The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival started Thursday and runs through Sept. 19 with about 60 features, which are screening in a mix of online and physical presentations.
Here's the full list of feature-length films, with their TIFF descriptions:
- "180 Degree Rule" by Farnoosh Samadi: "A school teacher from Tehran is preparing to attend a wedding in northern Iran. When her husband suddenly forbids her to go, she makes a choice that will place her on a painful path to atonement." (Iran)
- "76 Days" by Hao Wu, Anonymous, and Weixi Chen: "Raw and intimate, this documentary caoptures the struggles of patients and frontline medical professionals battling the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan." (United States)
- "40 Years A Prisoner" by Tommy Oliver: "The story of nine people from Philadelphia-based back-to-nature group, MOVE, who were convicted of murdering a police officer they likely didn't kill. It's now 40 years later and they're still in prison as the son of two of the convicted has committed his life to fighting for their release. (U.S.)
- "Akilla's Escape" by Charles Officer: "In a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, Akilla Brown captures a 15-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery. Over one gruelling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped. (Canada)
- "Ammonite" by Francis Lee: "Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan star in this raw love story between a solitary paleontologist and a wealthy, grieving wife in 19th-century Dorset." (United Kingdom)
- "Another Round" ("Druk"): "Director Thomas Vinterberg and actor Mads Mikkelsen reunite for Another Round, a sobering comedy about aging, alcoholism, and friendship between men." (Denmark)
- "Bandar Band": "Manijeh Hekmat’s music-infused twist on a road movie follows a band’s day-long journey across a flooded landscape to Tehran." (Iran/Germany)
- "Beans": "Based on true events, Tracey Deer's debut feature chronicles the 78-day standoff between two Mohawk communities and government forces in 1990 in Quebec." (Canada)
- "Beginning" ("Dasatskisi"): "Dea Kulumbegashvili’s harrowing, sensorial debut feature centres on a Jehovah’s Witness missionary seeking justice in a remote Georgian village." (Georgia/France)
- "The Best is Yet to Come" ("Bu Zhi Bu Xiu"): "This timely debut from Wang Jing, Jia Zhang-ke’s assistant director, was inspired by a journalist who defended 120 million people’s rights with a pen." (China)
- "The Boy from Medellin" by Matthew Heineman: With unprecedented access, this deeply immersive and character-driven film will give viewers a front-row seat to J Balvin, one of the world's most famous Colombian musicians, as he is forced to define his voice as an artist amidst the largest protests his country has seen in decades. (U.S.)
- "Bruised": "Halle Berry’s directorial debut follows a former MMA fighter struggling to regain custody of her son and restart her athletic career." (U.S.)
- "City Hall": "Master documentarian Frederick Wiseman delivers an epic look at Boston’s city government, covering racial justice, housing, climate action, and more." (U.S.)
- "Concrete Cowboy" by Ricky Staub: "While spending the summer in North Philadelphia, a troubled teen is caught between a life of crime and his estranged father’s vibrant urban-cowboy subculture." (U.S.)
- "David Byrne's American Utopia": "Spike Lee documents the former Talking Heads frontman’s brilliant, timely 2019 Broadway show, based on his recent album and tour of the same name." (U.S.) (Opening night film)
- "The Disciple": "Chaitanya Tamhane's masterfully composed second feature examines a lifetime journey devoted to the art of Indian classical music." (India)
- "Downstream to Kinshasa" ("En route pour le milliard") by Dieudo Hamadi: "From 5th to 10th June 2000, the city of Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was the scene of heavy weapons fighting between two Congolese rebel groups. Since then, the Association of Victims of the Six-Day War has been fighting for the recognition of this bloody conflict and demanding compensation for the damage suffered. Tired of the bureaucratic negotiations and unsuccessful pleas that have been drawn out for years, the members of the Association have finally decided to take their fate into their own hands: after a long journey on the Congo River, they will voice their claims in Kinshasa, the capital. (Democratic Republic of the Congo/France/Belgium)
- "Enemies of the State": "An American family seeks refuge in Canada after their hacker son is targeted by the US government, in Sonia Kennebeck's bizarre story of secrets and lies." (U.S.)
- "Falling": "In his feature directorial debut, Viggo Mortensen stars as a gay man on a patience-testing mission to care for his ailing, solitary, and conservative father (Lance Henriksen)." (Canada/U.K.)
