So this morning, Variety spilled the beans on the first wave of announcements for the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival, and… boy, it looks like a great year. So much so that we wonder how much is left over for other fall festivals like Venice or Telluride. A few of the most anticipated films won't be world premieres, suggesting that they'll be popping up elsewhere shortly before, but we count 40 films announced so far as world premieres, among them films that are sure to make major waves.
Among the films that are only North American or International Premieres, the biggest is undoubtedly Terrence Malick's much-anticipated new film "To The Wonder," with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz and Javier Bardem. Question of where it would premiere, or even if it would premiere at all in 2012, have been flying for some time, but the film will get its North American premiere as a Special Presentation at the festival, suggesting the long-rumored Venice bow is in the cards. Joe Wright's "Anna Karenina" and Robert Redford's "The Company You Keep" will also bow elsewhere — likely Venice too — while other International Premieres include Cannes entries "No," "Reality," "Rust And Bone" and "The Hunt," and Cate Shortland's "Lore."
As for world premieres, the festival will open on September 6th with Rian Johnson's sci-fi thriller "Looper," while some of the starrier bows with Oscar hopes include "Cloud Atlas," from The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, Ben Affleck's "Argo" and David O. Russell's "The Silver Linings Playbook." Other notable films include Mike Newell's new take on "Great Expectations," Bill Murray as FDR in "Hyde Park On Hudson," cult novel adaptation "The Perks Of Being a Wallflower," Kristen Wiig in "Imogene" and "Much Ado About Nothing," the Shakespeare adaptation from "The Avengers" director Joss Whedon.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the line-up: "Frances Ha," a new film from Noah Baumbach, starring his girlfriend Greta Gerwig, which we suspect is the film that the actress wrote herself, which she described as "a love story about girls. It’s a girl who’s in love with her best friend, but not sexually. It’s sort of that moment when you realise, 'Oh, so we won’t all move in together,' and you’re going to move on with your life." It's something of a coup for someone like Baumbach to make a whole film without anyone noticing, and we're fascinated to hear more.
Films premiering from around the world include Neil Jordan's "Byzantium;" Dustin Hoffman's "Quartet;" Sally Potter's "Ginger And Rosa," with Elle Fanning and Annette Bening; animated Monty Python biopic "A Liar's Autobiography;" Laurent Cantet's "Foxfire," the long-awaited follow up to his "The Class;" Francois Ozon's latest "In The House;" J.A. Bayona's "The Impossible" starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts; "Mr. Pip," starring Hugh Laurie, and new films from Costa-Gavras, Baltasar Kormakur and Lu Chuan.
Phew. That's a pretty impressive line-up, even by the usual standards of Toronto. There are more announcements to come in the coming weeks, and we'll dig deeper into the line-up closer to the start of the festival, but in the meantime, if you were considering heading to Canada for TIFF this year, we suspect you just made your mind up. It gets underway on September 6th, and runs until the 16th of the month.
World Premieres
"Looper" (Rian Johnson) (Opening Film)
"Cloud Atlas" (The Wachowskis & Tom Tykwer)
"Argo" (Ben Affleck)
"The Silver Linings Playbook" (David O Russell)
"Love, Marilyn" (Liz Garbus)
"Free Angela And All Political Prisoners" (Shola Lynch)
"The Place Beyond The Pines" (Derek Cianfrance)
"Midnight's Children" (Deepa Mehta)
"Hyde Park On Hudson" (Roger Michell)
"Great Expectations" (Mike Newell)
"Inescapable" (Rubba Nadda)
"Twice Born" (Sergio Castellitto)
"English Vinglish" (Gauri Shinde)
"The Perks Of Being A Wallflower" (Stephen Chbosky)
"Thanks For Sharing" (Stuart Blumberg)
"End Of Watch" (David Ayer)
"Imogene" (Robert Puccini and Shari Springer Berman)
"A Late Quartet" (Yaron Zilberman)
"Much Ado About Nothing" (Joss Whedon)
"Frances Ha" (Noah Baumbach)
"The Time Being" (Nenad Cicin-Sain)
"Writers" (Josh Boone)
"At Any Price" (Ramin Bahrani)
"Venus And Serena" (Maiken Baird)
"Byzantium" (Neil Jordan)
"Quartet" (Dustin Hoffman)
"Ginger And Rosa" (Sally Potter)
"A Liar's Autobiography" (Ben Timlett, Bill JOnes, Jeff Simpson)
"Foxfire" (Laurnet Cantet)
"In The House" (Francois Ozon)
"The Impossible" (JA Bayona
"Hannah Arendt (Margarethe Von Trotta)
"Mr. Pip" (Andrew Adamson)
"Capital" (Costa-Gavras"
"The Attack" (Ziad Doueriri)
"Zaytoun" (Eran Riklis)
"The Deep" (Baltasar Kormakur)
"Dreams For Sale (Nishikawa Miwa)
"The Last Supper" (Lu Chuan)
International/North American Premieres
"To The Wonder" (Terrence Malick)
"Anna Karenina" (Joe Wright)
"The Reluctant Fundamentalist" (Mira Nair)
"The Company You Keep" (Robert Redford)
"Jayne Mansfield's Car" (Billy Bob Thornton)
"A Royal Affair" (Nikolai Arcel)
"Dangerous Liasons" (Hur Ji-Ho)
"Thermae Romae" (Hideki Takeuchi)
"Caught IN THe Web" (Chen Kaige)
"Dormant Beauty" (Marco Belloccchio)
"Everybody Has A Plan" (Ana Piterbarg) w/Viggo Mortensen
"Kon-Tiki" (Espen Sandberg
"Reality" (Matteo Garrone)
"A Few Hours Of Spring" (Stephan Brize)
"The Hunt" (Thomas Vintenberg)
"The Iceman" (Ariel Vromen)
"Lore" (Cate Shortland)
"No" (Pablo Larrain)
"OUtrage Beyond" (Takeshi Kitano)
"Rust And Bone" (Jacques Audiard)
"The Sapphires" (Wayne Blair)
"Tai Chi O" (Stephen Fung)
Canadian Premiere
"The Sessions" (Ben Lewis)