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In the first of many fall-festival program announcements to come over the next few weeks, the Toronto International Film Festival has revealed its first wave of gala premieres and special presentation screenings\u2014featuring several Oscar-winning stars and a long list of awards hopefuls for this coming season.<\/p>\n
The most notable announcement may be Chlo\u00e9 Zhao<\/strong>\u2019s Hamnet,<\/em> in large part because the language used here indicates Toronto will not<\/em> be the film\u2019s first stop. Her adaptation of Maggie O\u2019Farrell<\/strong>\u2019s award-winning novel\u2014which centers on William Shakespeare\u2019s wife, Agnes\u2014will make its \u201cCanadian premiere\u201d at TIFF, a designation which typically implies that the film will first screen at both the Venice and Telluride festivals. (A \u201cnorth American premiere\u201d at TIFF indicates that a film will first stop at Venice, while an \u201cinternational premiere\u201d signals a Telluride launch.) That would mark a significant show of confidence for a movie already trailed by a ton of hype: It\u2019s Zhao\u2019s first non-Marvel movie since Nomadland<\/em>, which won Oscars for best picture and director, and the ensemble is led by recently nominated rising stars Jessie Buckley<\/strong> and Paul Mescal<\/strong> (yes, he\u2019s playing Mr. Shakespeare).<\/p>\n Since the pandemic, TIFF has struggled to land as many glitzy world-premieres as the festival did in its heyday. Last year, not a single best-picture Oscar nominee launched in Toronto\u2014a rarity\u2014while its coveted People\u2019s Choice Award went to The Life of Chuck<\/em>, which had a quiet U.S. theatrical release<\/a> just last month via Neon. But the festival still screens the vast majority of fall awards players, even if many make other stops beforehand. And for this upcoming 50th edition it\u2019s already firmed up some promising titles for world premieres.<\/p>\n That list includes The Lost Bus<\/em>, Paul Greengrass<\/strong>\u2019s new movie about the devastating wildfires in Paradise, California. This tragically timely drama was produced by Oscar winner Jaime Lee Curtis<\/strong> and stars Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey.<\/strong> Other world premieres to keep an eye on include Searchlight\u2019s Rental Family<\/em>, which stars Brendan Fraser<\/strong> and recently locked down an awards-friendly November release date, and Netflix\u2019s Wake Up Dead Man<\/em>, the latest Knives Out<\/em> movie from writer-director Rian Johnson.<\/strong> The previous two films in the mystery franchise got Oscar nominations for their screenplays, and this edition features an incredible cast led by Josh O\u2019Connor, Glenn Close, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott,<\/strong> and Josh Brolin.<\/strong> And Daniel Craig,<\/strong> of course, returns as Detective Benoit Blanc. Netflix will stream the movie starting December 12.<\/p>\n