{"id":815374,"date":"2026-07-21T01:47:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/815374\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T01:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T01:47:13","slug":"tiff-turns-the-spotlight-on-canada-in-its-gala-and-special-presentations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/815374\/","title":{"rendered":"TIFF turns the spotlight on Canada in its gala and special presentations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Toronto International Film Festival on Monday announced 66 titles for this year’s gala and special presentations programs: two high-profile platforms where red-carpet attention and award-season momentum often collide. <\/p>\n

The slate of star-powered screenings offer a familiar mix of global prestige and a distinctly Canadian edge. <\/p>\n

World premieres slated for the festival’s 51st edition include David and Nathan Zellner’s Alpha Gang, a science-fiction comedy film starring Cate Blanchett and Chris Pine; Chris Rock\u2019s dramedy Misty Green, which stars Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya and Rosalind Eleazar as an actor trying to rebuild her career; Anton Corbijn\u2019s drama A Talent for Murder, starring Helen Mirren as mystery novelist Patricia Highsmith; and Lauren Miller Rogen\u2019s rom-com Babies, headlined by her husband Seth Rogen, with Anna Kendrick. <\/p>\n

One premiere many in the industry are watching closely is I Play Rocky, from Green Book director Peter Farrelly. The film looks at the behind-the-scenes turmoil that surrounded the making of the 1976 boxing classic Rocky, with newcomver Anthony Ippolito playing a young Sylvester Stallone. <\/p>\n

TIFF\u2019s closing night gala choice is Yan Lanouette Turgeon\u2019s Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend, a biographical sports drama about Canadian racing icon Gilles Villeneuve.<\/p>\n

\"ManAnthony Ippolito stars as Sylvester Stallone in I Play Rocky. (Claire Folger\/Amazon MGM Studios)<\/p>\n

Andrew Haigh\u2019s A Long Winter arrives as a Canadian premiere. The film, set high in the mountains as a family prepares for a long winter ahead, was shot primarily in Alberta. <\/p>\n

Canadian Mina Shum\u2019s Whatcha Want, a film described by producers as Crazy Rich Asians meets Flashdance is also set for its world premiere. Isabella Wei (Bridgerton, Black Doves) portrays a recent immigrant from Hong Kong who rediscovers her love of dance after her wealthy husband\u2019s betrayal. Veteran actor Ming-Na Wen (The Mandalorian,\u00a0Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) has a supporting role in the film.<\/p>\n

\"WomanCanadian director Mina Shum’s Whatcha Want has its world premiere at TIFF. (Chris Young\/The Canadian Press)<\/p>\n

In Alaska, the Dutch-Canadian co-production from Jaap van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak is also listed as a world premiere. The film centres on a 17-year-old Alaskan boy who goes on the run after shooting an oil pipeline, pursued by a veteran FBI agent. It stars Swedish actor Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,\u00a0Prometheus) and newcomer Leo Matthew Temela, a rapper and singer hailing from Kimmirut, Nunavut.<\/p>\n

Other world premieres include Canadian Michael Dowse’s The Stunt Driver, based on the life of daredevil stuntman Ken Carter, played by Jay Baruchel, and the U.S.-Canadian co-production All She Wants, a rom-com starring Annie Murphy (Schitt\u2019s Creek) and Cooper Raiff (Cha Cha Real Smooth). <\/p>\n

The gala slate includes documentaries of well-known Canadian figures including the world premiere of Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story from Adrian Buitenhuis. It also features Run Terry Run by Sean Menard, based on the life of Terry Fox. <\/p>\n

The 2026 Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10-20. You can find the full list of TIFF’s gala and special presentations here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TwoJay Baruchel and Ed Helms star in The Stunt Driver based on the life of 1970s daredevil Ken Carter. (Philippe Bosse)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":["post-815374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}