- "The Father": "Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman star in Florian Zeller’s ingenious, subtly hallucinatory chamber drama about a man’s slide into dementia." (U.K./France)
- "Fauna": "The latest feature from Mexican-Canadian auteur Nicolas Pereda is a sly, comedic take on how violence in Mexico has infiltrated popular imagination." (Mexico/Canada)
- "Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds": "Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer (Into the Inferno) undertake a globe-trotting exploration of meteors that fell to Earth, both ancient and recent." (U.K./U.S.)
- "Gaza mon amour" by Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser: "The latest from the Nasser brothers (Degrade) is a satire on love and desire, and an affirmation that life continues amidst the absurdity of living." (Palestine/France/Germany/Portugal/Qatar)
- "Get the Hell Out" ("Tao Chu Li Fa Yuan") by I-Fan Wang: "In this gonzo, martial arts–infused horror-comedy, Taiwan’s parliament turns deadly when a virus transforms politicians into ravenous zombie mutants." (Taiwan)
- "Good Joe Bell" by Reinaldo Marcus Green: "The Oscar-winning writers of Brokeback Mountain tell the true story of a father’s walk across the US to raise awareness about the harms of bullying." (U.S.)
- "I Am Greta": In August 2018, 15-year-old student Greta Thunberg picketed Swedish parliament calling for action on the climate crisis, eventually inspiring student strikes at schools in communities around the world. In 'I Am Greta,' Nathan Grossman documents Thunberg’s meteoric one-year rise from high-school climate strike organizer to inspiration for a global movement. (Sweden)
- "I Care A Lot": "A legal conservator (Rosamund Pike) who defrauds elderly clients runs afoul of a gangster (Peter Dinklage), in this droll thriller from J Blakeson." (U.K.)
- "Inconvenient Indian": "Michelle Latimer's affecting adaptation of Thomas King’s award-winning book explores the cultural colonization of Indigenous peoples in North America." (Canada)
- "The Inheritance": "Ephraim Asili’s debut weaves together the histories of the MOVE Organization, the Black Arts Movement, and Asili’s time in a Black Marxist collective." (U.S.)
- "Lift Like a Girl" ("Ash ya Captain") by Mayye Zayed: "Lift Like a Girl is an intimate journey into the inner life of an aspiring athlete." (Egypt/Germany/Denmark)
- "Limbo": "A Syrian asylum-seeker finds himself in a purgatorial state on a remote Scottish island, in this melancholic comedy from Ben Sharrock." (U.K.)
- "Memory House" ("Casa de Antiguidades"): "Joao Paulo Miranda Maria explores the racial tensions of modern-day Brazil in his lush, haunting debut feature rooted in Brazilian folklore." (Brazil/France)
- "MLK/FBI": "Based on newly declassified files, Sam Pollard’s resonant film explores the US government’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King, Jr." (U.S.)
- "The New Corporation: An Unfortunately Necessary Sequel" by Joel Bakan, Jennifer Abbott: "The sequel to The Corporation exposes how companies are desperately rebranding as socially responsible — and how that threatens democratic freedoms." (Canada)
- "New Order" ("Nuevo orden"): "The latest from Mexican director Michel Franco, set amid both a street protest and a posh wedding, is a timely indictment of class divide and abuse of power." (Mexico)
- "Night of the Kings" ("La Nuit des rois"): "A young man incarcerated in a prison in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire must spend the whole night recounting a story if he hopes to survive, in Philippe Lacote’s latest." (Cote d'Ivoire/France/Canada/Senegal)
- "Nomadland" (U.S.): "Frances McDormand explores the vast landscape of the American West, in Chloe Zhao’s wise and intimate portrayal of life as a modern-day nomad."
- "No Ordinary Man" by Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt: "The legacy of Billy Tipton, a 20th-century American jazz musician and trans icon, is brought to life by a diverse group of contemporary trans artists." (Canada)
- "Notturno": "Award-winning director Gianfranco Rosi’s new documentary is an immersive portrait of those trying to survive in the war-torn Middle East." (Italy/France/Germany)
- "One Night in Miami": "Actor-director Regina King’s feature directorial debut, based on Kemp Powers’ play, is a fictionalized account of a 1964 meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown." (U.S.)
