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TIFF 2013 received almost 5000 film submissions this year. The Festival will host 146 World Premieres (WP) and films from 70 countries. Here is our list of 30 films at TIFF13 which boast filmmakers with a track record of excellence (big names). Gravity premiered at the 70th Venice Film Fest before coming to TIFF. Blue is the Warmest Colour won Cannes Palme d’Or.

12 Years a Slave

World premiere
Special Presentation
Director: Steve McQueen
Language: English

Fri Sept 6 Princess of Wales 6:00 PM
Sat Sept 7 Ryerson Theatre 11:30 AM
Sat Sept 14 Visa Screening Room (Elgin) 9:00 PM

Director Steve McQueen follows the acclaimed Hunger and Shame with this shocking, based-on-fact story of a 19th-century freeman kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. The enormously talented Chiwetel Ejiofor leads an extraordinary cast that includes Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Alfre Woodard and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Amazonia

North American Premiere
Festival Kids Film
Director: Thierry Ragobert
Language: French

Sun Sept 8 TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 1:30 PM
Sat Sept 14 TIFF Bell Lightbox 4 5:00 PM

Born and raised in captivity, a capuchin monkey suddenly finds himself fighting for survival in the wilds of the Amazon jungle in this remarkable live-action adventure, shot on location in breathtaking 3D.

American Dreams in China

Festival – Gala Presentation
North American Premiere
Director: Peter Ho-sun Chan
Language: Mandarin

Tue Sept 10 Roy Thomson Hall 9:30 PM
Wed Sept 11 Ryerson Theatre 12:00 PM
Sat Sept 14 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 9:15 AM

Shot by superstar cinematographer Christopher Doyle and dubbed “the Chinese Social Network”, this epic tale of business bravado follows three friends who launch a successful online English instruction school for Chinese students — and then face lawsuits over copyright infringement.

The Art of The Steal

Festival – Gala Presentation
World Premiere
Director: Jonathan Sobol
Language: English

Wed Sept 11 Roy Thomson Hall 9:30 PM
Thurs Sept 12 Ryerson Theatre 12:00 PM

A dynamite cast — including Kurt Russell, Matt Dillon, Terence Stamp and Jay Baruchel — enlivens this crackling crime film from writer-director Jonathan Sobol (A Beginner’s Guide to Endings).

August: Osage County

Festival – Gala Presentation
World Premiere
Director: John Wells
Language: English

Mon Sept 9 Roy Thomson Hall 6:30 PM
Tues Sept 10 Visa Screening Room (Elgin) 11:00 AM

An astounding ensemble cast — Meryl Streep, Sam Shepard, Julia Roberts and Juliette Lewis — star in this adaptation of Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play.

Bastards

Festival – Masters
North American Premiere
Director: Claire Denis
Language: French

Tue Sept 10 TIFF Bell Lightbox 2 9:00 PM
Wed Sept 11 Jackman Hall 3:30 PM

One of the most visionary filmmakers in contemporary cinema, Claire Denis (Beau travail, Trouble Every Day, White Material) returns with this dazzling, labyrinthine story of sex, murder, and revenge.

Belle

Festival – Special Presentation
World premiere
Director: Amma Asante
Language: English

Sun Sept 8 Visa Screening Room (Elgin) 2:30 PM
Mon Sept 9 Winter Garden Theatre 12:30 PM
Sat Sept 14 TIFF Bell Lightbox 1 6:30 PM

Gugu Mbatha-Raw takes the title role alongside Miranda Richardson, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Canada’s Sarah Gadon, Matthew Goode in the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate, bi-racial daughter of a Royal Navy admiral in 18th-century Britain.

Blood Ties

Festival – Gala Presentation
North American premiere
Director: Guillaume Canet
Language: English

Mon Sept 9 Roy Thomson Hall 9:30 PM
Tue Sept 10 Ryerson Theatre 11:45 AM
Sat Sept14 Scotiabank 1 10:00 PM

Clive Owen and Billy Crudup lead a powerhouse cast — including Mila Kunis, Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone) — as a pair of brothers on opposite sides of the law in Guillaume Canet’s English-language remake of the gritty, 1970s-set crime drama Les liens du sang.

Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue is the Warmest Color Trailer 2013 (with English Subtitles) from Mia Kiddo on Vimeo.

Festival – Special Presentation
North American Premiere
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Language; French

Thur Sept 5 Winter Garden Theatre 7:00 PM
Sat Sept 7 Scotiabank 4 2:00 PM

Abdellatif Kechiche’s bold, passionate and controversial love story about the tempestuous relationship between a sensitive high-schooler (Adèle Exarchopoulos) and an assertive art student (Léa Seydoux) won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Dom Hemingway

Festival – Special Presentation
World premiere
Director: Richard Shepard
Language: English

Sun Sept 8 Princess of Wales 10:00 PM
Mon Sept 9 Ryerson Theatre 3:00 PM
Sat Sept 14 Visa Screening Room (Elgin) 11:00 AM

Jude Law gets down and dirty as a foul-mouthed ex-con safecracker in this blackly comic crime caper co-starring Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I, The Iron Lady) and Demian Bichir (A Better Life, The Heat).

Christophe Chanel