TIFF48: Atom Egoyan’s ‘Seven Veils’ with Amanda Seyfried to World Premiere at 2023 Toronto International Film Festival
TIFF revealed on Wednesday that legendary filmmaker Atom Egoyan returns to the Festival with the World Premiere of his latest work Seven Veils. The film stars Amanda Seyfried with Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien, and Vinessa Antoine. Also featured are Ambur Braid as Salome and Michael Kupfer-Radecky as John the Baptist, who both starred in the Canadian Opera Company’s most recent production of Salome, also directed by Egoyan, from which the film was inspired.
“We are honoured to premiere Atom Egoyan’s extraordinary film at this year’s Festival,” said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF. “Egoyan’s cinematic works are unmatched, and we’re excited to bring Seven Veils to our TIFF audiences and to the city of Toronto, his home.”
Seven Veils is Egoyan’s 18th film to premiere at TIFF. Prior to the TIFF Special Presentation World Premiere screening on Sunday, September 10, an Avant-première of the film will be presented in partnership with the Canadian Opera Company on Friday, September 8, at 7pm at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 7–17, 2023.
With Seven Veils, the Academy Award–nominated Egoyan reunites with Seyfried (Chloe), who plays Jeanine, an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome. Haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past, Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to colour the present as she re-enters the opera world after so many years away. Egoyan first directed Salome for the Canadian Opera Company in 1996 and returned earlier this year to revive the production on stage.
“Amanda is a phenomenal actress, and here she brilliantly plays a woman dealing with complex and explosive relationships in her past, present, and future,” said Egoyan. “To have the world premiere of this film at TIFF and to be partnering with the Canadian Opera Company really brings my two great passions together in such a beautiful way.”
“Atom’s production of Salome electrified the stage when it debuted in 1996 and has evolved with each remounting,” said producer Niv Fichman, Rhombus Media. “The opera explores themes that resonate through Atom’s body of work, and Seven Veils is an exciting and provocative next step in this ongoing evolution.”
Seven Veils is an Elevation Pictures and XYZ Films presentation, produced by Rhombus Media and Ego Film Arts, with the participation of Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates, in association with IPR.VC, Cinetic Media, Crave, and the Canadian Opera Company. XYZ Films is handling world sales. Elevation Pictures will distribute the film in Canada.
Seven Veils joins previous TIFF world premiere announcements of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins and Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables More Festival details will be announced in the coming weeks.
Photo: Amanda Maltovich
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- Producers Guild of America Announces Finalists and Expansion of “PGA Innovation Award” for the 36th Producers Guild Awards - November 14, 2024
- 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations: ‘Sugarcane,’ ‘Dahomey,’ ‘No Other Land’ Lead Documentary/Nonfiction Awards - November 14, 2024
- 2025 Oscar Predictions: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY and ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (November) - November 14, 2024
Producers Guild of America Announces Finalists and Expansion of “PGA Innovation Award” for the 36th Producers Guild Awards 
2025 Cinema Eye Honors Nominations: ‘Sugarcane,’ ‘Dahomey,’ ‘No Other Land’ Lead Documentary/Nonfiction Awards 
2025 Oscar Predictions: ADAPTED SCREENPLAY and ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (November) 
Adrien Brody to Receive Desert Palm Achievement Acting Award from Palm Springs International Film Awards