2018 TIFF Platform includes Karyn Kusama’s ‘Destroyer’ with Nicole Kidman and Sebastian Stan

The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled today the 12 feature films that comprise the Platform lineup for 2018, including the police drama Destroyer from Karyn Kusama and starring Oscar winner Nicole Kidman (The Hours), Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and Sebastian Stan (The Avengers, Captain America series’). Destroyer is listed as an ‘International Premiere’ which signifies that the film will be world premiering at Telluride just before TIFF.

The Platform, now in its fourth year at TIFF, has been a launching pad recent film like 2017’s The Death of Stalin from Armando Iannucci, Oscar nominee Jackie from Pablo Larrain and Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight from Barry Jenkins. This year, Jenkins’ new film, If Beale Street Could Talk, in the main slate of the festival.

“This year’s Platform selection stands out for the assured and precise directing on display,” said TIFF Director & CEO Piers Handling. “We are thrilled to present a slate that perfectly embodies the essence of the
programme with so many risk-taking, challenging, and, at times, formally inventive titles that are the result of audacious directors making bold choices.”

The program’s lineup for 2018 includes four features (30%) directed or co-directed by women, and seven titles that feature strong women in leading roles. Hailing from the Americas, Europe, and Asia, all but two of the titles will be making their World Premiere at the Festival.

Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel’s Jessica Forever is the standout feature directorial debut in the program and is the Platform closer. Tim Sutton’s Donnybrook is the Opening Film. It stars Frank Grillo, Jamie Bell, Margaret Qualley and James Badge Dale. It’s Dutton’s fourth film and his first at TIFF. Emmy winner Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) stars in Her Smell as self-destructive punk rocker in Alex Ross Perry’s Her Smell that also features Cara Delevingne, Amber Heard, Dan Stevens, Eric Stoltz and Virginia Madsen.

The jury, comprised of New German Cinema director Margarethe von Trotta, Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr, and South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, will select the winner of the Toronto Platform Prize, an award of $25,000 CAD made possible by Air France, which will be presented to the best film in the lineup at the Awards Ceremony on the last day of the Festival.

The 2018 Toronto International Film Festival Platform lineup:

Angelo Markus Schleinzer | Austria/Luxembourg
World Premiere

Cities of Last Things Ho Wi Ding | Taiwan/China/USA/France
World Premiere

Destroyer Karyn Kusama | USA
Canadian Premiere

Platform Opening Film
Donnybrook Tim Sutton | USA
World Premiere

The Good Girls ( Las niñas bien) Alejandra Márquez Abella | Mexico
World Premiere

Her Smell Alex Ross Perry | USA
World Premiere

The Innocent Simon Jaquemet | Switzerland/Germany
World Premiere

Platform Closing Film
Jessica Forever Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel | France
World Premiere

Mademoiselle de Joncquières Emmanuel Mouret | France
World Premiere

Out of Blue Carol Morley | UK
World Premiere

The River Emir Baigazin | Kazakhstan/Poland/Norway
North American Premiere

Rojo Benjamín Naishtat | Argentina/Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany
World Premiere