Acclaimed Films Launched From the Toronto International Film Festival

For nearly half a century, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has been a coveted event to launch upcoming films.

From September 5 to 15, the festival will showcase scores of remarkable movies, including Piece By Piece, Morgan Neville’s LEGO-animated profile of Pharrell Williams.

The festival will also screen Edgar Berger’s thriller Conclave, which follows one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events–selecting a new Pope.

So before the festival gets underway tomorrow, we're highlighting some of the great films that premiered at TIFF in years past.

The Holdovers | 2023

Director Alexander Payne and writer David Hemingson’s The Holdovers received a rousing standing ovation when it screened at the Prince of Wales Theater in Toronto. Audiences loved the story of three different people—Paul (Paul Giamatti), a cranky Classics teacher; Angus (Dominic Sessa), a troublemaking student; and Mary (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), a cook whose son recently died in the Vietnam War—who are left to fend for themselves in an empty boarding school during the holiday recess. “It is one of the most wonderful films of 2023,” wrote Collider from the festival, adding, “The Holdovers is a wonderful revelation from an excellent director who proves he’s still able to take us by surprise.”

Watch The Holdovers on Apple TV or Amazon now!

Belfast | 2021

When it premiered at the 2021 Toronto Film Festival, Belfast, Kenneth Branagh’s moving portrait of a family in Northern Ireland during turbulent times, won that year’s People’s Choice Award. The movie focuses on Buddy (Jude Hill), a 9-year-old who goes to the cinema, hangs out with his Granny (Judi Dench) and Pop (Ciarán Hinds), and helps his Ma (Caitríona Balfe) while his Pa (Jamie Dornan) works abroad in England. Reporting from the festival, Awards Watch reviewed, “Belfast is a quietly moving and universally resonating film about the roots that connect us, the family ties that define who we are, the childhood memories and moments that shaped who we were and continue to linger.”

Watch Belfast on Apple TV or Amazon now!

Dallas Buyers Club | 2013

Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club premiered in Toronto in 2013. In this inspiring true-life tale, rodeo-riding Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) changes his life after testing positive for HIV by helping establish an underground distribution system for unapproved medications. “Among the debuting features, only the Dallas Buyers Club…managed to win something near-unanimous acclaim, particularly for [the] actors,” reported the Los Angeles Times.

Watch Dallas Buyers Club on Apple TV or Amazon now!

Anna Karenina | 2012

When Joe Wright brought Anna Karenina to the Toronto Film Festival in 2012, audiences were moved by the way he imaginatively imagined 19th-century Russia as a large, rambling theatrical edifice. Deadline’s headline read, “New version receives standing ovation opening night.” Critics were bowled over by Keira Knightley's elegant turn as the passionate title heroine, a married woman who falls hard for the dashing Count Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Esquire wrote in a review from Toronto, “In Knightley, we finally have an Anna Karenina for our times.”

Watch Anna Karenina on Apple TV or Amazon now!

A Monster Calls | 2016

After J. A. Bayona’s A Monster Calls premiered at TIFF, USA Today reported the film “left the crowd at Toronto International Film Festival in tears as they rose in a standing ovation after the film's premiere Saturday afternoon.” The moving tale about a young boy (Lewis MacDougall) who conjures up a treelike creature (voiced by Liam Neeson) to express his anxiety and fear about growing up and dealing with his critically ill mother (Felicity Jones) earned every tear shed. The Playlist wrote, “The purity with which the film transmits that often overwhelming and indescribable feeling can’t be overstated.”

Watch A Monster Calls on Apple TV or Amazon now!

Eastern Promises | 2007

In 2007, Canadian director David Cronenberg received a hometown welcome when his thriller Eastern Promises premiered at TIFF. The suspenseful tale of the Russian mafia in London with Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts won the People's Choice Award. The local Toronto Star called the film “menacingly brilliant,” and Variety wrote, “A superbly wrought yarn…Eastern Promises instantly takes its place among David Cronenberg’s very best films.”

Watch Eastern Promises on Apple TV or Amazon now!