The 49th Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its Special Presentations and Gala slate which comprises a total of 63 films. Full lineup HERE.
These two sections will mark the world premieres of such titles as Ron Howard’s “Eden,” David Gordon Green’s “Nutrackers,” Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” Marielle Heller’s “Nitghbitch,” Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” David Mackenzie’s “Relay,” Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck,” John Crowley’s “We Live in Time,” Angelina Jolie’s “Without Blood,” Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside,” Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ “Heretic” and Thom Zimny’s “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.”
What does this mean for Venice? I’ll have more on that in an hour or so, but based on TIFF premiere status, Edward Berger’s “Conclave” Scott McGehee/David Siegel’s “The Friend,” Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End,” Malcolm Washington’s “The Piano Lesson,” and Michael Gracey’s “Better Man” are all Telluride-bound.
It does look as though Venice-bound titles such as Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer,” Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie a Deux,” Pedro Almodovar’s “The Room Next Door,” Julian Schnabel’s “In the Hands of Dante,” RaMell Moss’ “Nickel Boys,” Jon Watts’ “Wolfs” and Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” will not be headed to TIFF.
Toronto is still supposed to announce other sections in the coming weeks, including Midnight Madness, Centerpiece, Docs, Discovery, Platform and Wavelengths.
I’ve been going to TIFF for the last 15 years. I’m incredibly tempted to skip it this year and just do the full 11 days at Venice. Toronto isn’t what it used to be. A LOT of marquee films now skip TIFF and there’s the overall sense in the industry that you don’t need to go there anymore to mount any kind of Oscar campaign — especially with Venice and Telluride leading the way.
The 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival will be held from September 5 to 15, 2024.