Let's see if these famously friendly Canadian audiences can convince Hollywood studios and streaming sites to bring their indie films at this year's Toronto International Film Festival through customs.
As is customary, a promising crop of films are heading to the Toronto International Film Festival in search of distribution. Some have already seduced audiences in Venice or Telluride, some have only given brief glimpses of their wares to early suitors in Cannes, and others will be on the festival grounds next week to make their first screenings in time for their awards consideration.
“We’re still feeling the hangover from the last few years,” said Jessamyn Burgum, who runs the independent produce shop Pinky Promise with her partner, Kara Durrett. The duo is in town with one of the most controversial projects of the year, “The Last Showgirl,” starring Pamela Anderson in a tale of redemption and sequined headdresses.
“You have to be a believer,” Dorit said of the market, which she expects to be active but not return to its normal weight. “Which is another word for delusion,” Burgum said wisely, with a little weariness. “And we are.”
In conversations diverse There was one silver lining shared by many major sales agencies: in-house production is down across the board at traditional studios and streaming platforms, largely due to the crippling impact of the 2023 actor and writer strikes. That means buyers are desperate to get a finished product they can deliver to subscribers and moviegoers.
Here are over a dozen of the most powerful titles coming to market:
Evaluation
Throw: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen, Himesh Patel
exit:Flower Fortune
Sales Agents: Utah, WME
Why Buyers TradeFortune’s latest film is part of an emerging genre of dystopian dramas about how and when human reproduction will occur—and the permission it requires—in the not-too-distant future. Here, Vikander plays an official who decides which couples are eligible to have children after a seven-day evaluation.
On fast horses
Throw:Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva
exit:Daniel Minahan
Sales Agents: UTA, Black Bear
Why Buyers TradeDirector Minahan's acclaimed television work (“Game of Thrones,” “Six Feet Under,” “Travelers”) is applied here to the story of a couple whose post-Korean War lives are disrupted by the arrival of a seductive and dangerous relative (Elordi).
Friendship
ThrowTim Robinson, Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, Jack Dylan Grazer
exitAndrew DeYoung
sales Agents: Season 5, UTA
Why Buyers TradeRobinson, the king of modern awkward comedy, takes on the title role in this DeYoung-directed film (though we promise all his cringe-inducing antics remain intact). The film follows a painfully ordinary man as his new neighbor (Rudd) awakens the competitive beast inside him.
No let's go to the dogs tonight
ThrowLexi Winter, Embeth Davidtz
exit:Embeth Davidtz
Sales AgentGeneral Authority of Civil Aviation
Why Buyers TradeDavidtz is one of the most celebrated character actors in the business. From Bridget Jones's Diary to Mad Men to horror classics like 13 Ghosts, Davidtz steps behind the camera for the first time to adapt the true story of a young girl coming of age during the Rhodesian bush war.
The Savage
Throw:Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, Alessandro Nivola
exitBrady Corbett
Sales Agents: CAA, Protagonist (*Focus Features already has international features)
Why Buyers TradeAcclaimed independent director Corbett (Vox Lux, The Childhood of a Leader) returns with a long, moving story about the American dream and its limits. The film tells the story of a brilliant architect fleeing post-war Europe in the late 1940s, where he meets a wealthy and mysterious client who changes the course of his life and his art forever.
The last showgirl
Throw: Pamela Anderson, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Dave Bautista
exit:Gia Coppola
Sales Agents: CAA, Goodfellas, Utopia
Why Buyers TradeTongues have been talking about this film since earlier this year, which is an unexpected and rewarding dramatic turn from Anderson, as she plays a dancer whose long-running Las Vegas movie is abruptly shut down. Buyers got a sneak peek at Cannes, but the completed film is being screened here with great anticipation and even greater fanfare.
Chuck's Life
Throw:Tom Hiddleston, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, David Dastmalchian, Chiwetel Ejiofor
exitMike Flanagan
Sales AgentQ: UTA, Film Nation
Why Buyers TradeHiddleston has been late to the American market, and here comes his chance with director Flanagan (who is no stranger to the horror genre thanks to films like Doctor Sleep and The Haunting of Hill House). Based on a novella by Stephen King, the film unfolds across three chapters in the life of an ordinary man. Given the creative talent involved, we expect nothing short of extraordinary.
All of you
Throw:Brett Goldstein, Imgwen Potts
exitWilliam Bridges
Sales AgentAgricultural Research Center
Why Buyers TradeFollowing on from Ted Lasso, Goldstein co-wrote and starred in this romance novel set in a near future where people can take a test that connects them to their soulmates. Potts plays Goldstein's character's best friend, who stirs something deep inside him.
The Wolf
Throw: Charlotte MacInnes, Natalie Abbott
exit: Rebel Wilson
Sales Agent:WME
Why Buyers TradePerhaps the most buzzed about film at the festival thanks to a contentious legal battle between the director and her producers, Wilson makes her directorial debut with this musical comedy — an empowering story about two small-town cousins searching for acceptance.
K-pop
ThrowAnderson Paak, Saul Rashid
exitAnderson . Paak
Sales Agency:WME
Why Buyers TradeGrammy Award-winning musician Pak makes his directorial debut and co-stars with his real-life son Rasheed in this family drama about a failed drummer struggling to reconnect with his long-lost child.
Nutcrackers
Throw: Ben Stiller, Linda Cardellini, Tim Heidecker
exit:David Gordon Green
Sales Agency: Utah
Why Buyers TradeStiller's day job overseeing the hit series “Severance” has kept him largely off the screen. Here, he returns as the lead in this poignant look at a workaholic who becomes an unlikely caregiver to his orphaned nephews.
Penguin Lessons
Throw:Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Penguin
exit: Peter Cattaneo
Sales Agency:CAA, Rocket Science
Why Buyers TradeCoogan plays a cynical teacher who teaches bright students in 1970s Argentina. However, his social conscience is awakened when he rescues a penguin from an oil-stained beach. The delightful film (which features a wonderful bird co-star) is directed by Cattaneo, best known for finding the balance between humor and heart in “The Full Monty.”
Sequence
Throw:Lily James, Riz Ahmed
exit:David Mackenzie
Sales Agents: CAA, UTA, Black Bear
Why Buyers TradeJames plays a whistleblower who hides a trove of explosive classified documents belonging to her employer. But after being relentlessly harassed by a covert ops team working for the company, she hires a fixer, played by Ahmed, to return the documents. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game where nothing is as it seems, including morality.
The luckiest man in America
Throws: Paul Walter Hauser, Shamir Anderson, David Strathern
exit: Samir Oliveros
Sales Agents: Protagonist, CAA
Why buyers buy: Oliveros takes audiences back to the 1980s, when the wildly popular game show Press Your Luck dominated the airwaves. At least until a contestant named Michael Larson (Hauser) appeared on the show. Somehow, this unemployed Ohio ice cream truck driver managed to pull off a series of victories that broke the game.
