Breaking Down the TIFF 2020 Lineup

The Toronto International Film Festival is entering uncharted territories for its 45th edition. This year, they have to deal with the fact that a pandemic is going on, and watching a movie in public spaces may not be the most ideal and safe way of going about it.

And so, they have cut down their usual lineup of 300+ films to just 50 titles this year, which makes it far easier to navigate and decipher what may be worthy of a watch. Well, anyway, it turns out that most of the titles chosen this year deserve to be given a shot. From in-house World Premieres, to titles from film festivals such as Venice, Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, and SXSW (There are zero Berlin titles) — this is an eclectic bunch of films.

I’ve split the 50 titles to find a distinction and better understand what we’re dealing with in terms of selection and worthiness. I would pay close attention to the Venice selections, as is usually the case, whenever Toronto and Venice choose the same film, chances are it’s going to be a worthy watch:

25 World Premieres:

“Bruised,” “Concrete Cowboy,” “American Utopia,” “Good Joe Bell,” “I Care a Lot,” “MLK/FBI,” “One Night in Miami,” “Penguin Bloom,” “Shadow in the Cloud,” “The Third Day,” “Wildfire,” “180 Degree Rule,” “76 Days,” “Bandar Band,” “Beans,” “Fauna,” “Fireball,” “Get the Hell Out,” “Inconvenient Indian,” “The Inheritance,” “Lift Like A Girl,” “No Ordinary Man,” “A Suitable Boy,” “Under the Open Sky,” “Violation,”

11 Venice titles:

“The Disciple,” “Nomadland,” “Notturno,” “New Order,” “Pieces of a Woman,” “Quo Vadis, Aïda?,” “City Hall,” “The Best is Yet to Come,” “Gazamonamour,” “Night of the Kings,” and “Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time”

9 Cannes-labeled titles:

“Ammonite,” “Another Round,” “Ete 85,” “Memory House,” “True Mothers,” “Limbo,” “Spring Blossom,” and “Beginning.”

2 Sundance titles:

“The Father,” and “Falling”

1 SXSW title:

“Shiva Baby”

1 Tribeca title

“Enemies of the State”