TIFF Gala Slate Packed With Cannes Hits, Almodóvar
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- TIFF announced its Gala and Special Presentations slate, featuring films from nearly 30 countries and new works from directors including Pedro Almodóvar, Danny Boyle, Lee Chang-dong, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Mike Leigh, Chris Rock, Gael García Bernal, and Jesse Eisenberg.
- The lineup pulls in multiple Cannes hits, led by Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner "Fjord," alongside Jordan Firstman's "Club Kid," Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur," Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's "La Bola Negra," and Marie Kreutzer's "Gentle Monster."
- Siân Heder's "Being Heumann," a follow-up to her Oscar-winning "CODA," is set as the Opening Night Film, while Yan Lanouette Turgeon's "Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend" — a biographical sports drama about Canadian racing legend Gilles Villeneuve — will close the festival with a gala on Saturday, September 19.
- Two Sundance favorites — Beth de Araújo's "Josephine" and Noah Segan's "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York" — also join the slate.
- Danny Boyle's "Ink," the Venice Film Festival opener, will travel from Italy to Canada for its next stop at TIFF after its Italian debut.
- The 51st edition of TIFF runs September 10–20, with more films and other programming still to be announced in the coming days.
Why it matters: The slate positions TIFF's 51st edition as a key North American landing pad for the year's most-cited international titles, with Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner "Fjord" and Danny Boyle's Venice opener "Ink" both getting Canadian premieres — a dual-festival crossover spanning nearly 30 countries that gives TIFF rare first-look access to both Cannes and Venice competition circuit standouts in a single announcement.
