tiff 2020 movies

30 must-see movies at TIFF 2020 by day of the festival

TIFF 2020 movies to watch each day is pared back this year but there are still dozens of great films to look out for.

While we are used to choices among hundreds of features, TIFF 2020 programmers have managed to bring us some world-class cinema you can catch from the comfort of your couch, a socially-distanced theatre seat or under the summer stars.

Here's what movies to see each day of the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

Sept. 10

The opening film is Spike Lee's concert documentary Amerian Utopia (8 p.m., Visa Skyline Drive-in) about David Byrne's brilliant stage show that followed his concert trip that included a memorable Toronto stop.

You could venture to see Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt's  No Ordinary Man (8 p.m., Bell Lightbox) about a remarkable musician and then dive into Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer's Fireball (digital presentation) as part of a doc-heavy day.

Sept. 11

Francis Lee's much anticipated Ammonite (9:15 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) makes its premiere, while Nomadland (9:15 p.m., RBC Lakeside Drive-In at Ontario Place) follows on his Venice debut.

There's a free in-conversation with Halle Berry (6 p.m., digital presentation) that you can check out, and you can watch Suzanne Lindon's Spring Blossom (digital presentation) that's described as "remarkable and risqué."

Sept. 12

Ben Sharrock's purgatory dramedy Limbo (12 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) should be a terrific discovery, while Roseanne Liang's Midnight Madness film Shadow In The Cloud (11:59 p.m., Visa Skyline Drive-in at CityView) looks particularly kick-ass.

Halley Berry's pugilistic directorial debut Bruised (digital presentation) drops for home viewing on this day for those staying in.

Sept. 13

Tracey Deer's Mohawk drama Beans (12 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) promises to be harrowing and effective, while Canadianphile Viggo Mortensen brings his Sundance film Falling (4:45 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) to TIFF audiences.

Michelle Latimer's exceptional, Toronto-shot documentary Inconvenient Indian (digital presentation) is a must-see, while Regina King's One Night In Miami (digital presentation) is already generating buzz.

Sept. 14

Shot in Wuhan during the COVID-19 outbreak, the astonishing 76 Days (5 p.m. TIFF Bell Lightbox) may well be the most powerful and definitive documentary of the year.

Idris Elba stars in Concrete Cowboy (digital presentation), and the inspiring Lift Like A Girl (digital presentation) looks to be an audience fave.

Sept. 15

Michelle Latimer's TV drama Trickster (12:30 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) gets some big-screen attention, while Sam Pollard's look at MLK/FBI (5:15 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) looks to be particularly illuminating on the Hoover era machinations of the U.S. law enforcement agency.

Sept. 16

Manijeh Hekmat Iranian road movie Bandar Band (12:30 p.m. TIFF Bell Lightbox) rocks its way to audiences, while Cathy Brady's Wildfire (9 p.m., West Island Open Air Cinema at Ontario Place) brings a scorching look at the Irish Troubles.

Shia LaBeouf and Vanessa Kirby star in Kornél Mundruczó's Montreal shot, Massachusetts set Pieces of a Woman (digital presentation).

Sept. 17

Emma Seligman's Shiva Baby (12 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) looks to sheer comedy atop tragedy in this bit of funereal fun, while Naomi Watts stars as an ornithophile in Glendyn Ivin's Penguin Bloom (8:30 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox).

Gianfranco Rosi ambitious war documentary Notturno (digital presentation) provides a sobering yet important look in to the darkness of a troubled region.

Sept. 18

Bu Zhi Bu Xiu's SARS drama The Best Is Yet To Come (4:15 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) feels particularly timely, while Stanley Kubrick's impeccable war drama Full Metal Jacket (8:45 p.m., RBC Lakeside Drive-In at Ontario Place) screens as part of the Best of TIFF slate.

Uberfan and fest fave Barry Jenkins chats with Claire Denis (6 p.m., digital presentation), while Sundance smash The Truffle Hunters (digital presentation) is a delicious, dogged doc not to be denied.

Sept. 19

You could pack yourself in for all 349 minutes of Mira Nair's A Suitable Boy (2 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) if feeling particularly ambitious, and then check out Marky Mark Wahlberg in Reinaldo Marcus Green's Good Joe Bell (8 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox).

Stacey Lee's Underplayed (8 p.m., OLG Play Stage at Ontario Place), a look at women at the forefront of EDM, screens with a live performance by DJ/producer REZZ to help close out TIFF 2020.

Lead photo by

Fireball


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