Toronto Film Festival to Include Films Directed by Michael Keaton, Chris Pine, Anna Kendrick

Films directed by actors Michael Keaton, Chris Pine, Viggo Mortensen, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ethan Hawke, Tony Goldwyn and Anna Kendrick will screen at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Monday as they unveiled the first group of films in the festival’s Gala and Special Presentations sections.

Keaton, Goldwyn, Kendrick, Mortensen, Pine and Thomas will present the world premieres of their films – Keaton with “Knox Goes Away,” Goldwyn with “Ezra,” Kendrick with “Woman of the Hour,” Mortensen with “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” Pine with “Poolman” and Thomas with “North Star.” Hawke’s film, “Wildcat,” will make its international premiere in Toronto, meaning it will likely screen at the Telluride Film Festival just before TIFF.

Films that will receive their world premieres in Toronto include Craig Gillespie’s “Dumb Money,” with Paul Dano and Pete Davidson; Ellen Kuras’ “Lee,” with Kate Winslet; David Yates’ “Pain Hustlers,” with Emily Blunt and Chris Evans; Michael Winterbottom’s political thriller “Shoshana”; and two music documentaries, Alex Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” and Leigh Brooks’ “Hate to Love: Nickelback.”

Other directors represented in the selection include Alexander Payne with “The Holdovers,” which drew attention with a private screening at TIFF last year and is another likely Telluride entry. Richard Linklater’s “Hitman,” with Glen Powell, will screen as a North American premiere, while Oscar-winning documentary directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin will make their narrative debuts with “NYAD,” a biographical drama about long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad starring Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.

The lineup will also include a number of films that have premiered at other festivals, including Sundance hits “Flora and Son” and “Fair Play” and the Cannes titles “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest,” “La Chimera,” “The New Boy,” “Monster,” “Four Daughters” and “Kidnapped.”

Three of the titles were previously announced: Taika Waititi’s “Next Goal Wins,” Ladj Ly’s “Les Indésirables” and Atom Egoyan’s “Seven Veils.”

Of the 61 films announced on Monday, 39 are sales titles that will be heading to Toronto looking for distribution in some or all markets. That number includes the films from Keaton, Linklater, Goldwyn, Thomas, Mortensen, Hawke and Kendrick.

With the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes making it doubtful that actors and writers will be permitted to attend the festival to promote their films, the TIFF lineup has slightly fewer high-profile studio premieres than usual, though the festival will be adding to the lineup over the next month. At this point, the galas and special presentations are about 36% from the U.S. and 64% international, a modest international tilt from last year’s 45% U.S./55% international split.

Last week, the Venice Film Festival lost its opening-night film, Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers,” when distributor MGM opted to move its release date to 2024 rather than premiere it without the participation of stars Zendaya and Josh O’Connor.

Additional Toronto programming yet to be announced, including TIFF Docs and the Discovery and Platform sections, often leans more heavily toward international films.

Here are the initial galas and special presentations:

GALA PRESENTATIONS

*Previously announced

“Concrete Utopia,” Um Tae-Hwa | South Korea
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Dumb Money,” Craig Gillespie | USA
World Premiere

“Fair Play,” Chloe Domont | USA
International Premiere

“Flora and Son,” John Carney | Ireland/USA
Canadian Premiere

“Hate to Love: Nickelback,” Leigh Brooks | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Lee,” Ellen Kuras | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

*”Next Goal Wins,” Taika Waititi | USA
World Premiere

“NYAD,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | USA
International Premiere

“Punjab ’95,” Honey Trehan | India
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Solo,” Sophie Dupuis | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The End We Start From,” Mahalia Belo | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Movie Emperor,” Ning Hao | China
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The New Boy,” Warwick Thornton | Australia
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“The Royal Hotel,” Kitty Green | Australia/United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

“A Difficult Year,” Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | France
International Premiere
Sales Title

“A Normal Family,” Hur Jin-ho | South Korea
World Premiere
Sales Title

“American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson | USA
World Premiere

“Anatomy of a Fall,” Justine Triet | France
Canadian Premiere

“Close to You,” Dominic Savage | Canada/United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Days of Happiness,” Chloé Robichaud | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

“El Rapto,” Daniela Goggi | Argentina
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Ezra,” Tony Goldwyn | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Fingernails,” Christos Nikou | USA
International Premiere

“Four Daughters,” Kaouther Ben Hania | France/Tunisia/Germany/Saudi Arabia
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“His Three Daughters,” Azazel Jacobs | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Hitman,” Richard Linklater | USA
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” Alex Gibney | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Kidnapped,” Marco Bellocchio | Italy/France/Germany
North American Premiere

“Knox Goes Away,” Michael Keaton | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“La Chimera,” Alice Rohrwacher | Italy/France/Switzerland
North American Premiere

“Last Summer,” Catherine Breillat | France
North American Premiere

* “Les Indésirables,” Ladj Ly | France
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Memory,” Michel Franco | USA/Mexico
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Monster,” Kore-eda Hirokazu | Japan
North American Premiere

“Mother Couch,” Niclas Larsson | USA
World Premiere

“North Star,” Kristin Scott Thomas | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“One Life,” James Hawes | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Pain Hustlers,” David Yates | USA
World Premiere

“Poolman,” Chris Pine | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Reptile,“ Grant Singer | USA
World Premiere

“Rustin,“ George C. Wolfe | USA
International Premiere

*“Seven Veils,” Atom Egoyan | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Shoshana,” Michael Winterbottom | United Kingdom/Italy
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Sing Sing,” Greg Kwedar | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Smugglers,” Ryoo Seung-wan | South Korea
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“Swan Song,” Chelsea McMullan | Canada
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Beast,” Bertrand Bonello | France/Canada
North American Premiere
Sales Title

“The Burial,” Maggie Betts | USA
World Premiere”

“The Convert,” Lee Tamahori | Australia/New Zealand
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Critic,” Anand Tucker | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Dead Don’t Hurt,” Viggo Mortensen | Mexico/Canada/Denmark
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Holdovers,” Alexander Payne | USA
International Premiere

“The Peasants,” DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman | Poland/Serbia/Lithuania
World Premiere
Sales Title

“The Zone of Interest,” Jonathan Glazer | United Kingdom/Poland/USA
Canadian Premiere

“Together 99,” Lukas Moodysson | Sweden/Denmark
World Premiere

“Unicorns,” Sally El Hosaini, James Krishna Floyd | United Kingdom/USA/Sweden
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Uproar,” Paul Middleditch, Hamish Bennett | New Zealand
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Wicked Little Letters,” Thea Sharrock | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Sales Title

“Wildcat,” Ethan Hawke | USA
International Premiere
Sales Title

“Woman of the Hour,” Anna Kendrick | USA
World Premiere
Sales Title

The post Toronto Film Festival to Include Films Directed by Michael Keaton, Chris Pine, Anna Kendrick appeared first on TheWrap.