The Toronto Film Festival returns for its 49th edition next month and we will be there! Here are 25 movies to watch at TIFF 2024 from September 5-15.
Known as one of the biggest film festivals in the world, the Toronto International Film Festival is often an early indicator of awards season success. This year, the festival will take place across September 5-15, 2024. The programme, now fully available on the TIFF website, is a doozy. We’ve compiled a list of 25 movies to watch, including some excitingly big names, alternative treats and the homegrown Canadian talent we have come to expect from the festival.
Thirteen programmes will take place across the 11 days, with prizes awarded at the end of the festival including Best Canadian Feature Film, the Platform Award and the People’s Choice Award, a regular predictor of future gongs at the Oscars.
So for those of you with a keen eye for awards favourites, or a simple love of inspiring cinema from around the world, this is not to be missed. Check out our picks below!
1. Aberdeen
DISCOVERY
Directors & Writers: Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas
Country: Canada
It’s not a portrait of Scotland’s third biggest city, but don’t let that put you off. Aberdeen’s exploration of urgent themes such as homelessness, climate change and the issues facing indigenous communities makes this a Canadian must-see. Enjoying its world premiere at TIFF, Aberdeen stars Gail Maurice as a grandmother fighting a cruel system to ensure stability for her family. It also marks the directorial debut of First Nations filmmakers Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas.
2. A Missing Part
CENTREPIECE
Director & Writer: Guillaume Senez
Countries: Belgium, France
This second collaboration between Belgian director Guillaume Senez and The Animal Kingdom’s Romain Duris is an intriguing realist piece about a French father’s quest to reunite with his Japanese daughter. Forced to battle a legal system that provides few rights to foreign parents in custody conflicts, he finds himself part of a unique community of expats in similar, heartbreaking situations. An intimate family drama with a broader social commentary weaved into its narrative, this potential tear-jerker will premiere at TIFF this year.
3. Anora
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Sean Baker
Country: USA
This eighth feature from Sean Baker won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year and, more importantly, a glowing review from Loud and Clear. Following the turbulent relationship between Mikey Maddison’s sex worker Anora and the son of a Russian oligarch, this comedy-drama is being described as Baker’s magnum opus. Our editor Serena Seghedoni called the “riotously funny” film “not only his most mature work so far, but also his best film to date.”
4. The Assessment
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Fleur Fortuné
Countries: United Kingdom, Germany, United States of America
Alicia Vikander and Elizabeth Olsen appear in this sci-fi thriller, the directorial debut of French filmmaker Fleur Fortuné. Set in a future world destroyed by climate change, a couple must pass an assessment before they are allowed to have a child. The process is invasive and anxiety-inducing, as the couple’s relationship is forensically examined, exposing hard truths and causing a divide between them. Himesh Patel of Good Grief also stars in this psychological drama, which will have its world premiere at the festival.
5. Bonjour Tristesse
DISCOVERY
Director & Writer: Darga Chew-Bose
Countries: Canada, Germany
Adapted from the seminal coming-of-age novel by Françoise Sagan, this debut from Montréal-based filmmaker Durga Chew-Bose explores the complexity of relationships between women and the difficulties of growing up. Young adult Cécile (Lily McInerny) wants for nothing, holidaying on the French Riviera with her somewhat promiscuous father (Claes Bang), when her late mother’s friend Anne (Chloë Sevigny) crashes into her life again, revealing a series of uncomfortable truths. This is the first big-screen adaptation of Sagan’s book since 1958, and may just prove to be the best yet.
6. Can I Get A Witness?
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Ann Marie Fleming
Country: Canada
Here we have another Canadian world premiere, this time starring the brilliant Sandra Oh. Eight years since her last feature, Ann Marie Fleming returns with an environmental sci-fi flick that combines live-action footage and animation, in step with the director’s previous work. Set in the near future, when technology and travel are almost completely banned and nobody is permitted to live beyond 50, the film follows Oh’s character Ellie and her daughter Kiah (Keira Jang), an animator who draws the ‘dying ceremonies’ of this new world order. It looks to be a disquieting, if imaginatively conjured, vision of our future.
