The 42nd Annual TIFF Lineup Revealed

By Josh Tarpley

The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has released the first round of its programming for the 42nd annual gathering. Last year’s festival saw screenings of “La La Land,” “Moonlight,” “Manchester By The Sea,” “Arrival” and others. Needless to say, our 2017 awards race is taking shape day by day as we learn what films studios will play at these festivals.

Click beyond the jump to learn more about TIFF’s 2017 lineup.

​There is a lot of exciting films coming to TIFF this year. Those attending the festival will see premiere (and report buzz to us online) of Joe Wright’s Winston Churchill film “Darkest Hour,” which is expected to bring Gary Oldman his first Oscar ain. Sports films such as “Battle of the Sexes” (Steve Carrell, Emma Stone) and “I, Tonya” (Margott Robbie) will be in play. High profile directors such as Darren Aronofsky (“mother!”), George Clooney (“Suburbicon”), Angelina Jolie (“First They Killed My Father”) and Andy Serkis (“Breathe”) will all be debuting their new movies in Toronto this September. Other buzzed about awards contenders included “Stronger,” the David Gordon Green/Jake Gyllenhaal film taking on the aftermath of the Boston bombing, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri,” the Martin McDonagh film with an exciting Frances McDormand performance.

Though some films will have been seen earlier, it doesn’t make it any less exciting when a studio has enough confidence in their movie to build up momentum by playing it at multiple festivals. After debuting at Venice, Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing” and Guillermo Del Toro’s “The Shape of Water” will play TIFF (if festival appearances mean anything, we should start taking “The Shape of Water” seriously as an awards player this Fall). The Sundance hits “Call Me By Your Name” (Luca Guadagnino) and “Mudbound” (Dees Rees) will be screening as well. It is hopeful to see “Mudbound” here, as many were worried Netflix ruined its Oscar chances when they acquisitioned the film. It appears as though they will give the movie a proper awards run through the festival season.
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Check out the full list of films below:

A Fantastic Woman | Sebastián Lelio, Chile
A Season in France | Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France
Battle of the Sexes | Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton, USA
BPM (Beats Per Minute) | Robin Campillo, France
Breathe | Andy Serkis, United Kingdom
Call Me By Your Name | Luca Guadagnino, Italy/France
Catch the Wind | Gaël Morel, France
C'est la vie! | Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano, France
Darkest Hour | Joe Wright, United Kingdom
Disobedience | Sebastián Lelio, United Kingdom
Downsizing | Alexander Payne, USA
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool | Paul McGuigan, United
Kingdom
First They Killed My Father | Angelina Jolie, Cambodia
Hostiles | Scott Cooper, USA
I, Tonya | Craig Gillespie, USA
Kings | Deniz Gamze Ergüven, France/Belgium
Lady Bird | Greta Gerwig, USA
Long Time Running | Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier,
Canada
Mary Shelley | Haifaa Al Mansour, Ireland/United
Kingdom/Luxembourg/USA
mother! | Darren Aronofsky, USA
Mudbound | Dee Rees, USA
Novitiate | Maggie Betts, USA
Omerta | Hansal Mehta, India
Plonger | Mélanie Laurent, France
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women | Angela Robinson,
USA
Sheikh Jackson | Amr Salama, Egypt
Stronger | David Gordon Green, USA
Submergence | Wim Wenders, France/Germany/Spain
Suburbicon | George Clooney, USA
The Brawler | Anurag Kashyap, India
The Breadwinner | Nora Twomey, Canada/Ireland/Luxembourg
The Catcher Was A Spy | Ben Lewin, USA
The Children Act | Richard Eyre, United Kingdom
The Current War | Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA
The Guardians | Xavier Beauvois, France
The Hungry | Bornila Chatterjee, India
The Mountain Between Us | Hany Abu-Assad, USA
The Price of Success | Teddy Lussi-Modeste, France
The Rider | Chloé Zhao, USA
The Shape of Water | Guillermo del Toro, USA
The Square | Ruben Östlund, Sweden
The Wife | Björn Runge, United Kingdom/Sweden
Thelma | Joachim Trier, Norway/Sweden/France/Denmark
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Martin
McDonagh, USA
Untitled Bryan Cranston/Kevin Hart Film | Neil Burger, USA
Victoria and Abdul | Stephen Frears, United Kingdom
Woman Walks Ahead | Susanna White, USA

TIFF will run September 7-17. What do you all think? Any TIFF films excite you the most? Any surprising omissions from the list (still looking to see “Blade Runner 2049” show up here soon)? Let us know in the comments below!

You can follow Josh and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars and Film on Twitter at @JoshTarpley7