The 49th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is just around the corner! This year’s festival runs from Sept 5 to 15, 2024, so movie lovers can experience 11 days of celebrity-watching as well as hundreds of the best films produced nationally and globally (click here to find out everything you need to know before attending this year’s festival).
To help you narrow down your search on what to watch, here are 10 must-see films at TIFF 2024.
40 Acres
This Canadian post-apocalyptic thriller is the vision of Calgary-born writer–director–producer R.T. Thorne and it makes its World Premiere at TIFF on Sept. 6. Starring Danielle Deadwyler as Hailey Freeman, 40 Acres focuses on the Freeman family — the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in 1875 in rural Canada after the first Civil War. Two hundred years later, they’re struggling to survive in a famine-decimated land while taking their last stand against a gang of cannibals trying to take their home. The movie is filled with suspense but also explores themes of legacy preservation, generational conflict and the bond between a mother and son.
“It’s been a dream of mine to create a thriller centered around a Black mother and son, against all odds, for as long as I can remember,” Thorne said in an Instagram post.
Emilia PĂ©rez
The musical crime comedy (directed by Jacques Audiard, and starring Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez), will make its Canadian premiere at TIFF on Sept. 9.  It follows the story of Mexico City lawyer Rita Castro (Saldaña) who receives an offer to help the feared cartel boss Manitas Del Monte (Karla SofĂa GascĂłn) retire from the business and disappear by becoming the woman he’s always dreamed of (Emilia PĂ©rez).
All We Imagine as Light
This critically acclaimed Indian drama won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and there’s already Oscar buzz surrounding it. Directed by Payal Kapadia, the film follows the distinct lives of two nurses who work at a hospital in Mumbai — one’s routine is troubled when she receives an unexpected gift from her estranged husband, and the other struggles to find a spot in the city to be “intimate” with her boyfriend. But an unexpected trip to a beach town allows them to find a space for their desires to manifest. The film will make its Canadian premiere at TIFF on Sept. 11.
The Mother and the Bear
This Canadian–Chilean comedy-drama film is directed by Chinese-Canadian film director and screenwriter Johnny Ma and will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 6. It follows the complicated (and sometimes comical) relationship between a mother and daughter in Winnipeg. When 26-year-old schoolteacher Sumi (Leere Park) is hospitalized after a fall, her anxious mother, Sara (Kim Ho-jung), flies over from Seoul to be with her. Once Sara sets herself up in her daughter’s apartment, she discovers she doesn’t really know much about her at all.
Bring Them Down
This Irish drama, directed by Christopher Andrews, will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 8. It chronicles a feud between neighbouring shepherding families in rural Ireland, drawing viewers into a world of internal strife, hostility within families, and farmer rivalries, all taking place on sprawling pastoral landscapes. The film doesn’t focus on a simple hero–villain trope, the director is able to reveal the fears and aspirations driving all its characters.
The Piano Lesson
This Malcolm Washington drama is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson play. It will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 10, and critics are already touting it as a must-watch. It follows the lives of the Charles family (Danielle Deadwyler (from 40 Acres) as Berniece, John David Washington as Boy Willie, and Samuel L. Jackson as Doaker) in a story about a beloved family piano decorated by an enslaved ancestor. Themes surrounding family conflict and sibling rivalry are interwoven throughout the movie, as the Charles family fights over the fate of the piano and how to honor the family legacy. There’s also a supernatural element to the film — a ghost descends on their home and Boy Willie gives Berniece an ultimatum that she is too scared to face.
Seeds
This Canadian flick (equal parts horror, comedy and campy revenge thriller) is directed by Canadian actress and filmmaker Kaniehtiio Horn, and it expertly interweaves KanienĘĽkehá꞉ka connections into the plot. Horn plays Ziggy, a Toronto-based bike courier and social media influencer. Just as she lands her first gig with a new client — a seed and fertilizer company — she’s called back to her community to house-sit for her aunt. Instead of house-sitting, Ziggy soon finds herself in a battle to save her people’s legacy (and protect her aunt’s cache of seeds). The film will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sept
Oh, Canada
Despite its name, this is an American drama written and directed by Paul Schrader (American Gigolo); it’s based on the 2021 novel Foregone by Russell Banks. The film follows Leonard Fife (played by Richard Gere), one of 60,000 draft evaders who left the US for Canada as a young man during the Vietnam War draft. After a life filled with success, he becomes riddled with illness. So, he decides to become more open about his past while on his deathbed (despite his wife, played by Uma Thurman, desperately trying to protect her husband’s legacy). It will make its North American premiere at TIFF on Sept. 5.
The Deb
Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut is a lighthearted feel-good comedy (think Bridesmaids meets Pitch Perfect) and perfect for a girls night out. This Australian musical focuses on two very different teenage cousins who initially clash but eventually join forces to make their mark at the annual debutante ball. It will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 9.
Sharp Corner
This Canadian–Irish thriller directed by Nova Scotia filmmaker Jason Buxton will make its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 6. After a car crashes into the front yard of a typical family man (Josh, played by Ben Foster), he develops an unhealthy obsession with being ready for the next accident — especially when he discovers the accidents are a regular occurrence due to the design of the road. Josh’s behavior becomes so impulsive that viewers begin to wonder if he is genuinely trying to be a good citizen, or if something darker is motivating him. The film also stars How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders.
