TIFF schedule today: Latest Knives Out mystery to make its world premiere with star-studded cast and more events on Sept. 6 | Canada Voices

TIFF highlights for Sept. 6

• Welcome to Day 3 of the Toronto International Film Festival. The first few days of the festival have already been a whirlwind. TIFF is returning to its Canadian roots with films and events featuring actors such as Ryan Reynolds and Eugene Levy as well as honoured hometown comedy legend John Candy. Read more about TIFF’s opening night here. Meanwhile, the second day brought appearances from Sydney Sweeney, Sul Kyung-gu, Hong Kyung and Cillian Murphy.
• Matthew McConaughey is also in town for the festival, and he sat down for an in-depth conversation with The Globe’s Barry Hertz about what might be his most intense performance yet with director Paul Greengrass’s new white-knuckle thriller, The Lost Bus.
• TIFF is no stranger to geopolitical controversy. But this year’s 50th edition has revolved around a far larger and more inescapable flashpoint: the back-and-forth programming of a Canadian documentary about Hamas’s attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, titled The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue. Ahead of the screening, Barry Avrich and Major-General Noam Tibon sat down for an exclusive joint interview to discuss the film’s production and its festival inclusion.
• This week, the bulk of TIFF’s headlines will belong to the antics of the many celebrities in town. But there is a whole festival ecosystem of unsung heroes, without whom Canada’s glitziest and most influential cultural event would simply not exist. Here’s a quick guide to the unsung heroes of TIFF and those working to make sure Toronto continues to keep itself in the global film industry’s good graces for another half-century or so.

The TIFF film premieres happening today

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

Director Rian Johnson’s latest in the Knives Out franchise, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, will have its world premiere today at TIFF (Sept. 6, 6 p.m., VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre). Daniel Craig returns as the eccentric private detective Benoit Blanc and leads an ensemble cast that includes Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Josh O’Connor, Andrew Scott, and Cailee Spaeny. This follow-up riffs on the gothic elements of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue – a seemingly impossible locked-room scenario involving a corpse – while still incorporating many of the series’ signature elements.

Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13.

Rental Family

The world premiere of comedy-drama Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, will make its debut this evening (Sept. 6, 8:45 p.m., Royal Alexandra Theatre). The latest film by director Hikari features an American actor in Tokyo who suffers imposter syndrome when he becomes a professional surrogate who is meant to help clients through some of life’s biggest challenges.

Rental Family screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7, 11, 12 and 13.

Poetic License

Poetic License, the directorial debut of actor Maude Apatow, will make its world premiere today at the festival (Sept. 6, 5:15 p.m., Royal Alexandra Theatre). The film focuses on the unlikely friendship between two college seniors and a mature woman auditing their poetry course, and stars Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman and Leslie Mann (Apatow’s real-life mother).

Poetic License screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7, 10, 12 and 14.

Good Fortune

The directorial debut of comedian Aziz Ansari, Good Fortune, will make its world premiere tonight (Sept. 6, 9:30 p.m., Roy Thomson Hall). It features a stellar cast – Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, Keke Palmer, and Sanda Oh – and follows a low-ranking angel (Reeves) who swaps the lives of an unlucky L.A. gig worker (Ansari) with an affluent tech bro (Rogen).

Good Fortune screens at TIFF on Sept. 6 and 7.

Sacrifice

A full-tilt climate satire that’s bound to colour your view of the TIFF red carpet, Sacrifice is premiering tonight (Sept. 6, 9:30 p.m., Princess of Wales Theatre). Anya Taylor-Joy plays an eco-cult leader set on sacrificing affluent attendees at an environmental conference to save the planet, including an actor trying to redeem his brand (Chris Evans) and a billionaire trying to add to his fortune (Vincent Cassel). Directed and co-written by Romain Gavras (Athena), the film’s packed cast also features John Malkovich, Salma Hayek Pinault, Ambika Mod and Charlie xcx.

Sacrifice screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7 and 11.

You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way)

Assuming the title of You Had to Be There is correct, the documentary promises to be the next best thing. Director Nick Davis shows how a hippie musical production of Godspell in Toronto in the early 1970s became an incubator for modern comedy. Many of its stars – including Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Victor Garber and Andrea Martin – went on to shape Saturday Night Live, SCTV and countless other programs with a distinct, and perhaps Canadian, sensibility (Sept. 6, 2 p.m., Royal Alexandra Theatre). The Globe’s Brad Wheeler takes a look at the musical’s origin story and its lasting legacy throughout the years.

You Had to Be There screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7 and 10.

Roofman

Known for stealing hearts, Channing Tatum takes a turn playing a real-life robber opposite Kirsten Dunst in Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman. The heartfelt drama about Jeffrey Manchester’s crimes and ensuing efforts to remain a free man makes its world premiere today (Sept. 6, 5:30 p.m., Roy Thomson Hall).

Roofman screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7 and 12.

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert will make its world premiere today at the festival (Sept. 6, 2:45 p.m., VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre). Director Baz Luhrmann follows up his 2022 fever-dream biopic Elvis with a documentary that features long-lost footage from the jumpsuit-wearing King of Rock ’n’ Roll’s Las Vegas residency in 1970. TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey bills the film as the “most poignant account of Presley to date.”

EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7, 12 and 14.

Midnight Madness: The Furious

The Furious from Japanese action choreographer–turned–director will make its world premiere tonight (Sept. 6, 11:59 p.m., Royal Alexandra Theatre). The action film follows a determined father who fights his way through a complex web of criminals while in pursuit of his kidnapped daughter. The film stars Xie Miao and Joe Taslim.

The Furious screens at TIFF on Sept. 6, 7, 11 and 13.

Star watch

• Festival-goers are likely to see a star-studded red carpet at the Princess of Wales Theatre for the world premiere of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery with Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, and Mila Kunis all expected to attend.
• Brendan Fraser will likely walk the red carpet for the world premiere of his movie Rental Family at Royal Alexandra Theatre.
• Other celebrities that you can likely catch in and around the festival today are Keanu Reeves, Channing Tatum, Seth Rogen, Anya Taylor-Joy, Maude Apatow, Leslie Mann and more.

The big parties and other events

• The “Road to the Golden Globes” party will be held on Sept. 6 at the Four Seasons Hotel.
• TIFF’s Festival Street returns for its 10th year, transforming a section of King Street West into a pedestrian-only zone until Sept. 7. The celebrations will extend into David Pecaut Square from Sept. 4 to 13 for open-air movie screenings and other activities. Sound of Metal, starring Riz Ahmed as a heavy metal drummer who begins to lose his hearing, will screen at David Pecaut Square on Friday, starting at 10 p.m.
• The Rogers TIFF 50 Timescape event and installation runs until Sept. 7 in Yorkville.

How to get TIFF tickets, and other common questions

How do you buy TIFF tickets?

You can buy curated ticket packages, member bundles or individual tickets to film screenings. Tickets went on sale to the general public Aug. 25, but you are still able to purchase individual tickets to screenings throughout the festival. Prices for regular screenings start at $29 and prices for premium screenings start at $43. Browse films and purchase tickets on TIFF’s website.

Where can I see this year’s festival schedule?

The TIFF schedule is available on the festival’s website and can be sorted by venue, type of screening and date.

What are “rush” tickets, and how do they work?

Festival-goers who are unable to secure a ticket online are able to wait in rush lines for screenings. About 15 minutes prior to a screening’s start time, staff will count the amount of empty seats in the cinema and sell rush tickets to those in line on a first-come, first-served basis. The TIFF website recommends arriving no earlier than 60 minutes before the screening to wait in the rush line.

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