Late July in the film industry has an odd way of making one very aware of early autumn; as we are coping with heatwaves (whilst hopefully enjoying some R&R), in come various exciting festival line-ups, stacked with the rest of the year’s best cinematic crop. The full, exhaustive Venice line-up came out yesterday (see the news), with the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Platform slate arriving later, joining a new batch of Galas and Special Presentations announced on Monday. With the fight for A-list world premieres as competitive as ever (although with Venice expectedly coming out on top), TIFF’s appeal for launching major European titles is still beyond doubt. The Canadian festival runs from 4-14 September this year, overlapping with the final few days of Venice.

The difference between Gala and Special Presentations at TIFF requires a short explanation, as there are equally anticipated films in both categories; the former has formal red carpets, and takes place in the city’s most prestigious venues. World premieres from European filmmakers just announced include Arnaud Desplechin’s Two Pianos [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Annemarie Jacir, considered among the best working Palestinian auteurs. The latter is a film concerning a key episode in the 1936 Arab Revolt by Palestinians against the British administration. The underrated and versatile Scottish director David Mackenzie returns to the festival after premiering Relay last year, with his London-set thriller Fuze, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, following the discovery of an undetonated World War II bomb.

Of the new world premieres in Special Presentations, Romain Gavras’s fantasy-thriller Sacrifice, with Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Evans, should provide a welcome dose of adrenaline. Alice Winocour’s Couture sees Angelina Jolie again working in high-end European cinema after Maria [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film], as the Oscar-winning icon plays a US film director caught up in Paris Fashion Week, at the centre of multiple plot strands involving women and girls from France, Ukraine and Sudan. Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], a Netflix-backed and Macau-set gambling thriller with Colin Farrell, gets an official announcement as a “Canadian Premiere”, meaning it will show first at the exclusive Telluride Film Festival in Colorado; indeed, Venice chief Alberto Barbera faced a few questions in interviews yesterday about the absence of the director’s Conclave [+lire aussi :
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interview : Tapis rouge @ European Fil…
fiche film] follow-up from his choices. Guillermo del Toro’s lush-looking Frankenstein and Mona Fastvold’s The Testament of Ann Lee [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] also play as Special Presentations soon after showing on the Lido. The new film by Spain’s Isabel Coixet, the Italian production Three Goodbyes [+lire aussi :
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The nine-strong Platform line-up, with each film competing for the Platform Award, has more recognisable names, and potentially innovative filmmaking, than in previous years. Valentyn Vasyanovych impressed with his previous two Venice premieres Atlantis [+lire aussi :
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interview : Valentyn Vasyanovych
fiche film] and Reflection [+lire aussi :
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interview : Valentyn Vasyanovych
fiche film], and now, in To the Victory! [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], he stars as who else but a director struggling to get opportunities in a “dystopian” post-war Ukraine. Also standing out are Hungarian director György Pálfi’s nutty-sounding Hen, recounting a resilient member of that very species aiming to raise a family, and Tim Mielants’ Steve [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], where he reunites with Cillian Murphy after Small Things Like These [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] on another film based on blue-chip literary material, this time the eponymous novel from British writer Max Porter. Pauline Loquès’ charming Cannes Critics’ Week entry Nino [+lire aussi :
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interview : Pauline Loquès
fiche film] gets another turn in the limelight, enjoying its international premiere in the section. The section also features other European co-productions, such as Winter of the Crow [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] by Poland’s Kasia Adamik (co-director of Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor [+lire aussi :
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interview : Agnieszka Holland
interview : Zofia Wichlacz
fiche film]), The Currents [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] by Swiss-based Argentinian filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler (winner of Locarno’s 2011 Golden Leopard with Back to Stay [+lire aussi :
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interview : Milagros Mumenthaler
fiche film]), Bouchra [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani, and At the Place of Ghosts by Bretten Hannam.