7. Eden
GALA PRESENTATIONS
Director: Ron Howard
Country: USA
The director of A Beautiful Mind, Solo: A Star Wars Story and Hillbilly Elegy is back with Eden, a historical thriller with quite possibly the most star-studded cast of TIFF ‘24. Sydney Sweeney, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby and Jude Law star as Europeans settling on a Galápagos island in the 1920s, in the hope of leaving western civilisation behind and starting anew in their own little paradise. Life on the island is arduous, and made worse by the personal politics that start to brew as its population grows. We can expect suspense, intrigue and explosive drama, all set to a gorgeous Pacific backdrop.
8. Emilia Pérez
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Jacques Audiard
Country: France
This one was a huge hit at Cannes in May, winning the Jury Prize and earning its ensemble cast the Best Actress award. Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez star in this musical crime comedy film like nothing you’ve seen before. Appearing alongside the two US stars is trans actor Karla Sofía Gascón in the title role, playing an escaped Mexican cartel leader undergoing sex reassignment surgery and searching for a new start. The latest film from Jacques Audiard looks like quite the departure from previous work Rust and Bone and The Sisters Brothers, with our own Philip Bagnall claiming that “Saldaña gives her best performance yet” as lawyer Rita.
9. The End
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Joshua Oppenheimer
Countries: Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom, Sweden
And here’s another big name veering into musical territory! Best known for his widely acclaimed documentary The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer returns to TIFF with his fiction debut The End. Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon and George MacKay star in this sombre musical about the last family on Earth after environmental collapse has destroyed society. We can’t wait to see what the US documentarian does with his first narrative film.
10. Families Like Ours
PRIMETIME
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Countries: Denmark, France, Sweden, Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway, Germany
If you have 345 minutes to spare, don’t miss this dystopic series from director Thomas Vinterberg. This 7-episode show tackles themes that seem perfect for the Another Round director, who gives us a story that takes place in a future where Denmark is about to become uninhabitable, due to its water levels rising as a result of climate change. Yet, at the center of it is a high school student (Amaryllis August) with a difficult choice to make. As she evacuates her home country, will she leave with her divorced parents, or with a love interest (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) she’s just met? We can’t wait to find out more (Serena Seghedoni)
11. The Fire Inside
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director: Rachel Morrison
Country: USA
With a screenplay from award-winning director Barry Jenkins, this sports biopic will surely satiate anyone currently suffering from the post-Olympics blues. It tells the story of boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields’ rise to glory and, refreshingly, what happens after the usual Hollywood underdog story has reached its climax. The Fire Inside marks the directorial debut of Rachel Morrison, whose credits as a cinematographer include MCU movie Black Panther and the Kristen Stewart-starring biopic Seberg.
12. Heretic
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Directors & Writers: Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
Country: USA
One of the most anticipated films of this year’s festival, A24’s Heretic stars Hugh Grant in an against-type role as the creepy Mr Reed, who welcomes a pair of mormon sisters into his home and seems unusually, perhaps suspiciously, open to discussing their ideas. When the young women find they are unable to leave the house, Heretic evolves from unsettling drama into all out horror. Enjoying its world premiere at TIFF, it marks the latest collaboration between Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, who wrote A Quiet Place and directed the Adam Driver dinosaur sci-fi flick 65.
13. Kill the Jockey
CENTREPIECE
Director: Luis Ortega
Countries: Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Denmark, USA
Argentinian auteur and frequent TIFF participant Luis Ortega (Monobloc, El Ángel) returns to the festival with a story that promises to be just as clever, affecting, and full of personality as his previous work. Kill the Jockey (El Jockey) follows the titular jockey, Remo (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), who isn’t exactly in top form when we first meet him. On top of a streak of losses, he’s also fighting some personal demons, and this is also affecting his partner Abril (Money Heist‘s Úrsula Corberó) and mobster Sirena (Daniel Giménez Cacho), with whom they both have a connection. One day, Remo has an accident that changes our jockey forever, sending him on a surprising quest for identity and self-affirmation. Kill the Jockey sounds like one of the most exciting projects at TIFF 2024. (Serena Seghedoni)
14. The Last Showgirl
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director: Gia Coppola
Country: USA
The granddaughter of Francis Ford Coppola, whose long-awaited Megalopolis is also screening at TIFF this year, returns with her first film since 2020’s Andrew Garfield-starring Mainstream. Pamela Anderson plays a veteran Las Vegas showgirl who must plan for the future when her show is abruptly brought to an end. Taking a tender look at life behind the neon glow of Sin City, The Last Showgirl also features Jaimee-Lee Curtis and Dave Bautista, and will have its world premiere at the festival.
