Toronto International Film Festival Gala trailers for ‘Beautiful Boy,’ ‘Green Book,’ ‘The Hate U Give,’ ‘Shadow’ and more

Erik Anderson August 20, 2018

World premieres, Oscar contenders, family and social dramas from the US and high-octane action thrillers from China all highlight just some of the Gala entries for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

“Every September we invite the whole film world to Toronto, one of the most diverse, movie-mad cities in the world. I’m thrilled that we’ve been able to put together a lineup of Galas and Special Presentations that reflects Toronto’s spirit of inclusive, passionate engagement with film. We can’t wait to unveil these films for our audience.” – Piers Handling – CEO and Director of TIFF

2018 TIFF adds 26 more titles including ‘Boy Erased,’ ‘Mid90s’ plus Opening Night film ‘Outlaw King’

Here is just a handful of what’s in store for TIFF Galas this year.

BEAUTIFUL BOY

The English-language debut from Felix Van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown) chronicles the meth addiction and recovery of a young man played by Academy Award nominee Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name) through the eyes of his pained father, played by Academy Award nominee Steve Carell (Foxcatcher).

FIRST MAN

The Academy Award winning team of director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling (La La Land) reunites for this biopic on the adventures and life of Neil Armstrong, from his entry into NASA’s astronaut program in 1961 to his epoch-making walk on the moon eight years later.

GREEN BOOK

Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) and Academy Award nominee Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises, Captain Fantastic) star in this engrossing story of a working-class Italian-American bouncer who takes a job chauffeuring an African American classical pianist across the American South in the 1960s.

THE HATE U GIVE

A timely commentary in the Black Lives Matter era, George Tillman, Jr.’s adaptation of the novel by Angie Thomas follows Starr, a promising student and cherished daughter whose life is upended, then galvanized, when a friend is senselessly shot dead by police.

HIDDEN MAN

On the cusp of the Second Sino-Japanese War, a spy (Eddie Peng) returns to China set on revenge, but finds himself plunged into a high-stakes game of intrigue, love, and scheming, in actor-director Jiang Wen’s energetic follow-up to Let the Bullets Fly and Gone with the Bullets.

LIFE ITSELF

Writer, director, and producer Dan Fogelman’s (NBC’s This Is Us) affecting drama about life, love, and loss, ambitiously set across years and continents, features an impressive ensemble cast, including Oscar Isaac, Olivia Wilde, four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening (The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, The Kids Are All Right), Olivia Cooke, Mandy Patinkin, and Antonio Banderas.

THE PUBLIC

A sit-in by patrons at a public library escalates into a police standoff and a media sideshow, in Emilio Estevez’s arresting drama that explores issues surrounding homelessness, mental health, and community. Featuring Estevez, Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin (The Cooler), Taylor Schilling, Jeffrey Wright, Jena Malone, Gabrielle Union, Christian Slater, and Michael K. Williams.

SHADOW

Master filmmaker Zhang Yimou brings a completely original cinematic style to an epic battle story, contrasting visuals that draw on China’s centuries-old tradition of ink-wash painting against next-level fighting sequences to dazzling effect.

A STAR IS BORN

The directorial debut from four-time Academy Award nominee Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, American Sniper) reimagines Hollywood’s most enduring story of love and ambition, in which Cooper plays a troubled rock star on the decline just as his lover (Academy Award nominee Lady Gaga) begins her ascent to fame.

WIDOWS

A heavyweight cast including Academy Award winner Viola Davis (Fences), Academy Award nominee Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List), two-time Academy Award nominee Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook), Colin Farrell, and Michelle Rodriguez propels Academy Award winner Steve McQueen’s white-knuckle thriller (co-written by Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn) about four women left in a deadly lurch when their criminally connected husbands are all killed.

WHAT THEY HAD

Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry, Million Dollar Baby) stars with Blythe Danner, Academy Award nominee Robert Forster (Jackie Brown), and two-time Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road, Nocturnal Animals) in this intimate family drama about a woman who returns home to help her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother, while also grappling with her own past.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

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.