Steven Soderbergh‘s spooky ghost story Presence — starring Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan and newcomer Callina Liang — will receive its international premiere as part of the Centerpiece sidebar at the 2024 Toronto Film Festival.
Soderbergh first screened Presence at Sundance earlier this year, some 35 years after the debut of his breakout film, Sex, Lies and Videotape, in Park City. In all, TIFF‘s Centerpiece section, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema, unveiled 43 films from 41 countries on Tuesday.
There’s world premieres for Marcelle Lunam’s rom com Addition, starring Teresa Palmer and Joe Dempsie; Erin Lee Carr’s documentary Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, a Hulu title about the Canadian pop duo falling victim to identity theft; French director Laura Piani’s Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, with a Frederick Wiseman cameo; Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Measures for a Funeral, written by actor Derah Campbell; and Algerian director Merzak Allouache’s Front Row, a comedy about feuding matriarchs battling over the best beachfront location.
Other world bows include Narcos director Andres Baiz’s Pimpinero: Blood and Oil thriller; Melanie Oates’s Sweet Angel Baby, produced by Chris Hatcher (Priscilla); Iranian director Ali Samadi Ahadi’s Seven Days, based on a a screenplay by dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (Rasoulof is also bringing his latest film, The Seed of the Sacred Fig to Toronto for a Canadian premiere after a Cannes world premiere); and a second film from Polish director Damian Kocur’s, Under the Volcano, his follow up to the Venice award winner Bread and Salt.
The Toronto Film Festival is set to run from Sept. 5 to 15. Fest organizers earlier announced Nutcrackers, David Gordon Green’s heartfelt comedy starring Ben Stiller, will open TIFF on Sept. 5. And The Deb, Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut and adapted from the original hit musical of the same name in Australia, will close the 2024 edition.
Here is a complete list of Centerpiece titles:
Addition, Marcelle Lunam, World Premiere
A Missing Part, Guillaume Senez, World Premiere
An Unfinished Film, Lou Ye, North American Premiere
Anywhere Anytime, Milad Tangshir, International Premiere
April, Dea Kulumbegashvili, North American Premiere
Beloved Tropic, Ana Endara, World Premiere
Bound in Heaven, Huo Xin, World Premiere
By the Stream, Hong Sangsoo, North American Premiere
Cloud, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, North American Premiere
Crocodile Tears, Tumpal Tampubolon, World Premiere
Don’t Cry, Butterfly, Dương Diệu Linh, North American Premiere
Edge of Night, Türker Süer, North American Premiere
Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, Erin Lee Carr World Premiere
Flow, Gints Zilbalodis, Canadian Premiere
Front Row, Merzak Allouache, World Premiere
Happyend, Neo Sora, North American Premiere
Happy Holidays, Scandar Copti, North American Premiere
Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, Laura Piani, World Premiere
Julie Keeps Quiet, Leonardo van Dijl, North American Premiere
Ka Whawhai Tonu – Struggle Without End, Michael Jonathan, North American Premiere
Kill the Jockey, Luis Ortega, North American Premiere
Little Jaffna, Lawrence Valin, North American Premiere
Los Tortuga, Belén Funes, World Premiere
Matt and Mara, Kazik Radwanski, North American Premiere
Measures for a Funeral Sofia Bohdanowicz, World Premiere
My Sunshine, Hiroshi Okuyama, North American Premiere
Pimpinero: Blood and Oil, Andrés Baiz, World Premiere
Presence, Steven Soderbergh, International Premiere
Santosh, Sandhya Suri, Canadian Premiere
Seven Days, Ali Samadi Ahadi, World Premiere
Souleymane’s Story, Boris Lojkine, International Premiere
Sunshine, Antoinette Jadaone, World Premiere
Sweet Angel Baby, Melanie Oates, World Premiere
The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, Agbajowo Collective,
World Premiere
The Mother and the Bear, Johnny Ma, World Premiere
The Mountain, Rachel House, North American Premiere
The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof, Canadian Premiere
The Swedish Torpedo, Frida Kempff, World Premiere
The Village Next to Paradise, Mo Harawe, North American Premiere
To a Land Unknown, Mahdi Fleifel, North American Premiere
Under the Volcano, Damian Kocur, World Premiere
Universal Language, Matthew Rankin, North American Premiere
When the Light Breaks, Rúnar Rúnarsson, North American Premiere