15. The Life of Chuck
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Mike Flanagan
Country: USA
Though it is an adaptation of a Stephen King story from the director known for The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep and The Fall of the House of Usher, we can assure you that this is not the horror fare you may be expecting. Based on the short story of the same name, from the author’s 2020 collection If It Bleeds, Mike Flanagan’s latest follows the ordinary day-to-day existence of accountant Chuck, using a unique narrative structure to show his world unravelling. The Life of Chuck stars Tom Hiddleston as the title character, alongside Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejioforand Karen Gillan.
16. Nightbitch
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Marielle Heller
Country: USA
Based on the inventive 2021 novel of the same name by Rachel Yonder, this comedy horror starring Amy Adams follows an overworked stay-at-home mother who just can’t catch a break. Her exhausting and repetitive life takes a turn for the strange when she begins to suspect she might be turning into a dog. A wickedly funny satire of modern motherhood, Nightbitch marks the latest effort from Marielle Heller, whose last film was the Tom Hanks-starring A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.
17. Nutcrackers
GALA PRESENTATIONS
Director: David Gordon Green
Country: USA
This comedy drama starring Ben Stiller is sure to win hearts with the tale of a Chicago real estate developer who becomes an unlikely guardian to his four nephews. Desperate to free himself from this new responsibility, he learns that the children are skilled ballet dancers, and sees this as a route to impressing potential foster parents. Something tells us he might just come around to the idea of adoptive fatherhood, what do you think? Enjoying its world premiere at TIFF ‘24, where it will be the opening film, Nutcrackers represents a change of course from David Gordon Green, whose recent output includes the Halloween franchise and The Exorcist: Believer.
18. Queer
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Countries: Italy, USA
We are already loving the variety of roles Daniel Craig is taking in his post-Bond era. Here he is teaming up with Luca Guadagnino in an adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel of the same name, playing American expat Lee who winds up in Mexico City after fleeing a drugs bust. Infatuated with the bi-curious Allerton (Drew Starkey), Lee sets his sights on a couple’s journey through the Amazon in search of the psychoactive drink ayahuasca. It feels fitting that Guadagnino, an icon of contemporary LGBT+ cinema, should adapt this personal, unconventional exploration of tragedy and sexuality, which will premiere at Venice before heading to Toronto.
19. Relay
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director: David Mackenzie
Country: USA
Country: USA
Two British stars at the top of their game in a high-concept thriller from the man who brought us Hell Or High Water? Don’t mind if we do. Relay sees Riz Ahmed and Lily James team up as a middle man for would-be whistleblowers who want to settle with big corporations and his latest client, respectively. Ahmed’s character is secretive and reclusive, but the huge potential scandal he finds himself dealing with threatens his cherished anonymity. With their lives on the line and a romance beginning to bloom, this has all the makings of a classic Hitchcockian thriller.
20. Riff Raff
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director: Dito Montiel
Country: USA
This black comedy with an all-star ensemble cast looks like an absolute delight. Jennifer Coolidge stars as the ex-wife of Ed Harris’ former criminal, arriving unexpectedly at his home with their son and his pregnant girlfriend, bringing the past and all kinds of other trouble with them. Pete Davidson and Bill Murray also appear in the latest film from Dito Montiel, who was last seen writing the screenplay for John Leguizamo’s directorial debut Critical Thinking.
