runge
Woman Walks Ahead | Susanna White starring Jessica Chastain, Ciaran Hinds and Michael Greyeyes
Kings / Deniz Gamze Ergüven, starring Daniel Craig and Halle Berry
Closing Night Film
C’est la vie! | Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano, starring Suzanne Clement, Gilles Lellouche, Eye Haïdara, and Jean-Pierre Bacri. C’est la vie! Screening at Roy Thomson Hall on September 16
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 2017
Special Presentations Opening Film
Lady Bird | Greta Gerwig directorial debut starring Saoirse Ronan
Special Presentations Closing Film
Sheikh Jackson | Amr Salama, starring Basma, Ahmad El-Fishawi, Ahmed Malek
Battle of the Sexes | Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton, starring Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Elisabeth Shue
BPM (Beats Per Minute) | Robin Campillo
The Brawler | Anurag Kashyap
The Breadwinner | Nora Twomey, with voices of Saara Chaudry, Laara Sadiq, Shaista Latif
Call Me By Your Name | Luca Guadagnino, starring Armie Hammer
Catch the Wind | Gaël Morel, starring
The Children Act | Richard Eyre starring Emma Thompson
The Current War | Alfonso Gomez-Rejon starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Tom Holland and Nicholas Hoult
Disobedience | Sebastián Lelio starring Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz
Downsizing | Alexander Payne, satire starring Matt Damon
A Fantastic Woman | Sebastián Lelio, starring Daniela Vega, Francisco Reyes, Luis Gnecco
First They Killed My Father | directed by Angelina Jolie, who also co-wrote based on Cambodian human rights activist Loung Ung’s memoir
The Guardians | Xavier Beauvois
Hostiles | Scott Cooper starring Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike, Adam Beach and Ben Foster
The Hungry | Bornila Chatterjee, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Tisca Chopra, Antonio Aakeel
I, Tonya | Craig Gillespie, starring Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan and Allison Janney
Mother! | Darren Aronofsky, starring Jennifer Lawrence
Novitiate | Maggie Betts, starring Liana Liberato, Margaret Qualley, Dianna Agron
Omerta | Hansal Mehta, starring Rajkummar Rao, Gerald Maliqi, Rupinder Nagra
Plonger | Mélanie Laurent, starring Gilles Lellouche, María Valverde, Ibrahim Ahmed
The Price of Success | Teddy Lussi-Modeste, starring Tahar Rahim, Roschdy Zem, Maïwenn
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women | Angela Robinson, starring Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote and Connie Britton
The Rider | Chloé Zhao, starring Brady Jandreau, Tim Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau
A Season in France | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
The Shape of Water | Guillermo del Toro, starring Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Doug Jones and Michael Stuhlbarg
The Square | Ruben Östlund, starring Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West
Submergence | Wim Wenders, starring James McAvoy, Alicia Vikander and Charlotte Rampling
Suburbicon | George Clooney, starring Matt Damon, Oscar Isaac, Julianne Moore
Thelma | Joachim Trier, starring Eili Harboe, Okay Kaya, Ellen Dorrit Petersen
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Martin McDonagh starring Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell.
Victoria and Abdul | Stephen Frears, starring Judi Dench, Adeel Akhtar, Michael Gambon, Olivia Williams
Planning Your Festival:
Packages off-sale at 7pm
August 21 Flex pack buyers receive email with package ticket selection start time
August 22 Schedule goes live on tiff.net
August 24 Patrons Circle individual tickets on sale
August 27 Member package fulfillment begins (determined by level)
August 29 Public package fulfillment begins
August 31 All package redemption windows close at 10pm
September 2 Member individual tickets pre-sale (10am—4pm) — only on tiff.net
September 3 Insider individual tickets pre-sale (10am—4pm) — only on ticketmaster.ca
September 4 Public individual tickets on sale (10am—4pm) — only on ticketmaster.ca
September 5 Individual ticket sales resume on tiff.net and ticketmaster.ca at 7am
Exchanges begin at 12pm (7am for TIFF Members)
by @annebrodie
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