Felix van Groeningen’s “Beautiful Boy,” Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born,” Damien Chazelle’s “First Man,” Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” and Steve McQueen’s “Widows” are among the films that will screen at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Tuesday.
More than 40 films were announced in the Galas and Special Screenings sections, in the first of several weekly announcements that will reveal the entire lineup of the festival, which is likely to total more than 200 films.
Other films that will screen in the Galas section include Melanie Laurent’s “Galveston,” Claire Denis’ “High Life,” Sara Colangelo’s “The Kindergarten Teacher,” Nicole Holofcener’s “The Land of Steady Habits,” Dan Fogelman’s “Life Itself,” Emilio Estevez’s “The Public” and Trevor Nunn’s “Red Joan.”
The Special Sections films will include Wash Westmoreland’s “Colette,” Jason Reitman’s “The Front Runner,” Kim Nguyen’s “The Hummingbird Project,” Olivier Assayas’ “Non-Fiction,” David Lowery’s “The Old Man & the Gun,” Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers,” Laszlo Nemes’ “Sunset” and Marielle Heller’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
“Patricia Rozema’s “Mouthpiece” will serve as the opening-night film for Special Sections, while the Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters, from Hirokazu Kore-eda, will close the section.
Other TIFF films that previously played Cannes include Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning,” Nadine Labaki’s “Capernaum,” Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War,” Matteo Garrone’s “Dogman,” Eva Husson’s “Girls of the Sun” and Paul Dano’s “Wildlife.”
The initial TIFF lineup is usually announced in a press conference by CEO Piers Handling and artistic director and co-head of TIFF Cameron Bailey. On Monday, the festival canceled that press conference because of the shooting that took place in Toronto on Sunday, instead announcing the films in a press release.
World premiere screenings at TIFF will include “Beautiful Boy,” “High Life,” “The Land of Steady Habits,” “Life Itself,” “Widows” and George Tillman Jr.’s “The Hate U Give” in Galas and “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “The Hummingbird Project,” Peter Hedges’ “Ben is Back,” Mia Hansen-Love’s “Maya” and Michael Winterbottom’s “The Wedding Guest” in Special Sections.
The 2018 Toronto International Film Festival will open on September 6 and run through September 16. It is the largest of the three back-to-back-to-back film festivals that kick off awards season, coming on the heels of the Venice International Film Festival and the Telluride Film Festival.
Since 2007, every one of the Oscar Best Picture winners except “Birdman” has first played Toronto.
On Wednesday, Venice will announce its lineup, which is expected to contain many of the films that will go on to play Toronto. (It’s already known that Venice will open with “First Man” and will also screen “A Star Is Born.”) Telluride keeps its titles a secret until the day before it begins, though it’s not hard to tell which films will play there.
None of the TIFF world premieres, for instance, will play Telluride or Venice. Films that are billed as North American premieres — including “A Star Is Born,” “The Sisters Brothers” and “Sunset” — may play Venice but will not go to Telluride. And Canadian premieres that will likely play Telluride include “First Man,” “The Kindergarten Teacher,” “Cold War,” “Non-Fiction” and “Roma.”
The lineup, with world premieres indicated by an asterisk:
GALAS
“Beautiful Boy,” Felix van Groeningen, USA *
“
Galveston,” Mélanie Laurent, USA
“Everybody Knows,” Asghar Farhadi, Spain/France/Italy
“
First Man,” Damien Chazelle, USA
“The Hate U Give,” George Tillman, Jr., USA *
“Hidden Man,” Jiang Wen, China
“
High Life,” Claire Denis, Germany/France/Poland/United Kingdom *
“Husband Material,” Anurag Kashyap, India *
“The Kindergarten Teacher,” Sara Colangelo, USA
“The Land of Steady Habits,” Nicole Holofcener, USA *
“
Life Itself,” Dan Fogelman, USA *
“The Public,” Emilio Estevez, USA *
“Red Joan,” Sir Trevor Nunn, United Kingdom *
“
A Star is Born,” Bradley Cooper, USA
“Shadow,” Zhang Yimou, China
“What They Had,” Elizabeth Chomko, USA
“Widows,” Steve McQueen, United Kingdom/USA *
SPECIAL SCREENINGS
“Ben is Back,” Peter Hedges, USA *
“
Burning,” Lee Chang-dong, South Korea
“
Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Marielle Heller, USA
“
Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki, Lebanon
“
Cold War,” Paweł Pawlikowski, Poland/UnitedKingdom/France
“Colette,” Wash Westmoreland, United Kingdom
“Dogman,” Matteo Garrone, Italy/France
“The Front Runner,” Jason Reitman, USA
“Giant Little Ones,” Keith Behrman, Canada
“
Girls of the Sun” (“Les filles du soleil”), Eva Husson, France
“Hotel Mumbai,” Anthony Maras, Australia *
“The Hummingbird Project,” Kim Nguyen, Canada *
“If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins, USA *
“Maya,” Mia Hansen-Løve, France *
“Manto,” Nandita Das, India
“
Monsters and Men,” Reinaldo Marcus Green, USA
“Mouthpiece,” Patricia Rozema, Canada *
“Non-Fiction,” Olivier Assayas, France
“
The Old Man & the Gun,” David Lowery, USA
“
Papi Chulo,” John Butler, Ireland *
“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico/USA
“Shoplifters,” Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
“The Sisters Brothers,” Jacques Audiard, USA/France/Romania/Spain
“Sunset,” László Nemes, Hungary/France
“Through Black Spruce,” Don McKellar, Canada *
“The Wedding Guest,” Michael Winterbottom, United Kingdom *
“The Weekend,” Stella Meghie, USA *
“
Where Hands Touch,” Amma Asante, United Kingdom *
“White Boy Rick,” Yann Demange, USA
“Wildlife,” Paul Dano, USA