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The Toronto International Film Festival’s arrival means one thing for film lovers: the start of prestige moviegoing is finally here across Canada.

The 51st edition of the world’s largest public film festival, which kicks off tonight, has titles starring Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Hudson Williams, Sebastian Stan , Sir Gary Oldman, Mahershala Ali, Margaret Qualley and Penélope Cruz among this year’s lineup.

Many of the films that will screen first for Canadians in Toronto will undoubtedly become big players in the lead-up to awards season.

Since 2005, 15 films that have screened for Canadian audiences first at TIFF have gone on to win the Academy Award for best picture, including last year’s best picture winner, Anora .

“People love movies here, but it’s not a snobbish film audience,” TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey says of festivalgoers.

TIFF’s TV lineup will also offer the first look at a new Friday the 13th prequel series, Slow Horses’ new season, Mike Flanagan’s reinvention of Stephen King’s Carrie , Jon Hamm’s American Hostage , and Carrie-Anne Moss and Hudson Williams’ Yaga .

With 293 titles set to make their Canadian debut in Toronto (and more than 800 stars set to descend on the city), we’ve picked out 26 entries we can’t wait to see, all of which will be coming to theatres (or streamers) in the near future.

All That She Wants
Reeling from a breakup, a newly single woman ( Schitt’s Creek star Annie Murphy) meets a charismatic young man ( Cha Cha Real Smooth’s Cooper Raiff ), whom she later learns she babysat when she was younger.

Babies
Lauren Miller Rogen investigates a dilemma that eventually infiltrates every long-term relationship: To parent or not to parent? Stars Seth Rogen and Anna Kendrick.

Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo
A gambling-addicted Tokyo Metropolitan police officer ( Godzilla vs. Kong’s Shun Oguri) partners up with an FBI agent (Lily James) to find a politician’s missing daughter.

Being Heumann
TIFF’s opening film tells the remarkable true story of Judy Heumann, “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement.” Oscar-winning filmmaker Siân Heder directs.

Below
This suspenseful, Newfoundland-set limited series follows the inhabitants of a small coastal town being stalked by an underwater threat. Stars Josh Hartnett, Charlie Heaton and Mackenzie Davis.

Bucking Fastard
Kate and Rooney Mara star as twin sisters who fall for the same man (Orlando Bloom). Werner Herzog directs.

Bunker
An architect’s marriage is tested when he’s asked by a mysterious billionaire to design a luxury bunker where a tiny cluster of the ultra-wealthy can take shelter in an apocalypse. Stars Oscar winners Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Carrie
After several previous collaborations, including TIFF ’24’s People’s Choice Award winner The Life of Chuck , director Mike Flanagan revamps Stephen King’s horror classic about a friendless high school girl (Summer H. Howell) who has telekinetic powers.

Club Kid
Writer-director Jordan Firstman stars as a carousing New York City club promoter whose lifestyle is upended when he finds out he’s the father of a 10-year-old boy.

The Debut
Jesse Eisenberg directs Academy Award winner Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti in a dark comedy about a bored suburban housewife who finds purpose acting in community theatre.

Fjord
This year’s Palme d’Or winner stars Sebastian Stan as a conservative Romanian father who runs afoul of his newly adopted Norwegian neighbours when he is accused of abusing his children.

Ink
Director Danny Boyle charts the meteoric rise of Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. Sun and the birth of tabloid journalism in 1960s England. Guy Pearce and Jack O’Connell star.

I Play Rocky
Tells the behind-the-scenes story of the making of Rocky . Stars Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone.

Josephine
The Sundance double-prize winner stars Gemma Chan, Channing Tatum and newcomer Mason Reeves in the story of an 8-year-old who witnesses a crime in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The Last Photograph
Zack Snyder’s revenge thriller follows a former DEA agent (Stuart Martin) who goes into a South American jungle looking for the men who killed his family.

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd
A teacher working at a prison falls for a charismatic inmate. Stars Amanda Seyfried and Scoot McNairy.

Love of Your Life
Produced by Ryan Gosling and directed by Rachel Morrison, the coming-of-age drama follows a woman (Margaret Qualley) as she reinvents her life abroad after suffering a personal tragedy.

Misty Green
Chris Rock steps behind the camera to direct Slow Horses’ Rosalind Eleazar in a story of an actress trying to mount a comeback years after her Hollywood breakthrough. The cast also includes Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, Oscar nominees Adam Driver and Anna Kendrick, and Rock himself.

Musk
Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney explores the history of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.

Neil Peart: No One’s Disciple
Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn, the documentarians behind Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage , chronicle the life and career of late drumming legend Neil Peart.

Slow Horses
Apple will unveil the first two episodes of its Emmy-nominated hit spy series to festival audiences ahead of its Season 6 debut on Sept. 16. Led by Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb, the Slough House crew must go underground when an unknown group starts targeting them.

The Stunt Driver
Goon’s Jay Baruchel and director Michael Dowse re-team for the heartfelt story of stuntman Ken Carter, who embarked on a quest to launch a rocket car across the St. Lawrence River from Canada to the United States in the 1970s.

Vintage Violence
Picked by TIFF’s Next Wave Committee (the same group that championed last year’s Obsession ), this Midnight Madness selection centres on a live-streamer who runs afoul of the Yakuza when he heads to Japan to try to sell vintage denim.

Wild Horse Nine
The latest from director Martin McDonagh ( The Banshees of Inisherin ) follows a pair of eccentric CIA agents (John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell) with a history of meddling in global events. The dramedy earned a 13-minute standing ovation following its premiere in Venice.

Yaga
Follows a private investigator (Noah Reid) who arrives in a small coastal town to investigate the disappearance of a well-connected young man, played by Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams.

Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (who co-starred in TIFF’s 2018 People’s Choice Award winner Green Book ) stars as a devoutly religious hit man struggling to protect his children after the death of his wife.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs from Sept. 10 to Sept. 20. For more info, visit TIFF.net.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

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