TIFF 2020’s Buzzworthy Films

By Rachel West. 25 Aug 2020 4:16 PM

The Toronto International Film Festival may be going virtual in 2020, but there’s still plenty of star power packed into the annual event. Check out the films generating the biggest buzz ahead of the 45th edition of the festival.

Courtesy of TIFF

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Photo: Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy Of TIFF

Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy of TIFF

Courtesy of TIFF

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‘Ammonite’
Courtesy of TIFF
Buzz has been strong for the real-life period romance “Ammonite” since images from the set with Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet emerged. Winslet stars as fossil hunter Mary Anning who develops an intense relationship with a young woman (Ronan) sent to convalesce at the seaside in 1840s England.
‘Nomadland’
Courtesy of TIFF
“Nomadland” just may be the buzziest movie of the fall film festival circuit, with screenings set for TIFF, Venice, and NYFF. Chloe Zhao (“The Rider”) directs two-time Oscar winner Frances McDormand in this drama about a woman who packs up her van after losing her job and sets off on the road to live like a modern-day nomad.
‘Another Round’
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Mads Mikkelsen reteams with his “The Hunt” director Thomas Vinterberg for the dramedy “Another Round”, which sees a group of four high school teachers explore the idea that their lives will improve if they maintain a constant state of inebriation.
‘Concrete Cowboy’
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF
Idris Elba as a cowboy? Sign us up! “When They See Us” Emmy winner Jharrel Jerome stars as a teen who discovers the world of urban horseback riding after he moves in with his estranged father in North Philadelphia.
‘Good Joe Bell’
Courtesy of TIFF
Mark Wahlberg stars as the titular Joe Bell, a man who sets out on a walk across America to honour his son. The movie co-stars Connie Britton and Gary Sinise and comes with a screenplay by Oscar-winning “Brokeback Mountain” writers Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana.
‘Bruised’
Courtesy Of TIFF
Halle Berry steps behind the camera for her directorial debut “Bruised”. The Oscar-winning actress will also star in the film as a disgraced MMA fighter who comes face to face with her own demons and the young son she abandoned years earlier all while going up against one of the strongest competitors in the MMA world.
‘The Third Day’
Courtesy of TIFF
An HBO miniseries, “The Third Day” screens as part of TIFF’s Primetime program, focusing on television. Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Emily Watson, Paddy Considine and Naomie Harris star in the six-episode psychological thriller about the residents of a mysterious island.
‘The Father’
Courtesy of TIFF
Following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival back in January where it received positive reviews, “The Father” tells the story of an elderly man (Anthony Hopkins) sliding into dementia and refusing all assistance from his daughter (Olivia Colman). Olivia Williams, Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots and Mark Gatiss also appear in the drama.
‘Shadow In The Cloud’
Courtesy of TIFF
One of the festival’s few Midnight Madness picks, Chloe Grace Moretz stars as a WWII pilot who tries to warn her male colleagues that their top-secret flight has a sinister and terrifying stowaway at 20,000 feet.
‘One Night In Miami’
Courtesy of TIFF
Another star stepping behind the camera in 2020 is Oscar winner Regina King who makes her directorial debut with “One Night In Miami”, a fictionalized account of a 1964 meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown. Leslie Odom Jr., Aldis Hodge, Lance Reddick, Michael Imperioli and Beau Bridges star in the film, which is based on a play by Kemp Powers.
‘I Care A Lot’
Courtesy of TIFF
Rosamund Pike is a legal conservator who has been defrauding her elderly clients when she crosses the wrong guy – who just happens to be a gangster (Peter Dinklage). The thriller co-stars Eiza Gonzalez, Dianne Wiest, Alicia Witt, Chris Messina and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
‘The Water Man’
Courtesy of TIFF
Yet another actor stepping behind the camera for their feature film directorial debut, David Oyelowo directs the family film “The Water Man”. The “Selma” actor stars in the film alongside Rosario Dawson, Alfred Molina, and Maria Bello, about a young boy who embarks on a quest to find a mythic figure with healing powers that can save his ill mother.
‘Penguin Bloom’
Courtesy of TIFF
Naomi Watts stars as a woman whose recovery from a traumatic injury is greatly helped when her family takes in an unusual visitor – a magpie. Andrew Lincoln and Jacki Weaver co-star in the movie, which is based on the memoir of the same name.
‘Falling’

Viggo Mortensen writes, directs and stars in “Falling”, a drama about a conservative and homophobic man with dementia who moves from his rural farm to live with his gay son’s family in Los Angeles. The film, which is Mortensen’s directorial debut, premiered at Sundance earlier this year and co-stars Lance Henriksen and Laura Linney. Mortensen’s “Eastern Promises” director David Cronenberg also makes a cameo appearance in the film as a proctologist.

TIFF 2020’s Buzzworthy Films

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