Toronto International Film Festival Picks Up U.K. Titles from Venice 2024 Lineup
The back-to-back International Film Festivals in Venice and Toronto mark the start of what is referred to as "awards season" in Hollywood. From superhero movies attempting to play themselves as more than they are to obscure foreign language debuts, these two events are where everyone rolls out what they see as their best chance to get nominated for a Golden Globe, a BAFTA, or an Oscar (or better yet, all three). For Anglophiles, these festivals are an essential part of the calendar because, for all that Brexit smashed the economy like a two-ton elephant, the U.K. is still regarded as a leading cultural institution; films made in the country or starring the BBC's A-list line up of actors, are regularly featured at these events, in hopes of garnering good press.
However, this year's Venice Film Festival lineup, initially announced in July 2024, is surprisingly light on the U.K. titles, which is why we here at Telly Visions decided not to cover it right away. That turned out to be the correct choice, as the final wave of Toronto Festival (TIFF) additions contained the North American premieres of nearly all of them. Except for Joker: Folie à Deux, everything that is debuting in competition at Venice will also be at Toronto, and outside of competition, there is very little in the way of British fare. AppleTV+ will screen the first four episodes of Disclaimer; Venice will also debut the dystopian future set Samantha Morton-Naomi Ackie-starrer 2073 and a John Lennon-Yoko Ono documentary.
Meanwhile, TIFF's additions include the highly anticipated Jason Isaacs-Gillian Anderson film The Salt Path, initially planned for the West End before it was decided to convert the project into a movie. It will also premiere William Tell, the 14th-century-set action-adventure epic with an all-star cast, and On Swift Horses, adapted from the Shannon Pufahl novel and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Jacob Elordi.
