The 2017 Toronto International Film Festival has become a star-studded international event, attracting actors like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Reynolds, Ethan Hawke, Natalie Portman, Leonardo DiCaprio, and more for the past several years.
While you might not plan on hopping on a flight to Toronto to catch these flicks, you can bet many of the films featured at TIFF will be headed for an Academy Award in 2018.
On July 25th, TIFF announced its first wave of films for the September event.
This year's festival features films starring Jennifer Lawrence, Steve Carrell, Halle Berry, Beau Bridges, Emma Stone and many more.
And Jennifer Lawrence turns a corner with something completely different from her Hunger Games days.
Angelina Jolie is back with her fourth film, First They Killed My Father.
The Mountain Between Us presents itself as a gripping thriller with Kate Winslet and Idris Elba (HBO's The Wire), struggling to survive in the middle of winter, after their plane crashes in the mountains.
A documentary of Gord Downie's final tour makes the list of featured films, along with Kings, starring Daniel Craig and Halle Berry.
Battle of the Sexes, starring Steve Carrell and Emma Stone is sure to get some laughs. The duo worked together previously in Crazy, Stupid Love.
TIFF artistic director, Cameron Bailey, spoke to the films' themes this year and how they circled around survival.
While it's a broad generalization, it was noted that many films portrayed unsettling situations of disruption and change, whether allegorically or literally.
While documentaries might blatantly show the struggle related to survival, works of fiction artistically played today's current social and political climate, based on how the characters choose to live.
Woman Walks Ahead, starring Jessica Chastain was another film announced as one to watch.
With all the heavy themes in tow, audiences can safely look to Steve Carrell and Emma Stone to lighten the mood here and there.
Those are just a few of the many films featured at this year's TIFF.
For more information on the list of films and documentaries, visit the TIFF website.
TIFF runs from September 7th to the 17th.
This is the festival's 42nd year.
If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.
If you appreciate what we do, we ask that you consider supporting our local independent news platform.
