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Toronto film festival brings Dune to Cinesphere, and more

Ten titles just the tip of the iceberg for September event

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New films from Edgar Wright, Kenneth Branagh and more are among the titles announced by the Toronto International Film Festival as part of its lineup for September’s event. And while there are only 10 on the list so far, they already create an eye-catching, mouth-watering roster of films and venues for a city that has suffered through months of cinema shutdown, with the first theatre openings still likely several weeks away.

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Fulfilling both CanCon and blockbuster requirements, Quebec director Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic Dune will screen in Imax at the Ontario Place Cinesphere, ahead of its wide release in October.

Other Canadian titles to play at the 46th annual festival include Night Raiders, a science-fiction thriller from First Nations filmmaker Danis Goulet; Lakewood, a thriller starring Naomi Watts and directed by Phillip Noyce; and Charlotte, an animated documentary about German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon. In addition, the festival will screen Jagged, a U.S. documentary from Alison Klayman about Ottawa-born singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette.

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Other titles in the announcement include Belfast, from Kenneth Branagh; Last Night in Soho, by Edgar Wright; Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over, co-directed by Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner; The Starling, from Theodore Melfi; and Petite Maman, from Céline Sciamma, director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire.

Almost as exciting as the lineup is the list of venues. While TIFF is hedging its bets with the promise of drive-in, open-air and virtual screenings, it’s also announced that in-person screenings will return to Roy Thomson Hall and the Princess of Wales, as well as the Cinesphere and expanded offerings at TIFF Bell Lightbox, which hosted several sparsely attended screenings last year. “It is so powerful to be able to share these films with festival-goers in theatres,” said Joana Vicente, TIFF Executive Director and Co-Head.

Recall that Toronto has cancelled all large gatherings through to Labour Day. Thus TIFF, which runs Sept. 9 to Sept. 18 this year, could perhaps function not only as one of the planet’s premiere film festivals, but a sign of the city and province returning to pre-COVID levels of lifestyle and entertainment for the first time since the pandemic began. Vive le cinéma!

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