- "Penguin Bloom" by Glendyn Ivin: "Naomi Watts stars in this true story about a paralyzed woman who finds new hope when she joins with her family to care for an injured baby magpie." (Australia)
- "Pieces of a Woman": "Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf star as a couple reeling — in very different ways — from tragedy, in the new film from Kornel Mundruczo (White God)." (USA/Canada/Hungary)
- "Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time": "In Lili Horvat’s second feature, a brilliant neurosurgeon returns to Budapest to reunite with the love of her life: a man who says they’ve never met." ("Felkeszules meghatarozatlan ideig tarto egyuttletre") (Hungary)
- "Quo Vadis, Aida?": "The latest from Jasmila Zbanic tells the true story of a translator attempting to save the lives of her husband and sons during the Bosnian genocide." (Bosnia and Herzegovina/Norway/The Netherlands/Austria/Romania/France/Germany/Poland/Turkey):
- "Shadow In The Cloud": "Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a WWII pilot trying to warn her obstinate male comrades of a sinister stowaway, in a new nightmare at 20,000 feet from Roseanne Liang." (U.S./New Zealand)
- "Shiva Baby": "A young Jewish woman’s steamy secrets are unearthed during one emotionally frantic shiva, in Emma Seligman’s comedy of discomfort." (U.S./Canada)
- "Spring Blossom": "A bored Parisian teenager contemplates the pitfalls of growing up too fast when she falls in love with an older man, in Suzanne Lindon’s debut." (France)
- "A Suitable Boy": "A young woman in post-partition India struggles to balance family duty and personal independence, in Mira Nair’s six-part drama series adaptation." (U.K./India) (Closing night presentation)
- "Summer of 85" ("Ete 85"): "This gorgeous 1980s period piece from Francois Ozon looks at the fateful friendship and love affair between two teenage boys on the Normandy coast." (France)
- "The Third Day" by Felix Barrett, Dennis Kelly: "Jude Law and Naomie Harris star in this mysterious miniseries directed by Marc Munden and Philippa Lowthorpe, about a small island town and its denizens’ uncanny rituals." (U.K.)
- "Trickster" by Michelle Latimer: "Based on Eden Robinson’s bestselling novel, this series follows an Indigenous teen struggling to support his dysfunctional family as myth, magic, and monsters slowly infiltrate his life." (Canada)
- "True Mothers" ("Asa Ga Kuru"): "The latest from acclaimed director Naomi Kawase — a candid force in contemporary Japanese cinema — is a touching family story of love and adoption." (Japan)
- "The Truffle Hunters" by Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw: "Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle — which, to date, has resisted all of modern science's efforts at cultivation. They're guided by a secret culture and training passed down through generations, as well as by the noses of their cherished and expertly trained dogs. (Italy/U.S./Greece)
- "Underplayed" by Stacey Lee: "This documentary follows radical female artists breaking the rhythm of inequality in the electronic-music industry. (Canada)
- "Under the Open Sky" ("Subarashiki Sekai"): "Miwa Nishikawa’s touching, poignant redemption drama follows a middle-aged ex-yakuza (Koji Yakusho) as he adjusts to life outside of prison." (Japan)
- "Violation": "In Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s deeply disturbing debut feature, a traumatic betrayal drives a woman towards a vengeful extremity." (Canada)
- "The Water Man" — "'Selma' star David Oyelowo directs this mystical adventure recalling the beloved, family-friendly movies of the 1980s. (U.S.)
- "The Way I See It" — Inspired by the New York Times No. 1 bestseller comes Dawn Porter's 'The Way I See It,' an unprecedented look behind the scenes of two of the most iconic presidents in American History, Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, as seen through the eyes of renowned photographer Pete Souza. (U.S.)
- "Wildfire": "Cathy Brady’s debut is an emotionally stirring exploration of two sisters — and a country — struggling to emerge from a traumatic past." (U.K./Ireland)
- "Wolfwalkers" by Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart: "From the brilliant animators behind 'Song of the Sea' and 'The Secret of Kells' comes this tale of a girl who goes hunting wolves in Ireland and discovers a surprising world. Steeped in Irish folklore, this is an uplifting fantasy for the whole family. (Ireland/Luxembourg/France)
The Canadian Press
