Movies See first-look images from this year's Toronto International Film Festival lineup 'A Star is Born,' 'Widows,' 'Life Itself,' 'Beautiful Boy,' and 'First Man' are among the films being shown at the annual festival By EW Staff Published on July 24, 2018 12:21PM EDT Close 01 of 46 A Star is Born Courtesy of TIFF "Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut tells the story of a seasoned musician who discovers — and falls in love with — a struggling artist, but, even as her career takes off, he fights an ongoing battle with his own internal demons." 02 of 46 Beautiful Boy Francois Duhamel/Amazon Studios "The English-language debut from Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown) chronicles the meth addiction and recovery of a young man (Timothée Chalamet) through the eyes of his pained father (Steve Carell)." 03 of 46 Ben is Back Roadside Attractions "The unexpected homecoming of a mother's (Julia Roberts) charming, yet troubled, prodigal son (Lucas Hedges) forces her into a situation where she must do everything she can to prevent her family’s downfall." 04 of 46 Burning Courtesy of TIFF "In this thriller from director Lee Chang-dong, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami, a young man grows suspicous about the motives of a deceptive interloper who is hanging around with his childhood friend–turned–burgeoning love interest." 05 of 46 Can You Ever Forgive Me? Mary Cybulski/Fox Searchlight "A jaded, out-of-work biographer (Melissa McCarthy) resorts to selling forged historical letters on the black market, and grapples with the ethical complications that arise, in Marielle Heller's charming biopic about bestselling writer Lee Israel." 06 of 46 Capernaum Courtesy of TIFF "Nadine Labaki (2011 TIFF People’s Choice Award winner Where Do We Go Now?) explores the lives of children living on the fringes of Lebanese society, in this political and heartbreaking story of a young boy who sues his parents for bringing him into the world when they couldn't properly care for him." 07 of 46 Cold War Courtesy of TIFF "Pawel Pawlikowski’s formidable romantic drama features two musical performers in post-war Eastern Europe whose discontinuous love story is hindered by obstacles of time, space, and politics." 08 of 46 Colette Courtesy of TIFF "Keira Knightley stars in this historical drama about the eponymous French novelist, whose provocative debut — falsely credited to her husband — becomes the toast of Paris, triggering a battle for identity, equality, and self-determination at the dawn of the feminist age." 09 of 46 Dogman Magnolia Pictures "In the latest from Matteo Garrone (Gomorrah), mild-mannered Marcello spends his days grooming dogs, hanging out with his beloved daughter and, like most of his neighbourhood, trying to avoid Simoncino, a former boxer and resident bully with whom Marcello uneasily coexists — until a double-crossing prompts an ugly act of vengeance." 10 of 46 Everybody Knows Teresa Isasi/Focus Features "Academy Award winner Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Salesman) directs Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem in this layered, psychological drama about a family wedding interrupted by a shocking crime and some long-buried secrets." 11 of 46 First Man Universal Pictures "The Academy Award–winning team of director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling (La La Land) reunites for this biopic on the adventures and life of Neil Armstrong, from his entry into NASA's astronaut program in 1961 to his epoch-making walk on the moon eight years later." 12 of 46 Galveston Courtesy of TIFF "For director Mélanie Laurent’s pulpy and atmospheric English-language debut, True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto adapts his own bestseller about a wounded hitman (Ben Foster) on the run with a troubled young prostitute (Elle Fanning) and her kid sister." 13 of 46 Giant Little Ones Courtesy of TIFF "In the latest from Canadian director Keith Behrman, Kyle MacLachlan and Maria Bello star as divorced parents whose teenage son (Josh Wiggins) faces seismic personal upheaval after an unexpected incident at a party." 14 of 46 Girls of the Sun Courtesy of TIFF "Eva Husson (Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)) returns to the Festival with a timely war film about survival and sisterhood centred on the "Girls of the Sun," a battalion of women fighting to take back their homes from ISIS extremists in Iraqi Kurdistan." 15 of 46 Hidden Man Courtesy of TIFF "On the cusp of the Second Sino-Japanese War, a spy (Eddie Peng) returns to China set on revenge, but finds himself plunged into a high-stakes game of intrigue, love, and scheming, in actor-director Jiang Wen’s energetic follow-up to Let the Bullets Fly and Gone with the Bullets." 16 of 46 High Life Courtesy of TIFF "Master French filmmaker Claire Denis’s long-anticipated English-language debut and provocative sci-fi drama stars Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Mia Goth, and André Benjamin as a group of criminals sent into deep space." 17 of 46 Hotel Mumbai Courtesy of TIFF "Dev Patel, Armie Hammer, Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland), and Anupam Kher (The Big Sick) star in Anthony Maras’s debut feature, about the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks and its survivors." 18 of 46 Husband Material Courtesy of TIFF "A spirited girl finds herself caught in a complicated love triangle while burdened with societal and familial pressures, in the latest from prolific Indian director Anurag Kashyap (Gangs of Wasseypur, The Brawler). Starring Vicky Kaushal, Abhishek Bachchan, and newcomer Taapsee Pannu." 19 of 46 If Beale Street Could Talk Tatum Mangus/Annapurna Pictures "Director Barry Jenkins’ ambitious follow-up to Moonlight adapts James Baldwin’s poignant novel about a woman fighting to free her falsely accused husband from prison before the birth of their child." 20 of 46 Life Itself Jon Pack/Amazon Studios "Writer, director, and producer Dan Fogelman’s (This Is Us) affecting drama about life, love, and loss, ambitiously set across years and continents, features an impressive ensemble cast, including Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, Annette Bening, Olivia Cooke, Mandy Patinkin, and Antonio Banderas." 21 of 46 Manto Aditya Varma "Nandita Das's biopic follows the most tumultuous years in the life of iconoclastic writer Saadat Hasan Manto and those of the countries — India and Pakistan — Manto inhabited and chronicled." 22 of 46 Maya Wolfgang Borrs "A French war correspondent released from captivity in Syria is unable to rebuild a normal life until he returns to his childhood home and meets a teenage girl who guides him forward, in the latest from writer-director Mia Hansen-Løve (Things to Come, Eden)." 23 of 46 Monsters and Men Sundance Insitute "When a black man is shot dead by police, three members of his community face different but serious consequences if they reveal their knowledge of the murder or the systemic corruption behind it, in writer-director Reinaldo Marcus Green’s bracing feature debut." 24 of 46 Mouthpiece Courtesy of TIFF "Patricia Rozema (I've Heard the Mermaids Singing) adapts the award-winning two-woman play by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava, about an aspiring writer attempting to reconcile her feminism with the conformist choices of her mother following her mother's sudden death." 25 of 46 Non-Fiction Courtesy of TIFF "French auteur Olivier Assayas probes the promises and pitfalls of art in the age of digital communication, in this comedy about a Parisian publisher (Guillaume Canet) and his successful-actor wife (Juliette Binoche) adapting to the new-media landscape." 26 of 46 Red Joan Courtesy of TIFF "Academy Award winner Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson take on the complex persona and legacy of Joan Stanley, the seemingly demure physicist who was also a long-serving British spy for the KGB." 27 of 46 Roma Netflix "Alfonso Cuarón’s cogent and nuanced semi-autobiographical feature chronicles one year in the life of a middle-class family in 1970s Mexico City." 28 of 46 Shadow Courtesy of TIFF "Master filmmaker Zhang Yimou brings a completely original cinematic style to an epic battle story, contrasting visuals that draw on China's centuries-old tradition of ink-wash painting against next-level fighting sequences to dazzling effect." 29 of 46 Shoplifters Courtesy of TIFF "Equal parts incisive social critique and nuanced family portrait, the latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda — winner of this year's Palme d’Or at Cannes — follows a small band of marginalized misfits struggling to make ends meet in a merciless urban environment." 30 of 46 Sunset Courtesy of TIFF "Shot in 35mm, the latest from László Nemes (Son of Saul) focuses on a young woman eager to work as a milliner at the legendary hat store that belonged to her late parents, but when she is turned away by the new owner, she embarks on a quest to uncover her lost past." 31 of 46 The Front Runner Bron Studios "Jason Reitman (Tully, Up in the Air) directs Hugh Jackman, Vera Fermiga, and J.K Simmons in this biopic about U.S. Senator Gary Hart's 1988 presidential campaign and his scandalous affair that derailed it." 32 of 46 The Hate U Give Twentieth Century Fox "A timely commentary in the Black Lives Matter era, George Tillman, Jr.'s adaptation of the novel by Angie Thomas follows Starr, a promising student and cherished daughter whose life is upended, then galvanized, when a friend is senselessly shot dead by police." 33 of 46 The Hummingbird Project Courtesy of TIFF "In the hopes of striking it rich, two scheming cousins (Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård) try to build a thousand-mile-long, four-inch-wide tunnel from Kansas to New Jersey that will give them a 14-millisecond edge on transactions at the NSDAQ stock exchange." 34 of 46 The Kindergarten Teacher Netflix "Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a captivating performance as an overworked teacher who becomes obsessed with one of her young students and his prodigious gift for poetry, in Sarah Colangelo’s English-language remake of Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s challenging 2014 drama." 35 of 46 The Land of Steady Habits Alison Rosa/Netflix "Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, and Connie Britton star in the latest from Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), in which a newly retired husband and father leaves his wife in search of freedom, but his reckless new path leaves him longing for the steady comforts of his old life." 36 of 46 The Old Man & The Gun Courtesy of TIFF "Academy Award winners Robert Redford and Sissy Spacek lead an all-star cast, including Danny Glover, Tom Waits, Elisabeth Moss, and Casey Affleck, in director David Lowery’s true-life dramedy about an unrepentant bank robber and jail-breaker determined to live life by his own rules." 37 of 46 The Public Courtesy of TIFF "A sit-in by patrons at a public library escalates into a police standoff and a media sideshow, in Emilio Estevez's arresting drama that explores isssues surrounding homelessness, mental health, and community. Featuring Estevez, Alec Baldwin, Taylor Schilling, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone, Gabrielle Union, Christian Slater, and Michael K. Williams." 38 of 46 The Sisters Brothers Courtesy of TIFF "Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Riz Ahmed headline Jacques Audiard’s (Dheepan, Rust and Bone) adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s award-winning western novel about the picaresque adventures of two brothers sent to kill a prospector accused of stealing from a tyrannical crime boss." 39 of 46 The Wedding Guest IFC Films "The latest from Michael Winterbottom follows a mysterious, young British Muslim man (Dev Patel) on his journey across Pakistan and India." 40 of 46 The Weekend Courtesy of TIFF "An acerbic comedian (Sasheer Zamata) becomes romantically entangled with her ex (Tone Bell), his new girlfriend (DeWanda Wise), and another guest (Y’Lan Noel) during a weekend getaway, in the newest feature from Stella Meghie (Jean of the Joneses)." 41 of 46 Through Black Spruce Courtesy of TIFF "Don McKellar and his marquee cast — featuring Tantoo Cardinal, Brandon Oakes, Graham Greene and a dazzling Tanaya Beatty in the lead — explore the way a young Cree woman’s disappearance traumatizes her family and triggers events in two worlds: in Moosonee, the remote Northern Ontario community she fled years ago, and Toronto, where she modelled before vanishing." 42 of 46 What They Had Courtesy of TIFF "Hilary Swank, Blythe Danner, Robert Forster, and Michael Shannon star in this intimate family drama about a woman who returns home to help her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother, while also grappling with her own past." 43 of 46 Where Hands Touch Jo Voets "Amandla Stenberg stars in director Amma Asante’s (A United Kingdom) disquieting coming-of-age romance about a Black German teenager who falls in love with a member of the Hitler Youth." 44 of 46 White Boy Rick Scott Garfield/Columbia Pictures and Studio 8 "Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Dern, Eddie Marsan, and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in this fact-based crime drama about an 1980s-era petty hustler who became a drug boss, then FBI informant, before the age of 16." 45 of 46 Widows Courtesy of TIFF "A heavyweight cast — including Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson, Jacki Weaver, Colin Farrell, and Michelle Rodriguez — propels Steve McQueen’s white-knuckle thriller (co-written by Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn) about four women left in a deadly lurch when their criminally connected husbands are all killed." 46 of 46 Wildlife IFC Films "In Paul Dano’s evocative and emotional directorial debut, a teenage boy (Ed Oxenbould) in 1960s Montana experiences the breakdown of his parents’ marriage and his mother’s (Carey Mulligan) struggle to keep their lives afloat after his father (Jake Gyllenhaal) leaves."