By Jake Coyle
Contributing Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled the bulk of the lineup to its 51st edition July 20, setting world premieres for Chris Rock’s drama “Misty Green” and Peter Farrelly’s Sylvester Stallone film “I Play Rocky.”
North America’s largest film festival annually hosts some of the fall’s most anticipated titles. On Ju;y20, it announced that more than 60 films will play in the festival’s gala and special presentations sections. Those include the world premieres of Rock’s fourth film as director, Farrelly’s drama about the making of “Rocky”; and Courteney Cox’s true-crime drama “Evil Genius.”
The festival, which runs Sept. 10-20, comes on the heels of the Venice and Telluride film festivals. Premieres at the Toronto fest frequently indicate where else they will first screen.
For example, “The Debut,” Jesse Eisenberg’s follow-up to 2024’s “A Real Pain,” will play at Toronto as an international premiere, suggesting it will bow first at Venice. The same designation is given to Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love,” the Korean filmmaker’s first film since 2018’s acclaimed “Burning.”
British filmmaker Andrew Haigh’s latest, “A Long Winter,” and Mike Leigh’s “Tender Loving Care” are both termed a Canadian premiere, a hint that they will first play Telluride.
Many standouts from May’s Cannes Film Festival are also Toronto-bound, including “Club Kid,” “La Bola Negra,” “Minotaur,” “Clarissa,” “All of a Sudden” and the Palme d’Or winner “Fjord.”
In recent years, the Toronto festival has increasingly functioned as a big movie market, hosting gala premieres of titles looking for distribution. Last year, that included Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” which Focus Features acquired and then turned into a massive box-office hit this spring. The festival’s top prize, the moviegoer-voted People’s Choice Award, went to Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet.”
Festival organizers earlier announced that “Being Heumann,” director Siân Heder’s film about the late disability rights activist Judith Heumann, will open this year’s edition.
Jake Coyle writes for the Associated Press.
