TIFF has announced this year’s opening night film
The 51st edition of the festival will run from September 10 to 20
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced this year’s opening night film, set to launch the 51st edition of the festival this September.
Being Heumann, directed by Siân Heder, has been selected for the coveted spot. It will show on September 10 at Roy Thomson Hall.
Two other world premiere films have also been announced as part of the festival’s Gala Presentations programme. Those include Prima Facie, directed by Susanna White and The Assassin(s), directed by Hur Jin-ho.
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“We’re thrilled to open this year’s festival with Siân Heder’s inspiring follow-up to her Oscar-winning CODA,” TIFF’s CEO, Cameron Bailey, said in a statement. “Being Heumann features an electric performance from Ruth Madeley in the story of Judy Heumann, a world-changing advocate for accessibility. We’re also glad to reveal the news that Toronto audiences will be the first to see Cynthia Erivo in Susanna White’s searing legal drama Prima Facie, and that the South Korean power duo of director Hur Jin-ho and superstar Lee Min-ho will launch their thriller The Assassin(s) at our 51st festival. Lots more to come.”
Programming announcements will continue through the summer, and the full schedule will be live on August 11.
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
