The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced its 2020 feature lineup, and of 50 titles set to screen, 23 are directed or co-directed by women, amounting to 46 percent of the slate. Set to take place September 10-19, this year’s program has been significantly pared down due to COVID-19. The 45th edition of TIFF will include physical and virtual screenings, drive-ins, and virtual red carpets.
Mira Nair’s “A Suitable Boy” will close out the fest. Based on the bestselling book of the same name, the drama is set in a newly independent, post-Partition India and follows protagonist Lata’s search for love.
The fest will screen two Oscar-winning actresses’ feature directorial debuts: Halle Berry’s “Bruised,” the story of a disgraced MMA fighter, and Regina King’s “One Night in Miami,” a fictional story about Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and football player/future action star Jim Brown hanging out in a Miami hotel following Clay’s historic win over Sonny Liston.
Other titles in the program include Tracy Deer’s “Beans” and Emma Seligman’s “Shiva Baby.” The former is a coming-of-age story about a Mohawk girl and the latter a dark comedy about a sex worker who crosses paths with one of her clients at a Jewish funeral service.
Kate Winslet has been announced as the recipient of this year’s TIFF Tribute Actor Award. She stars alongside Saoirse Ronan in “Ammonite,” a romance drama that’s making its world premiere at the fest.
Check out all of the women-directed and co-directed features screening at TIFF 2020 below.
180 Degree Rule Farnoosh Samadi | Iran
Bandar Band Manijeh Hekmat | Iran/Germany
Beans Tracey Deer | Canada
Beginning (Dasatskisi) Dea Kulumbegashvili | Georgia/France
Bruised Halle Berry | USA
Enemies of the State Sonia Kennebeck | USA
Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer | Canada
Lift Like a Girl (Ash Ya Captain) Mayye Zayed | Egypt/Germany/Denmark
The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel Joel Bakan, Jennifer Abbott | Canada
Nomadland Chloé Zhao | USA
No Ordinary Man Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt | Canada
One Night in Miami Regina King | USA
Preparations to Be Together For an Unknown Period of Time (Felkészülés meghatározatlan ideig tartó együttlétre) Lili Horvát | Hungary
Quo Vadis, Aïda? Jasmila Žbanić | Bosnia and Herzegovina/Norway/The Netherlands/Austria/Romania/France/Germany/Poland/Turkey
Shadow In The Cloud Roseanne Liang | USA/New Zealand
Shiva Baby Emma Seligman | USA/Canada
Spring Blossom Suzanne Lindon | France
A Suitable Boy Mira Nair | United Kingdom/India (Closing Night Presentation)
Trickster Michelle Latimer | Canada
True Mothers (Asa Ga Kuru) Naomi Kawase | Japan
Under the Open Sky (Subarashiki Sekai) Miwa Nishikawa | Japan
Violation Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada
Wildfire Cathy Brady | United Kingdom/Ireland
