We can expect a slimmed down edition and a whole bunch of known unknowns for the upcoming 45th edition of the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. Today they’ve released a small sampling of titles: 4 Cannes labeled items in Francis Lee’s Ammonite, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers and Suzanne Lindon’s debut Spring Blossom. Making their world premieres we find directing debuts in Ricky Staub’s shot in Philly Concrete Cowboy and Halle Berry’s MMA fighter pic Bruised starring herself. We also have Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Good Joe Bell – in what will surely be a tear-jerker of a biopic produced by Jake Gyllenhaal and starring Mark Wahlberg with Wavelengths alumni Nicolás Pereda’s (Los Cabos Work-in-Progress project) Flora also in the mix. We can expect something in the range of less than 100 feature films in all. There’ll be more titles divulged in the next couple of weeks/months ahead.
AMMONITE – Francis Lee
ANOTHER ROUND – Thomas Vinterberg
BRUISED – Halle Berry
CONCRETE COWBOY – Ricky Staub
FAUNA – Nicolás Pereda
GOOD JOE BELL – Reinaldo Green
SPRING BLOSSOM – Suzanne Lindon
TRUE MOTHERS – Naomi Kawase
Taking place September 10–19, is tailored to fit the moment, with physical screenings and drive-ins, digital screenings, virtual red carpets, press conferences and industry talks. This year’s selection comprises a lineup of 50 new feature films, five programs of short films, as well as interactive talks, film cast reunions, and Q&As with cast and filmmakers.
For the first time in its history, TIFF will launch a digital platform for the Festival, affording new opportunities to connect with audiences beyond Toronto. TIFF has partnered with Shift72 to develop this industry-leading online platform. Over the 10 days, the platform will host digital screenings, as well as numerous talks and special events.
“The pandemic has hit TIFF hard, but we’ve responded by going back to our original inspiration — to bring the very best in film to the broadest possible audience,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head, TIFF. “Our teams have had to rethink everything, and open our minds to new ideas. In countless video calls over the past three months we have rebuilt our Festival for 2020 drawing on our five decades of commitment to strong curation, support for filmmakers and engagement with audiences. We have listened to this year’s urgent calls for greater representation of underrepresented voices. You’ll see that this year at the Festival. And we have watched as audiences have embraced cinema’s ability to transport them through screens of all sizes. You’ll see that too. We’re excited to present thoughtful, high-impact programming this September that reflects our belief that there’s no stopping great storytelling.”
“TIFF has a proud history of programming award-winning films, expanding the conversation to include a multitude of voices, and in creating boundary-pushing initiatives for the industry. And this year we’ve added new innovations and ways to give back to the community. In doing so, we’re aiming to advance what a film festival is capable of delivering — for audiences and the film industry,” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, TIFF. “We could never have anticipated the global seismic changes we would be facing in 2020. We tapped into the original spirit of the Festival from when it began in 1976 as our guiding light. The distilled edition of TIFF 2020 reflects a deep love of film, passion for our loyal audiences, commitment to the industry and a whole lot of heart.”
For 2020, TIFF will be welcoming TIFF Ambassadors, 50 celebrated filmmakers and actors invited to help TIFF deliver a strong Festival this year for the film industry. They will include Ava DuVernay, Taika Waititi, Anurag Kashyap, Nicole Kidman, Martin Scorsese, Nadine Labaki, Alfonso Cuarón, Tantoo Cardinal, Riz Ahmed, Rian Johnson, Jason Reitman, Isabelle Huppert, Claire Denis, Atom Egoyan, Priyanka Chopra, Viggo Mortensen, Zhang Ziyi, David Oyelowo, Lulu Wang, Rosamund Pike, Sarah Gadon, and Denis Villeneuve, to name a few.
