Hustlers. Honey Boy. How To Build A Girl. Harriet.
They’re not just alliterative titles, or highly anticipated movies based on true stories, or films starring Shia LaBeouf as his dad. (Okay, that’s just Honey Boy.) Like many of the most interesting offerings at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, they’re also all directed by women.
Many film festivals claim to be committed to diversity and inclusion. Few succeed in translating those goals into concrete action on the ground. Last month, Venice International Film Festival director Alberto Barbera responded to criticism about the persistent lack of women in that festival’s lineup by claiming that “women directors are unfortunately still a minority.”
That’s true, of course. But as the TIFF 2019 roster proves, there’s still more than enough valuable and interesting work to be found — if you care enough to look for it. Half of the movies on the festival’s Gala lineup have female directors, a record number for the festival, with more still featured in the Special Presentations and Documentary categories. And while those numbers would be encouraging on their own, the breadth of storytelling reflected in these films is what makes this year especially exciting.
Movies by women don’t fit into a single genre, or theme. On this list, you’ll find animated comedies ( Abominable), celebrations of real-life heroes ( Harriet), LGBTQ-focused dramas ( Portrait of A Lady On Fire), coming of age stories ( How To Build A Girl) supernatural romances ( Atlantics), explorations of identity ( Hala), and family sagas ( Blow The Man Down). Marielle Heller’s biopic about Fred Rogers and his friendship with journalist Tom Junod ( A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood) sits right alongside Marjane Satrapi’s adaptation of a graphic novel about Nobel Prize-winner Marie Curie ( Radioactive).
Some of these films are in English, others in French, Arabic, or Hindi. They follow men and women of different nationalities, religions and ethnic backgrounds. But all of them tell stories you won’t want to miss out on. Click through for some of the movies by women we can’t wait to catch at TIFF, and beyond, this year.
How To Build A Girl
Director: Coky Giedroyc
Cast: Beanie Feldstein, Chris O’Dowd, Emma Thompson, and Paddy Considine
Based on Caitlin Moran’s semi-autobiographical novel by the same name, this film stars Feldstein as a British teen who moves to London to live her best life as a music critics and rockstar muse — with a couple of messy hiccups along the way.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Honey Boy
Director: Alma Har’el
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, FKA Twigs, Lucas Hedges, Noah Jupe
You’ve probably already heard that Shia LaBeouf plays his dad in this wild ride of a biopic. But did you know that Noah Jupe and Lucas Hedges play younger and older versions of Shia himself, as he grows from child actor to troubled adult? Cathartic and personal, Honey Boy takes a look at the actor’s fraught career and his relationship with father, both his best friend and worst enemy.
Photo: Courtesy of Amazon Studios.
I Am Woman
Director: Unjoo Moon
Cast: Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Danielle Macdonald, Even Peters,
No one’s ever gonna keep her down again! This biopic stars Cobham-Hervey as Australian singer Helen Reddy, and tracks the story behind the 1971 hit that became the rallying cry of the women’s liberation movement.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Rocks
Director: Sarah Gavron
Cast: Bukky Bakray, Kosar Ali, D’angelou Osei Kissiedu, Shaneigha-Monik Greyson
Written by Claire Wilson and Theresa Ikoko, Rocks is named after its 15-year-old protagonist (Bakray), who finds herself suddenly responsible for the care of her little brother Emmanuel (Osei Kissiedu) when their mother leaves. Striving at all costs to remain out of the foster care system and risk being separated, Rock and Emmanuel launch into a game of hide and seek across London, surviving with the help of friends. With a handful of promising debut performances, this is one you’ll want to keep an eye on.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Blow The Man Down
Director: Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy
Cast: Morgan Saylor, Sophie Lowe, Margo Martindale, June Squibb, Annette O’Toole and Marceline Hugo
This was hands down my favorite movie to come out of the Tribeca Film Festival, so I’m thrilled that it will be getting an Amazon release later this year. Mary Beth (Saylor) and Priscilla Connoly (Lowe) run their late mother’s fish shop in a small Maine coastal town. Her death has left them with nothing but bills, and dashed hopes of finally getting out of Easter Cove. To top it all off, they now have a crime to cover up. But as they soon find out, the women in their town have a long history of secrets — and sisters help each other out.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Hala
Director: Minhal Baig
Cast: Geraldine Viswanathan, Jack Kilmer, Gabriel Luna, Purbi Joshi
This semi-autobiographical film stars Blockers breakout Viswanathan as a Pakistani- American Muslim teen exploring her identity and sexuality, as she navigates the space between her two worlds.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood
Director: Marielle Heller
Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper
Tom Hanks’ status as a national treasure is rivaled only by Fred Rogers, so it’s fitting that he should be the one playing him in this biopic, which tracks the beloved TV host’s friendship with Esquire journalist Tom Junod, who profiled him for the magazine in 1998.
Photo: Courtesy of Sony Pictures.
Abominable
Director: Jill Culton
Cast: Chloe Bennett, Sarah Paulson, