UPDATE: The Toronto International Film Festival has announced some early selections from its programme, including world premieres of Davis Guggenheim’s U2 documentary From The Sky Down (opening night film), Moneyball, Anonymous, Woman In The Fifth, The Lady [pictured], The Descendants, Trishna and Salmon Fishing In The Yemen.

The gala for From The Sky Down marks the first documentary to open the festival. Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, noted: “Davis Guggenheim returns to the festival with his powerful marriage of music and film that honours U2’s talent, dedication and music.”

Festival organisers today unveiled 32 world premieres including new films from Michael Winterbottom, Todd Solondz, Wang Xiaoshuai, Lasse Hallstrom, Jonathan Levine, Fernando Meirelles, Mathieu Demy, Malgorzata Szumowska, Derick Martini, Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass, Cameron Crowe and Pawel Pawlikowski.

“The international scope and diversity of voices in these programmes are impressive and inspiring,” said Piers Handling, director and CEO of TIFF. “We eagerly anticipate welcoming these filmmakers and their provocative works to Toronto and sharing them with audiences in September.”

World premieres are listed in bold.

There are 11 Galas announced so far:

  • Albert Nobbs, dir. Rodrigo Garcia (Ireland) [world premiere] Glenn Close plays a free-spirited woman pretending to be a man in this Irish period drama.
  • Butter, dir. Jim Field Smith (US) [world premiere] Jennifer Garner plays the first lady of butter carving.
  • A Dangerous Method, dir. David Cronenberg (France/Ireland/UK/Germany/Canada) The turbulent relationship between Jung, Freud and a special patient, starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley.
  • From The Sky Down, dir. Davis Guggenheim (US) [world premiere] About the making of U2’s Achtung Baby. OPENING NIGHT.
  • A Happy Event, dir. Remi Bezancon (France) [world premiere] A tragicomic portrait of motherhood.
  • The Ides of March, dir. George Clooney (US). Ryan Gosling, Clooney, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in the story of a campaign press secretary caught in a political scandal.
  • The Lady, dir. Luc Besson (France/UK) [world premiere] Michelle Yeoh stars as Burmese national heroine Aung San Suu Kyi.
  • Moneyball, dir. Bennett Miller (US) [world premiere] Brad Pitt stars in the real story of a baseball manager who takes an unusual approach to recruiting.
  • Peace, Love, & Misunderstanding, dir. Bruce Beresford (US) [world premiere] Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Chace Crawford and Elizabeth Olsen star in the story of a family’s countryside getaway.
  • Take This Waltz, dir. Sarah Polley (Canada) [world premiere] Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen and Luke Kirby star in a story of long-term relationships.
  • W.E., dir. Madonna (UK) About the romances of Wallis Simpson and a frustrated New York woman.

The festival also announced the following selected as Special Presentations:

  • 11 Flowers, dir. Wang Xiaoshuai (China/France) [world premiere] A young boy meets a runaway criminal in the woods and hides him from the police.
  • 50/50, dir. Jonathan Levine (US) [world premiere] An original story of friendship, love and survival starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard and Anjelica Huston.
  • 360, dir. Fernando Meirelles (US/Austria/France/Brazil) [world premiere] A film inspired by La Ronde that stars Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Weisz and Ben Foster.
  • The Artist, dir. Michel Hazanavicious (France) A silent movie star has to cope with the changing industry.
  • Americano, dir. Mathieu Demy (France) [world premiere] About a man living in France who returns to California when he loses his mother, where he follows a Mexican woman to Tijuana. Salma Hayek and Geraldine Chaplin star.
  • Anonymous, dir. Roland Emmerich (Germany) [world premiere] David Thewlis and Vanessa Redgrave star in the Elizabethan story of who could have written the works of Shakespeare.
  • A Better Life, dir. Cedric Kahn (France) [world premiere] A couple working in a restaurant want to move to Canada to start their own restaurant.
  • Burning Man, dir. Jonathan Teplitzky (Australia) [world premiere] A father-son story starring Matthew Goode.
  • Chicken With Plums,dirs. Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud, France/Germany/Belgium A Tehran man’s love for the violin.
  • Coriolanus, dir. Ralph Fiennes (UK) Shakespeare’s classic updated to the Balkan conflict.
  • Countdown, dir. Huh Jong-ho (Korea) [world premiere] An ex-con tries to work with a debt collector.
  • Dark Horse, dir. Todd Solondz (US) Two thirtysomethings with arrested development try to start a relationship.
  • The Deep Blue Sea, dir. Terence Davies (UK) [world premiere] A woman in 1950s London makes a surprising choice in romance.
  • The Descendants, dir. Alexander Payne (US) [world premiere]. George Clooney stars as a father who takes his two daughters to Hawaii where he needs to sell some of the family’s land.  
  • Drive, dir. Nicolas Winding Refn (US) A film driver gets in trouble as a getaway driver.
  • Elles, dir. Malgorzata Szumowska (France/Poland/Germany) [world premiere] Juliette Binoche plays a journalist who investigates prostitution among university students.
  • The Eye Of The Storm, dir. Fred Schepisi (Australia) Geoffrey Rush and Charlotte Rampling star in the family relationship drama.
  • Friends With Kids, dir. Jennifer Westfeldt (US) [world premiere] Kristen Wiig, Megan Fox, Jon Hamm, Maya Rudolph and Edward Burns play a circle of friends whose lives change when they start having children.
  • Habemus Papam, dir. Nanni Moretti (Italy/France) A newly elected pope seeks counselling.
  • Headhunters, dir. Morten Tyldum (Norway) Headhunters plan an art heist.
  • Hick, dir. Derick Martini (US) [world premiere] Chloe Moretz plays a runaway teenager who wants to be a star; she meets a spirited woman (Blake Lively) who takes her under her wing.
  • The Hunter,dir.Daniel Nettheim, Australia [world premiere] Willem Dafoe plays a mercenary hunting for the last Tasmanian Tiger.
  • Jeff, Who Lives at Home, dirs. Jay Duplass & Mark Duplass (US) [world premiere] Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer and Susan Sarandon star in the story of one man searching for the meaning of life while running to the store to buy wood glue.
  • Killer Joe, dir. William Friedkin (US) A drug dealer (Emile Hirsch) recruits a hitman (Matthew McConaughey) to off his mother in this dark comedy.
  • Like Crazy, dir. Drake Doremus (US) Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones star in this Sundance hit about a couple who are tested by a long distance relationship.
  • Machine Gun Preacher, dir. Marc Forster (US) [world premiere] Gerard Butler plays a former drug dealer who becomes a saviour to troubled children.
  • Martha Marcy May Marlene, dir. Sean Durkin (US) Elizabeth Olsen stars as a young woman unravelling after she leaves a cult.
  • Melancholia, dir. Lars von Trier (Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany) A family celebrates a wedding as the end of the world approaches.
  • The Oranges, dir. Julian Farino (US) [world premiere] About two families thrown into upheaval during Thanksgiving.
  • Pearl Jam Twenty, dir. Cameron Crowe (US) [world premiere] Portrait of the band spanning their 20-year career.
  • Rampart, dir. Oren Moverman (US) [world premiere] Police drama starring Woody Harrelson.
  • Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, dir. Lasse Hallstrom (UK) [world premiere] A British scientist (Ewan McGregor) tries to help a sheik bring salmon to the Yemen.
  • Shame, dir. Steve McQueen (UK) Micheal Fassbender play a sex-obsessed man living in New York who is visited by his sister (Carey Mulligan).
  • A Simple Life Ann Hui, Hong Kong, China About a servant working with the same family for four generations.
  • The Skin I Live In, dir. Pedro Almodóvar (Spain) A plastic surgeon (Antonio Banderas) needs a human guinea pig).
  • Take Shelter Jeff Nichols (US) Michael Shannon plays a surburban man who develops strange anxities.
  • Ten Year, dir. Jamie Linden (US) [world premiere] About a high-school reunion.
  • Trishna, dir. Michael Winterbottom (UK) [world premiere] Tess of the d’Urbervilles updated to contemporary India.
  • Twixt, dir. Francis Ford Coppola (US) [world premiere] a writer gets involved in a murder mystery.
  • Tyrannosaur Paddy Considine (UK), A self destructive man strikes up an unlikely friendship with a charity shop worker.
  • We Need to Talk About Kevin, dir. Lynne Ramsay (UK) Tilda Swinton deals with the aftermath of her child doing the unthinkable.
  • Where Do We Go Now? dir. Nadine Labaki (France/Lebanon/Italy/Egypt) A woman is determined to protect her community in a war-torn country.
  • Woman in the Fifth,dir. Pawel Pawlikowski (France/Poland/UK) [world premiere] Ethan Hawke stars as an American writer who meets a mysterious stranger (Kristin Scott Thomas) in Paris.

360, Coriolanus, Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, and We Need To Talk About Kevin are BBC Films.

Toronto runs Sept 8-18.