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 The festival on Tuesday announced about 60 titles, including
many of the high-profile gala presentations that will unspool at
the 39th version of the Sept. 4-14 event. Departing with recent
practice, festival organizers did not announce the opening film,
and said that would be determined closer to the event.
"While We're Young", by indie darling Baumbach, stars Ben
Stiller and Naomi Watts as a middle aged couple whose lives are
disrupted when a free-spirited younger couple enters the
picture. "Pawn Sacrifice" stars Tobey Maguire as American chess
legend Bobby Fischer, locked in a world championship match in
1972 with Soviet rival Boris Spassky, played by Liev Schreiber.
All told, nearly 300 films are expected to screen at the
festival, which ranks with Cannes, Sundance, Venice, and Berlin
as leading movie events.
The festival is tightening its scheduling criteria this year to
include only true world premieres during its first four days,
when media and industry attention is brightest, although
organizers said that was not the cause of the delay of naming
the opening night film.
"Absolutely not. We have a lot of movies to watch... and they're
not always ready on our timeline," festival artistic director
Cameron Bailey said.
The tougher criteria is meant to halt recent occurrences of
films touted as "world premieres" appearing days previously at
the smaller Telluride Film Festival, a largely industry-only
event that unveils its screenings at the last minute.
Telluride's growing media profile in recent years has led to
some Toronto films billed as world premiers having their thunder
stolen by the smaller festival.
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"It was always a little strange, because the films were going to
Telluride, some of them were being snuck into Telluride, so... I
think the media and public and industry just wanted clarity about
what a world premiere was," festival director Piers Handling said
following the announcement.
He said industry reaction has been favorable.
"We're having conversations with all of the rights owners of the
films and making it very very clear what the policy is."
Other films announced on Tuesday include the world premiere of James
Marsh's "The Theory of Everything", which tells the story of
theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, and the international
premiere of "Wild", starring Reese Witherspoon as a recovering
heroin addict who sets out on a 1,000-mile hike up the U.S. west
coast.
"Wild" director Jean-Marc Vallee scored strong reviews at last
year's Toronto festival and eventual Oscar glory, with "Dallas
Buyers Club".
The festival will close with historical drama "A Little Chaos",
directed by "Harry Potter" actor Alan Rickman and starring Kate
Winslet as a landscaper appointed to design one of the fountains at
the Palace of Versailles.
(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and Grant McCool)
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