\u00ab\u00a0A Star is Born,\u00a0\u00bb \u00ab\u00a0Beautiful Boy\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0Old Man & the Gun\u00a0\u00bb will also screen at the festival, which runs from Sept. 6-16.<\/b>
\n\u201cA Star is Born,\u201d \u201cFirst Man,\u201d and \u201cWidows\u201d are among the awards-season hopefuls that will screen at this year\u2019s Toronto International Film Festival, running Sept. 6-16.
Other notable films scheduled for the prestigious gathering include \u201cBeautiful Boy,\u201d a drug addiction drama with Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet, \u201cThe Front Runner,\u201d with Hugh Jackman as Sen. Gary Hart, and \u201cOld Man & the Gun,\u201d a heist thriller that will mark Robert Redford\u2019s retirement from acting.
The films announced on Tuesday are not the final list, as Toronto programmers intend to keep adding to the current crop of invitees. Programmers screened roughly 7,000 films before deciding which films to showcase.
The Canadian celebration of cinema is seen as an important stop for movies hoping to be in the Oscar conversation. In the past, films such as \u201cGravity,\u201d \u201c12 Years a Slave,\u201d \u201cSpotlight\u201d and \u201cThe Shape of Water\u201d have all generated momentum that propelled them to success at the Academy Awards after showing in Toronto. It can also be a buzz killer. Last year, for instance, Darren Aronofsky\u2019s \u201cMother!\u201d and George Clooney\u2019s \u201cSuburbicon\u201d both secured festival berths only to earn indifferent critical notices en route to commercial disaster.
\u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019ll find a stronger lineup at any of the fall festivals,\u201d Cameron Bailey, the festival\u2019s artistic director, told Variety. \u201cThe combination of the media attention, the industry attention and the enthusiasm of the general public makes us unique.\u201d
That said, the festival landscape has become ever more crowded, with Telluride and Venice emerging as favored destinations for the auteur set. Many of the movies that will screen at Toronto will likely have screened at those earlier festivals by the time they land in Toronto. \u201cFirst Man,\u201d Damien Chazelle\u2019s drama about Neil Armstrong\u2019s (Ryan Gosling) moon landing, will open Venice, and \u201cA Star Is Born,\u201d a love story with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper that also marks Cooper\u2019s directorial debut, is having its world premiere on the Lido.
A number of directors are returning to Toronto after having achieved success at the festival. \u201cWidows,\u201d a sprawling crime drama with Viola Davis, Robert Duvall and Michelle Rodriguez, marks Steve McQueen\u2019s follow-up to \u201c12 Years a Slave,\u201d which took the festival by storm when it debuted in 2013. Alfonso Cuaron, who electrified Toronto crowds with \u201cGravity\u201d that same year, also returns with \u201cRoma,\u201d an intimate family drama that is being distributed by Netflix.
And several films that have screened at earlier festivals will try to use Toronto to remind tastemakers about their craftsmanship. These include \u201cColette,\u201d a historical drama about the famous French novelist that debuted at Sundance and generated Oscar buzz for Keira Knightley, and \ufffc\u201dShoplifters,\u201d a tender Japanese drama that won the Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes.
\u201cWidows\u201d will be perhaps the highest-profile film to have its world debut at Toronto. Other films that have decided to have their initial bows at the festival include Claire Denis\u2019 science fiction drama \u201cHigh Life\u201d and Emilio Estevez\u2019s political drama \u201cThe Public.\u201d
The lineup has yet to be finalized, but Bailey said he expects roughly a third will be from female directors. Five of the 17 films announced on Tuesday are directed by women and a half dozen are by directors of color.
Bailey said that many of the films speak to the current political and social moment. \u201cThe Hate U Give\u201d tackles the Black Lives Matter movement, \u201cBeautiful Boy\u201d and \u201cBen Is Back\u201d dramatize addiction and \u201cThe Frontrunner\u201d grapples with a scandal from the 1980s that helped kick off the tabloidization of politics.
Much has changed in the 12 months since the last edition of Toronto. Harvey Weinstein, a fixture at past Torontos, has seen his career implode after dozens of women accused him of sexual harassment and assault. His downfall triggered a reckoning in Hollywood, one that tarnished the legacies of other major entertainment figures such as Dustin Hoffman, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Louis C. K., who were themselves accused. It was a very different picture last year when C. K. was feted as the director of \u201cI Love You, Daddy.\u201d That film sold to The Orchard out of the festival for $5 million. The studio scrapped its release after allegations broke that C. K. was accused of sexual misconduct by five women.
There\u2019s another tie to the Weinstein collapse. \u201cHotel Mumbai,\u201d a terrorist drama with Dev Patel, has been ensnared in the sale and financial ruin of the Weinstein Company. It will debut at this year\u2019s Toronto, presumably with another distributor overseeing its release.
Toronto is also taking steps to make sure its attendees have resources to report issues when they arise. It is following the lead of industry gatherings such as Sundance and CinemaCon by creating a hotline for people to report abuse and harassment. It will also have programming and events to discuss the #MeToo and Time\u2019s Up movements and to assess their impact on the film industry.
\u201cWe want to keep the conversation going and to give people an opportunity to talk through what this all means,\u201d said Bailey. \u201cOne of the most important things we can do is to really showcase films by women and to make sure that we have a lineup that really reflects who we are as people.\u201d
Click here for the full list of the announced films.<\/p>\n

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