The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner, and this year’s films will bring many of the world’s most beloved stars to the TIFF red carpet from September 5 to 15, including Amy Adams, Riz Ahmed, Cate Blanchett, Andrea Bocelli, Will Ferrell, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Vikander, Pharrell Williams, Robbie Williams, and many more!
This year’s lineup of 63 films from TIFF’s Gala and Special Presentations programs will include films from 25 countries, including films from directors Jacques Audiard, Edward Berger, Gia Coppola, Mike Leigh, Morgan Neville, Walter Salles, Athina Rachel Tsangari, and Jia Zhang-Ke (to name a few).
The Special Presentations lineup will include films like the post-apocalyptic thriller 40 Acres directed by R.T. Thorne about descendants of African American farmers who settled in 1875 in rural Canada after the first Civil War. Patrons can also look out for the musical crime comedy Emilia Pérez (directed by Jacques Audiard, starring Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez), the near-futuristic romance All of You (directed by William Bridges), All We Imagine as Light (a drama about three women who work at the same hospital directed by Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia), Anora (a comedy-drama film directed by Sean Baker), Bring Them Down (about an Irish shepherding family, directed by Christopher Andrews), Can I Get A Witness? (a live-action–animated feature set in the near future, starring Keira Jang, Joel Oulette, and Sandra Oh), and the international premiere of Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson, which follows the lives of the Charles family and a beloved family piano decorated by an enslaved ancestor.
The Galas lineup includes the world premiere of Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe directed by Cosima Spender, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight directed by Embeth Davidtz, Elton John: Never Too Late directed by R.J. Cutler, Meet the Barbarians directed by Julie Delpy, Nutcrackers, directed by David Gordon Green, and the North American premiere of Oh, Canada, directed by Paul Schrader, about the confessions of draft evaders who fled to Canada to avoid serving in Vietnam.
The festival will officially kick off with David Gordon Green’s Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller on September 5, and close with Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut The Deb on September 14, both making their World Premiere at Roy Thomson Hall as part of the Gala programme.
“TIFF aims to showcase both returning and first-time directors to the Festival on a big stage, and we are excited for fans to experience these two films — and the many diverse works premiering in between,” Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer of TIFF said in a statement.
Tickets for TIFF 2024 go on sale to TIFF Members by level beginning on August 16. For more details, click here. The full festival schedule will be released on August 13.
