The first films selected for the 2015 Toronto Film Festival have been announced in the Gala and Special Presentation selections as well as the opening night film, which just so happens to be Jean-Marc Vallee‘s Demolitian starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts, which Fox Searchlight recently dated for an April 8, 2016 release date. Have they reconsidered? Are they planning on gauging the reception at Toronto to see if it’s worth opening this year in hopes of Oscars? Might it have had something to do with the tepid response to the release of Southpaw?
As for the films announced today, and there are many more announcements to come, I’ll begin with the Special Presentations, which include several highly anticipated titles as well as many that played to acclaim earlier this year, either in Sundance or at Cannes.
New to the festival circuit include Cary Fukunaga‘s Beasts of No Nation starring Idris Elba, Black Mass starring Johnny Depp as Whitey Bulger, Tom Hooper‘s The Danish Girl starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, Tom McCarthy‘s Spotlight and Jay Roach‘s Trumbo.
Other Gala features that have played elsewhere but are nonetheless exciting announcements are Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan, Jacques Audiard‘s Cannes winner Dheepan, Yorgos Lanthimos‘ The Lobster, Denis Villeneuve‘s Sicario, Laszlo Nemes‘ Son of Saul, Paolo Sorrentino‘s Youth and Michael Moore‘s latest Where to Invade Next.
In the Gala selection we have Jocelyn Moorehouse‘s The Dressmaker, Peter Sollett‘s Freeheld starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page, Brian Helgeland‘s Legend starring Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy,Ridley Scott‘s The Martian starring Matt Damon, Stephen Frears‘ The Program and Roland Emmerich‘s Stonewall.
Most all of the films announced are world premieres, though, of the notable titles that are not world premieres and will play either Telluride or Venice first, they include Legend and Spotlight, which are international premieres; Beasts of No Nation, Black Mass and Anomalisa are Canadian premieres; and The Danish Girl will clearly be in Venice as it is a North American premiere.
What’s notable are some of the films not announced, films such as Carol, Steve Jobs, Suffragette, Bridge of Spies, The Walk, Truth, I Saw the Light, Adam Jones, Genius, Midnight Special, In the Heart of the Sea, Macbeth and Our Brand is Crisis. Of course, there are still plenty of titles to be announced, some that may be showing up in Venice’s lineup tomorrow and others that may be premiering at Telluride that will be playing second in Toronto.
- Beeba Boys (dir. Deepa Mehta)
- Demolitian (dir. Jean-Marc Vallee) *OPENING NIGHT FILM*
- The Dressmaker (dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse)
- Eye in the Sky (dir. Gavin Hood)
- Forsaken (dir. Jon Cassar)
- Freeheld (dir. Peter Sollett)
- Hyena Road (dir. Paul Gross)
- Lolo (dir. Julie Delpy)
- Legend (dir. Brian Hegeland)
- The Man Who Knew Infinity (dir. Matt Brown)
- The Martian (dir. Ridley Scott)
- The Program (dir. Stephen Frears)
- Remember (dir. Atom Egoyan)
- Septembers of Shiraz (dir. Wayne Blair)
- Stonewall (dir. Roland Emmerich)
- Anomalisa (dir. Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman)
- Beasts of No Nation (dir. Cary Fukunaga)
- Black Mass (dir. Scott Cooper)
- Brooklyn (dir. John Crowley)
- The Club (dir. Pablo Larrain)
- Colonia (dir. Florian Gallenberger)
- The Danish Girl (dir. Tom Hooper)
- The Daughter (dir. Simon Stone)
- Desierto (dir. Jonas Cuaron)
- Dheepan (dir. Jacques Audiard)
- Families (dir. Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
- The Family Fang (dir. Jason Bateman)
- Guilty (dir. Meghna Gulzar)
- I Smile Back (dir. Adam Sulkey)
- The Idol (dir. Hany Abu-Assad)
- The Lady in the Van (dir. Nicholas Hytner)
- Len and Company (dir. Tim Godsall)
- The Lobster (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
- Louder than Bombs (dir. Joachim Trier)
- Maggie’s Plan (dir. Rebecca Miller)
- Mountains May Depart (dir. Zhangke Jia)
- Office (dir. Johnnie To)
- Parched (dir. Leena Yadav)
- Room (dir. Lenny Abrahamson)
- Sicario (dir. Denis Villeneuve)
- Son of Saul (dir. Laszlo Nemes)
- Spotlight (dir. Tom McCarthy)
- Summertime (dir. Catherine Corsini)
- Sunset Song (dir. Terence Davies)
- Trumbo (dir. Jay Roach)
- Un plus une (dir. Claude Lelouch)
- Victoria (dir. Sebastian Schipper)
- Where to Invade Next (dir. Michael Moore)
- Youth (dir. Paolo Sorrentino)
