About the Festival
Founded in 1976, TIFF is now one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the world. In 1998, Variety magazine acknowledged that TIFF "is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity." In 2007, Time noted that TIFF had "grown from its place as the most influential fall film festival to the most influential film festival, period." This is partially the result of TIFF's ability and reputation for generating "Oscar buzz".
Where
Toronto, Ontario Canada
Next Festival
Website
http://www.tiff.net
Festival Films
The Final Girls
When Max (Taissa Farmiga) and her friends reluctantly attend a tribute screening of an infamous '80s slasher film that starred Max's late mother (Malin Akerman), they are accidentally sucked into the silver screen. They soon realize they are trapped inside the cult classic movie and must team up with the fictional and ill-fated "Camp Bloodbath" counselors, including Max's mom as the shy scream queen, to battle the film's machete-wielding, masked killer. With the body count rising in scene after iconic scene, who will be THE FINAL GIRLS left standing and live to escape this film?
Run Time: 88 min Release: 2015
Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson
Stars: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Alexander Ludwig, Nina Dobrev
_POSTER.jpg)
Green Room
A band straying into a secluded part of Virginia stumbles onto a horrific act of violence. Because they are the only witnesses, they become the targets of a terrifying gang of white power skinheads who want to make sure all the evidence is eliminated.
Run Time: 95 min Release: 2015
Director: Jeremy Saulnier
Stars: Anton Yelchin, Joe Cole, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner
High-Rise
Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.
Run Time: 119 min Release: 2015
Director: Ben Wheatley
Stars: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans
Learning to Drive
Wendy (Patrician Clarkson), a self-absorbed New York book critic, is shocked to reality by the sudden end of her marriage. Always dependent on her husband for driving, she must now learn to take the wheel on her own. Her instructor Darwan (Ben Kingsley) is a Sikh Indian who watches with alarm as his pupil falls apart at the seams. He himself is contemplating an arranged marriage with a woman he has never met. As these two lives intersect, both will change in unpredictable ways.
Run Time: 90 min Release: 2014
Director: Isabel Coixet
Stars: Patricia Clarkson, Ben Kingsley, Jake Weber, Sarita Choudhury
Seymour: An Introduction
Director Ethan Hawke explores the life and lessons of piano teacher Seymour Bernstein.
Run Time: 84 min Release: 2014
Director: Ethan Hawke
Stars: Seymour Bernstein, Jiyang Chen, Ethan Hawke, Junko Ichikawa
Tusk
When podcaster Wallace Bryton goes missing in the backwoods of Manitoba while interviewing a mysterious seafarer named Howard Howe, his best friend Teddy and girlfriend Allison team with an ex-cop to look for him.
Run Time: 102 min Release: 2014
Director: Kevin Smith
Stars: Michael Parks, Justin Long, Genesis Rodriguez, Haley Joel Osment
Margarita, with a Straw
A rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy leaves her home in India to study in New York, unexpectedly falls in love, and embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.
Run Time: 100 min Release: 2014
Director: Shonali Bose, Nilesh Maniyar
Stars: Kalki Koechlin, Revathy, Sayani Gupta, Hussain Dalal
Noah
A man is chosen by his world's creator to undertake a momentous mission before an apocalyptic flood cleanses the world.
Run Time: 138 min Release: 2014
Director: Darren Aronofsky
Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins
Songs from the North
Interweaving footage from the director's three visits to North Korea with songs, spectacle, popular cinema and archival footage, Songs from the North takes a different look at this enigmatic country typically seen through the distorted lens of jingoistic propaganda and derisive satire. Challenging the meaning of freedom, love, patriotism and ultimately the human condition, it tries to understand, on their own terms, the psychology and popular imaginary of the North Korean people and the political ideology of absolute love which continues to drive the nation towards its uncertain future.
Run Time: 72 min Release: 2014
Director: Soon-Mi Yoo
Stars: N/A
Prisoners
How far would you go to protect your family? Keller Dover is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki arrests its driver, Alex Jones, but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?
Run Time: 153 min Release: 2013
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello
Why Don't You Play in Hell?
A renegade film crew becomes embroiled with a yakuza clan feud.
Run Time: 129 min Release: 2013
Director: Sion Sono
Stars: Jun Kunimura, Fumi Nikaidô, Shin'ichi Tsutsumi, Hiroki Hasegawa
Oculus
The twenty-one year-old Timothy "Tim" Allen Russell is discharged from a mental institution by his psychiatric Dr. Shawn Graham completely healed from a childhood trauma where his father purportedly tortured and killed his mother before being killed himself by Tim. His sister Kaylie welcomes him in the parking area and brings him home. Then she tells that they need to destroy an ancient mirror that she has found through working at an auction house. She then steals the mirror and the reluctant Tim follows his sister and has fragmented recollections from their childhood, going back to when his father Alan buys a mirror for the home office of their new family home. Kaylie and Tim see a woman with their father in his office and the behaviors of Alan and Marie change, ending in a family tragedy. Kaylie blames the mirror and now she wants to destroy it with Tim. Will they succeed?
Run Time: 104 min Release: 2013
Director: Mike Flanagan
Stars: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane
Witching and Bitching
A gang of escaping jewellery thieves get trapped by a coven of witches.
Run Time: 112 min Release: 2013
Director: Ãlex de la Iglesia
Stars: Hugo Silva, Mario Casas, Pepón Nieto, Carolina Bang
All the Wrong Reasons
All the Wrong Reasons is an ensemble film about four co-workers at a big box department store. Since witnessing a tragic family event, Kate has kept herself as isolated as physically possible, even at work. Her husband James, the store's ambitious manager, does his best to force Kate out of her shell but Kate wants her world to remain exactly as it is. Missing intimacy, James becomes close with Nicole, a cashier who is holding onto what's left of her youth while juggling single motherhood. When a new temp employee is hired, his presence shakes up the whole store, for all the wrong reasons.
Run Time: 118 min Release: 2013
Director: Gia Milani
Stars: Karine Vanasse, Cory Monteith, Emily Hampshire, Kevin Zegers
Afflicted
Two best friends see their trip of a lifetime take a dark turn when one of them is struck by a mysterious affliction. Now, in a foreign land, they race to uncover the source before it consumes him completely.
Run Time: 85 min Release: 2013
Director: Derek Lee, Clif Prowse
Stars: Derek Lee, Clif Prowse, Michael Gill, Baya Rehaz
.jpg)
Ida
Poland, 1962. Anna, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent, is a novice. She has to see Wanda, the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna about her Jewish roots. Both women start a journey not only to find their family's tragic story, but to see who they really are and where they belong. They question what they used to believe in.
Run Time: 82 min Release: 2013
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Stars: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik, Jerzy Trela
Silver Linings Playbook
After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.
Run Time: 122 min Release: 2012
Director: David O. Russell
Stars: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver
Argo
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980.
Run Time: 120 min Release: 2012
Director: Ben Affleck
Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman
Artifact
Telling harsh truths about the modern music business, this riveting and award-winning documentary gives intimate access to singer/actor Jared Leto ("Requiem for a Dream," "Dallas Buyers ...
Run Time: 103 min Release: 2012
Director: Jared Leto
Stars: Jared Leto, Shannon Leto, Tomo Milicevic, Irving Azoff
Seven Psychopaths
A struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster's (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.
Run Time: 110 min Release: 2012
Director: Martin McDonagh
Stars: Michael Pitt, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell