TIFF's 2020 lineup includes directorial debuts from Regina King, Halle Berry, and Viggo Mortensen
The Toronto International Film Festival announced its full 2020 lineup today, teasing what are likely to be the films that round out this year’s awards slate (JoJo Rabbit, a top Oscar contender, won the big prize at last year’s fest). Granted, TIFF is hosting far fewer films this year than in festivals past, a necessity due to the impact of COVID-19. TIFF will unfold virtually for the most part, though there will be a handful of outdoor screenings and some socially distanced indoor screenings.
Leading the slate of 50 films is Spike Lee’s HBO-bound film of David Byrne’s American Utopia, which will open the festival on September 10. Other buzzy titles include Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which stars Frances McDormand as a woman who hits the road after the economy of her rural hometown crumbles, and Ricky Staub’s Concrete Cowboy, a drama about urban cowboys starring Idris Elba, Caleb McLaughlin, and Jharrel Jerome.
Also on deck are a number of notable directorial debuts. Watchmen’s Regina King will premiere One Night In Miami, a chronicle of Cassius Clay that just got picked up by Amazon Studios. Halle Berry, meanwhile, stars as a disgraced MMA fighter named Jackie Justice in Bruised, which also marks her first time behind a camera. And then there’s Viggo Mortensen’s Falling, which premiered earlier this year at Sundance.
See the full list of TIFF’s 2020 selections below:
180 Degree Rule Farnoosh Samadi | Iran
76 Days Hao Wu, Anonymous, Weixi Chen | USA
Ammonite Francis Lee | United Kingdom
Another Round (Druk) Thomas Vinterberg | Denmark
Bandar Band Manijeh Hekmat | Iran/Germany
Beans Tracey Deer | Canada
Beginning (Dasatskisi) Dea Kulumbegashvili | Georgia/France
The Best is Yet to Come (Bu Zhi Bu Xiu) Wang Jing | China
Bruised Halle Berry | USA
City Hall Frederick Wiseman | USA
Concrete Cowboy Ricky Staub | USA
Opening Night Film – David Byrne’s American Utopia Spike Lee | USA
The Disciple Chaitanya Tamhane | India
Enemies of the State Sonia Kennebeck | USA
Falling Viggo Mortensen | Canada/United Kingdom
The Father Florian Zeller | United Kingdom/France
Fauna Nicolás Pereda | Mexico/Canada
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds Werner Herzog, Clive Oppenheimer | United Kingdom/USA
Gaza mon amour Tarzan Nasser, Arab Nasser | France/Germany/Portugal/Palestine/Qatar
Get the Hell Out (Tao Chu Li Fa Yuan) I-Fan Wang | Taiwan
Good Joe Bell Reinaldo Marcus Green | USA
I Care A Lot J Blakeson | United Kingdom
Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer | Canada
The Inheritance Ephraim Asili | USA
Lift Like a Girl (Ash Ya Captain) Mayye Zayed | Egypt/Germany/Denmark
Limbo Ben Sharrock | United Kingdom
Memory House (Casa de Antiguidades) João Paulo Miranda Maria | Brazil/France
MLK/FBI Sam Pollard | USA
The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Joel Bakan, Jennifer Abbott | Canada
New Order (Nuevo orden) Michel Franco | Mexico
Night of the Kings (La Nuit des Rois) Philippe Lacôte | Côte d’Ivoire/France/Canada/Senegal
Nomadland Chloé Zhao | USA
No Ordinary Man Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt | Canada
Notturno Gianfranco Rosi | Italy/France/Germany
One Night in Miami Regina King | USA
Penguin Bloom Glendyn Ivin | Australia
Pieces of a Woman Kornél Mundruczó | USA/Canada/Hungary
Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time (Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) Lili Horvát | Hungary
Quo Vadis, Aïda? Jasmila Žbanić | Bosnia and Herzegovina/Norway/The Netherlands/Austria/Romania/France/Germany/Poland/Turkey
Shadow In The Cloud Roseanne Liang | USA/New Zealand
Shiva Baby Emma Seligman | USA/Canada
Spring Blossom Suzanne Lindon | France
Closing Night Presentation – A Suitable Boy Mira Nair | United Kingdom/India
Summer of 85 (Été 85) François Ozon | France
The Third Day Felix Barrett, Dennis Kelly | United Kingdom
Trickster Michelle Latimer | Canada
True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru) Naomi Kawase | Japan
Under the Open Sky (Subarashiki Sekai) Miwa Nishikawa | Japan
Violation Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada
Wildfire Cathy Brady | United Kingdom/Ireland
[via Deadline]