Here is the full list of newly announced titles in the three sections:

Gala Presentations

Good Fortune - Aziz Ansari (USA)
Glenrothan - Brian Cox (UK)
Two Pianos [+lire aussi :
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Driver’s Ed - Bobby Farrelly (USA)
Eternity - David Freyne (USA)
Palestine 36 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Annemarie Jacir (Palestine/UK/France/Denmark/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Jordan)
Eleanor the Great - Scarlett Johansson (USA)
Swiped - Rachel Lee Goldenberg (USA)
Fuze - David Mackenzie (UK)
Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery - Ally Pankiw (Canada)
Nuremberg - James Vanderbilt (USA)
Adulthood - Alex Winter (USA)
Peak Everything - Anne Émond (Canada) (closing film)

Special Presentations

Poetic License - Maude Apatow (USA)
Train Dreams - Clint Bentley (USA)
Ballad of a Small Player [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Edward Berger (UK/Germany)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You - Mary Bronstein (USA)
Three Goodbyes [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Isabel Coixet (Italy/Spain)
Frankenstein - Guillermo del Toro (USA)
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution… - Nick Davis (USA)
Charlie Harper - Tom Dean, Mac Eldridge (USA)
Silent Friend [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ildikó Enyedi
fiche film] - Ildikó Enyedi (Germany/Hungary/France)
Bad Apples [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Jonatan Etzler (UK)
Lovely Day - Philippe Falardeau (Canada)
The Testament of Ann Lee [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Mona Fastvold (USA/UK/Hungary/Sweden)
Sacrifice - Romain Gavras (UK/Greece/Cyprus/France)
Scarlet - Mamoru Hosoda (Japan)
Meadowlarks - Tasha Hubbard (Canada)
A Pale View of Hills [+lire aussi :
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interview : Kei Ishikawa
fiche film] - Kei Ishikawa (Japan/UK/Poland/Singapore)
Rose of Nevada [+lire aussi :
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interview : Mark Jenkin
fiche film] - Mark Jenkin (UK)
Monkey in a Cage - Anurag Kashyap (India)
Wrong Husband - Zacharias Kunuk (Canada)
Sirāt [+lire aussi :
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interview : Óliver Laxe
fiche film] - Oliver Laxe (Spain/France)
Ky Nam Inn - Leon Le (Vietnam)
Project Y - Lee Hwan (South Korea)
Kokuho - Lee Sang-il (Japan)
New Wave [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Richard Linklater (France)
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert - Baz Luhrmann (Australia/USA)
California Schemin’ - James McAvoy (UK/USA)
The Secret Agent [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brazil/France/Germany/Netherlands)
A Poet [+lire aussi :
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interview : Simón Mesa Soto
fiche film] - Simón Mesa Soto (Columbia/Germany/Sweden)
Primavera [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Damiano Michieletto (Italy/France)
Christy - David Michôd (USA)
It Was Just an Accident [+lire aussi :
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interview : Jafar Panahi
fiche film] - Jafar Panahi (France/Luxembourg/Iran)
Easy’s Waltz - Nic Pizzolatto (USA)
Eternal Return - Yaniv Raz (UK/USA)
Degrassi: Whatever It Takes - Lisa Rideout (Canada)
Tuner - Daniel Roher (USA)
It Would Be Night in Caracas - Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás (Mexico)
Couture - Alice Winocour (France/USA)
The Smashing Machine - Benny Safdie (USA)
Sound of Falling [+lire aussi :
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Calle Málaga [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maryam Touzani
fiche film] - Maryam Touzani (Morocco/France/Spain/Germany/Belgium)
Sentimental Value [+lire aussi :
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interview : Joachim Trier
fiche film] - Joachim Trier (Norway/France/Denmark/Germany)
Dead Man’s Wire - Gus Van Sant (USA)
The Ugly - Yeon Sang-ho (South Korea)

Platform

Steve [+lire aussi :
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Winter of the Crow [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Kasia Adamik (Poland/UK/Luxembourg)
Bouchra [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani (Italy/Morocco/USA)
Sk+te'kmujue'katik (At the Place of Ghosts) - Bretten Hannam (Canada/Belgium)
Nino [+lire aussi :
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interview : Pauline Loquès
fiche film] - Pauline Loquès (France)
The Currents [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Milagros Mumenthaler (Argentina/Switzerland)
Hen [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - György Pálfi (Germany/Greece/Hungary)
Between Dreams and Hope - Farnoosh Samadi (Iran)
To the Victory! [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Valentyn Vasyanovych (Ukraine/Lithuania)
The World of Love - Yoon Ga-eun (South Korea)