TIFF 2012: 17 galas, 45 special presentations and a lot of star power at this year’s festival

TIFF 2012: 17 galas, 45 special presentations and a lot of star power at this year’s festival

This morning, TIFF CEO Piers Handling and Artistic Director Cameron Bailey announced TIFF 2012’s opening night gala, galas and special presentations. The big surprise? Genre film Looper, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis, is opening the festival, and not Midnight’s Children as some had hoped. It appears that TIFF is continuing to have fun by “mixing things up,” evidenced by the fact that in the last two years, TIFF has opened with hockey musical Score: The Musical (2010) and U2 rock doc From The Sky Down (2011). But besides the surprising opening night gala, there’s a lot to be excited about, including the star power that could be coming through Toronto this September.

Jump to: Opening Night Gala | Galas | Special Presentations

Opening Night Gala

Looper (U.S.)
Director: Rian Johnson
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis

Galas

A Royal Affair (Denmark, Sweden, Czech Republic and Germany)
Director: Nikolai Arcel
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander

Argo (U.S.)
Director: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston

The Company You Keep (U.S.)
Director: Robert Redford
Starring: Robert Redford, Shia LaBoeuf

Dangerous Liaisons (China)
Director: Hur Jin-ho
Starring: Cecelia Cheung, Dong-gun Jang, Zhang Ziyi

English Vinglish (India)
Director: Gauri Shinde
Starring: Sridevi

Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (U.S. and France)
Director: Shola Lynch
Starring: Angela Davis

Great Expectations (U.K.)
Director: Mike Newell
Starring: Holliday Grainger, Ralph Fiennes

Hyde Park on Hudson (U.K.)
Director: Roger Michell
Starring: Bill Murray, Laura Linney

Inescapable (Canada)
Director: Ruba Nadda
Starring: Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei

Jayne Mansfield’s Car (U.S. and Russia)
Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Starring: Robert Duvall, Kevin Bacon

Love, Marilyn (U.S.)
Director: Liz Garbus
Featuring: Elizabeth Banks, Lindsay Lohan, Evan Rachel Wood, Ben Foster, Uma Thurman, Paul Giamatti, Ellen Burstyn, Adrien Brody, Marisa Tomei, Glenn Close

Midnight’s Children (Canada and U.K.)
Director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Ronit Roy

The Reluctant Fundamentalist (U.S.)
Director: Mira Nair
Starring: Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Liev Schreiber

Silver Linings Playbook (U.S.)
Director: David O. Russell
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Chris Tucker

Thermae Romae (Japan)
Director: Hideki Takeuchi
Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Aya Ueto

Twice Born (Italy, Spain and Croatia)
Director: Sergio Castellitto
Starring: Penelope Cruz, Emile Hirsch

UPDATE: On August 14, TIFF announced three additional galas:

Song for Marion (UK)
Director: Paul Andrew Williams
Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton

Emperor (Japan/USA)
Director: Peter Webber
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Matthew Fox

What Maisie Knew (USA)
Director: Scott McGehee and David Siegel
Starring: Joanna Vanderham, Onata Aprile, Alexander Skarsgård, Julianne Moore, Steve Coogan

Click to see the 45 special presentations at TIFF 2012 »

Special Presentations

A Few Hours of Spring (France)
Director: Stéphane Brizé
Starring: Vincent Lindon, Emmanuelle Seigner

Anna Karenina (U.K.)
Director: Joe Wright
Starring: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson

At Any Price (U.K. and U.S.)|
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron

The Attack (France)
Director: Ziad Doueiri
Starring: Ali Suliman, Evgenia Dodena, Reymond Amsalem

Byzantium (U.K.)
Director: Neil Jordan
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Sam Riley, Saoirse Ronan

Capital (France)
Director: Costa-Gavras
Starring: Gad Elmaleh, Gabriel Byrne

Caught in the Web (Japan and China)
Director: Chen Kaige
Starring: Mark Chao, Chen Hong, Gao Yuanyuan

Cloud Atlas (U.S.)
Director: Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
Starring: Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent, Hugh Grant

The Deep (Iceland and Norway)
Director: Baltasar Kormákur
Starring: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Jóhann G. Jóhannsson

Dormant Beauty (Italy and France)
Director: Marco Bellocchio
Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Toni Servillo, Alba Rohrwacher, Michele Riondino, Maya Sansa, Pier Giorgio Bellocchio, Brenno Placido, Fabrizio Falco

Dreams for Sale (Japan)
Director: Nishikawa Miwa
Starring: Matsu Takako, Abe Sadavo and Tanaka Lena

End Of Watch (U.S.)
Director: David Ayer
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña

Everybody Has A Plan (Argentina)
Director: Ana Piterbarg
Starring: Viggo Mortensen

Foxfire (France and Canada)
Director: Laurent Cantet
Starring: Ali Liebert, Tamara Hope

Frances Ha (U.S.)
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Greta Gerwig

Ginger and Rosa (U.K.)
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Christina Hendricks, Annette Bening, Alessandro Nivola

Hannah Arendt (Germany)
Director: Margarethe von Trotta
Starring: Janet McTeer, Barbara Sukowa

The Hunt (Denmark)
Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Annika Wedderkopp

