Shane Slater
With Venice and Telluride getting the ball rolling, the fall festival circuit continues with the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Running from September 5 to 15, TIFF continues to be a major launching pad for awards season titles, culminating with the coveted People’s Choice Award. Awards Radar will be on the ground to provide coverage of the many films in contention for that top honor, among several other prizes on offer. Here are some of the titles we are most excited for.
STAR-STUDDED PREMIERES
After a relatively lowkey TIFF in 2023 due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, the stars are back in earnest to delight the Toronto fans. Among them is Amy Adams, who is central to one of the biggest questions surrounding awards season – Will she finally win her long overdue Oscar? Indeed, expectations are high for Adams’ latest Oscar vehicle Nightbitch, which sees her playing a stay-at-home mom whose life begins to unravel in mysterious ways. Early buzz is also strong for Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths, which sees the actress reunite with the beloved auteur Mike Leigh after their Oscar-nominated collaboration 28 years ago for Secrets and Lies.
Ron Howard will also seek to return to the Academy’s good graces after a hiatus. His new film Eden premieres in Toronto with an impressive ensemble that includes Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby and Jude Law. Billed as a survival thriller on a desert island, it’s certainly one to watch. Meanwhile the eager TIFF crowds will surely be out in full force for the world premiere of John Crowley’s We Live in Time. Boasting two of the world’s biggest stars – Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield – this romantic drama promises to be a tearjerker if its trailer is any indication. And one of the most intriguing prospects is the boxing biopic The Fire Inside, which sees Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison directing a Barry Jenkins script.
INTERNATIONAL OSCAR HOPEFULS
Want to make headway with your watchlist of the International Feature Oscar contenders? Then TIFF is the place to be. No less than five of the early submissions will screen in Toronto, among several other titles expecting to be selected. Among those confirmed is Canada’s own Oscar hopeful Universal Language, a Cannes favorite that envisions an alternate reality where Persian and French are the country’s official languages. Persian also features heavily in another Cannes winner The Seed of the Sacred Fig, a somewhat surprising pick as Germany’s official entry. With its exiled director Mohammad Rasoulof and a storyline surrounding national protests, this drama definitely packs a political punch. Meanwhile, the most significant political topic of the day is the focus of another submission From Ground Zero, which features the work of 22 Palestinian directors documenting the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
For comparatively lighter fare, you’ll want to check out Flow, an animated film from Latvia. Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, it’s a tale of a crew of animals embarking on an apocalyptic adventure. And finally, rounding out TIFF’s International Oscar submissions is Japan’s psychological thriller Cloud, directed by the highly regarded Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
DOCUMENTARIES
One of the unsung strengths of TIFF’s programming is its Docs section and 2024 promises another excellent lineup. Indeed, audiences will be treated to some of the most acclaimed non-fiction work of the year, such as the topical Berlinale Documentary Award winner No Other Land, joining the aforementioned From Ground Zero as a powerful double feature about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For a more playful option, there’s also Morgan Neville’s Piece by Piece, which depicts Pharrell Williams’ life story using animated Lego pieces.
Following up its Venice premiere is the fascinating and elegantly crafted Mistress Dispeller, which centers a woman and the titular mistress dispeller she hires to disrupt her husband’s affair. The latest documentaries from two of cinema’s most prominent anti-colonial filmmakers – Mati Diop and Raoul Peck – will also on be display. The former brings her Golden Bear-winning Dahomey, while the latter returns to the fest with Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, winner of the Cannes Documentary Prize.
DISCOVERIES
While the big name actors and directors will surely steal all the headlines, TIFF also offers promising directorial debuts. Indeed, the Discovery section spotlights directors making their first or second features, with films from all over the world. One highlight of the program is Bonjour Tristesse, directed by Durga Chew-Bose, which has already won TIFF’s Emerging Talent award. Also premiering in this section is Mother Mother, the filmmaking debut of Grammy-winning recording artist K’naan Warsame (most known for his World Cup anthem “Waving Flag”). This Somalia-set drama follows a a widowed camel farmer and an American visitor.
Elsewhere, there’s good word of mouth surrounding the Gala Presentation Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, from actor-turned-director Embeth Jean Davidtz. The film is based on a memoir of the same name about a White Zimbabwean family’s experiences during the Rhodesian Bush War. Two familiar below-the-line talents will also be trying their hand at directing, namely cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto with Pedro Páramo, and film editor William Goldenberg, who directs Unstoppable starring Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez.
Stay tuned for Awards Radar’s daily coverage of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival from September 5th to 15th.
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