Let the TIFF gossip begin: Julian Schnabel picks Toronto over Cannes for Miral premiere

We have our first TIFF post of the year as filmmaker Julian Schnabel told film site Hollywood Elsewhere that he’ll be debuting his historical drama Miral at the Venice and Toronto film festivals this year, rather than Cannes. Hey, Toronto may not be the fashion capital of the world, but the international film industry appreciates Hogtown.

Miral (about a Palestinian woman who opens an orphanage in Jerusalem following the creation of Israel) stars Freida Pinto (who already had major TIFF love with Slumdog Millionaire, which won the people’s choice award in 2008) and TIFF regular Willem Dafoe. Pinto is pretty much guaranteed to show up, since she plays the title character, and there’s also a good chance Dafoe will walk the red carpet, since he’s the only other big name attached to the film.