The Iceman (U.S.)
Director: Ariel Vromen
Starring: Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, David Schwimmer, Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta

Imogene (U.S.)
Directors: Robert Pulcini, Shari Springer Berman
Starring: Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, Darren Criss, Kristen Wiig

The Impossible (Spain and U.S.)
Director: J.A. Bayona
Starring: Naomi Watts, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, Oaklee Pendergast, Ewan McGregor

In the House (France)
Director: François Ozon
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas

Kon-Tiki (United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark)
Directors: Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg

The Last Supper (China)
Director: Lu Chuan

A Late Quartet (U.S.)
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mark Ivanir, Imogen Poots, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener

A Liar’s Autobiography—The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman (United Kingdom)
Directors: Ben Timlett, Bill Jones, Jeff Simpson,
Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Carol Cleveland, Philip Bulcock

Lore (Australia, U.K. and Germany)
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: Saskia Rosendahl and Kai Malina

Mister Pip (New Zealand)
Director: Andrew Adamson
Starring: Hugh Laurie

Much Ado About Nothing (U.S.)
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, Jillian Morgese, Nathan Fillion, Spencer Treat Clark and Riki Lindhome

No (Chile and U.S.)
Director: Pablo Larrain
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal

Outrage Beyond (Japan)
Director: Takeshi Kitano

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (U.S.)
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Starring: Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Nina Dobrev, Melanie Lynskey, Paull Rudd and Dylan McDermott

The Place Beyond the Pines (U.S.)
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta and Eva Mendes

Quartet (U.S.)
Director: Dustin Hoffman
Starring: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins

Reality (Italy and France)
Director: Matteo Garrone
Starring: Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Nando Paone, Nello Iorio and Nunzi Schiano

Rust and Bone (France and Belgium)
Director: Jacques Audiard
Starring: Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts

The Sapphires (Australia)
Director: Wayne Blair
Starring: Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell

The Sessions (U.S.)
Director: Ben Lewin
Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt and William H. Macy

Tai Chi 0 (China)
Director: Stephen Fung

Thanks for Sharing (U.S.)
Director: Stuart Blumberg
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Tim Robbins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Josh Gad and Joely Richardson

The Time Being (U.S.)
Director: Nena Cicin-Sain
Starring: Wes Bentley and Frank Langella

To The Wonder (U.S.)
Director: Terrence Malick
Starring: Olga Kurylenko, Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams

Venus and Serena
(
U.S.)
Director: Maiken Baird
Starring: Venus and Serena Williams

Writers (U.S.)
Director: Josh Boone
Starring: Liana Liberato, Jennifer Connelly, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins and Kristen Bell

Zaytoun (U.K. and Israel)
Director: Eran Riklis
Starring: Stephen Dorff

UPDATE: On August 14, TIFF announced 18 additional special presentations:

Arthur Newman (USA)
Director: Dante Ariola
Starring: Emily Blunt, Colin Firth and Anne Heche

Bad 25 (USA)
Director: Spike Lee
Interviewees include: Mariah Carey, L.A. Reid and Sheryl Crow

Disconnect (USA)
Director: Henry Alex Rubin
Starring: Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård and Max Theriot, as well as Jonah Bobo, Colin Ford and Haley Ramm.

Do Not Disturb (France)
Director: Yvan Attal
Starring: François Cluzet and Charlotte Gainsbourg

Greetings from Tim Buckley (USA)
Director: Dan Algrant
Starring: Imogen Poots and Penn Badgley

Lines of Wellington (Portugal)
Director: Valeria Sarmiento
Starring: John Malkovich, Nuno Lopes, Soraia Chaves, Marisa Paredes and Victoria Guerra

Love is All You Need (Denmark)
Director: Susanne Bier
Starring: Pierce Brosnan and Trine Dyrholm

On The Road (France/Brazil)
Director: Walter Salles
Starring: Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst

Passion (France/Germany)
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Noomi Rapace, Karoline Herfurth and Paul Anderson

Rhino Season (Iraqi Kurdistan/Turkey)
Director: Bahman Ghobadi,
Starring: Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci and Yilmaz Erdoğan

Spring Breakers (USA)
Director: Harmony Korine
Starring: Selena Gomez, James Franco, Vanessa Hudgens and Heather Morris

The Master (USA)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Dern

The Paperboy (USA)
Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, David Oyelowo and Zac Efron

The Son Did It (Italy/France)
Director: Daniele Ciprì
Starring: Toni Servillo, Giselda Volodi, Alfredo Castro and Fabrizio Falco

The Suicide Shop (France/Belgium/Canada)
Director: Patrice Leconte
Starring: Bernard Alane, Isabelle Spade, Kacey Mottet Klein, Isabelle Giami and Laurent Gendron

Thérèse Desqueyroux (France)
Director: Claude Miller
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gilles Lellouche and Anaïs Demoustier

White Elephant (Argentina/Spain)
Director: Pablo Trapero
Starring: Martina Gusman, Ricardo Darin and Jérémie Renier

Yellow (USA)
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Starring: Sienna Miller, Gena Rowlands, Ray Liotta, David Morse, Lucy Punch, Max Theoriot, Riley Keough, Daveigh Chase, Heather Wahlquist and Melanie Griffith