21. When The Light Breaks (Ljósbrot)
CENTREPIECE
Director: Rúnar Rúnarsson
Countries: Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, France
One of the highlights of this year’s Cannes Film Festival – and the opening film of Un Certain Regard is film that looks at grief and love in a completely new way. When The Light Breaks (Ljósbrot) revolves around two Reykjavik students in love: Una (Elín Hall), and and Diddi (Baldur Einarsson). When we first meet them, Diddi is about to break up with his girlfriend Klara (Katla Njálsdóttir) back home. But tragedy strikes right before he can do that, leaving Una to deal not only with the unbearable grief of having lost her soulmate, but with the added loneliness that comes from not being able to tell anyone about it and taking on the role of Klara’s support system.
From there, the movie becomes even more emotionally complex, mainly revolving around the two young women – Una and Klara – as they navigate grief in entirely different ways, each knowing things that everyone elses ignores, and each in desperate need of each other, without even knowing it. When The Light Breaks is the kind of film you won’t be able to shake for a long time, and it’s not to be missed. (Serena Seghedoni)
22. We Live in Time
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director: John Crowley
Countries: UK, France
Full Review: We Live in Time Review
Perhaps it’s a Commonwealth thing, but it seems British actors have got their fingers all over Canada’s biggest film festival this year. Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star as Almut and Tobias, a couple who seem to attract the most unusual and striking events in this charming London-shot romance. Alternating between three distinct chronologies, the new film from John Crowley uses a sobering medical diagnosis as the catalyst to explore experience, memory and making the most of our time on Earth, following the couple through the many unique incidents that define their relationship. Could We Live in Time join the likes of Rye Lane and Good Luck to You, Leo Grande in the pantheon of recent British rom-com hits? Only time will tell…
23. The Wild Robot
GALA PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Chris Sanders
Country: USA
DreamWorks Animation has secured some stellar lineups for its movies over the years, and this one is no exception. Hear the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara and Bill Nighy in this sci-fi adventure from Chris Sanders, best known for bringing the likes of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon to the big screen. Based on Peter Brown’s bestselling children’s books, The Wild Robot tells the story of Rozim 7134 (Nyong’o), a robot built to serve humans who must find a new purpose when stranded on an island populated exclusively by animals. It’s a great premise and we can’t wait to be enchanted by it.
24. Winter in Sokcho
PLATFORM
Director & Writer: Koya Kamura
Country: France
The debut film from French-Japanese filmmaker Koya Kamura will have its world premiere at TIFF. In the seaside tourist village of Sokcho, South Korea, Soo-Ha (Bella Kim) lives a peaceful but monotonous existence, one that is disrupted by the appearance of an eccentric French artist (Roschdy Zem) at the lodging house where she works. His presence touches a nerve for Soo-Ha, reminding her of the French father who left her mother before she was born, and setting in motion a physical and spiritual journey for them both. Another unconventional movie that blends animation with live action, Winter in Sokcho could be one of this year’s hidden gems.
25. Without Blood
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Director & Writer: Angelina Jolie
Countries: USA, Italy
This is Angelina Jolie’s first directing project since 2017’s warmly received First They Killed My Father. Filmed at the legendary Cinecittà Studios in Rome, Without Blood is a war drama based on the novella of the same name by Alessandro Baricco, telling the parable-like story of Nina (Salma Hayek) and Tito (Demián Bichir), two people who were on opposite sides of a war now reckoning with the past during peacetime. Exploring ideas of revenge, trauma and the impact of conflict on women and girls, it looks set to be another thought-provoking hit from Jolie.
MORE MOVIES TO WATCH AT TIFF 2024:
- All We Imagine As Light
- April
- Babygirl
- Bird
- The Brutalist
- Cloud
- Conclave
- Flow
- The Girl with the Needle
- I’m Still Here
- Oh, Canada
- On Falling
- Presence
- Santosh
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig
- Seven Days
- The Shrouds
- Space Cowboy
- Souleymane’s Story
- Universal Language
The 49th Toronto Film Festival Film Festival will take place on September 5 – 15, 2024. Discover the official 2024 Toronto Film Festival schedule and follow us on our socials for festival updates.
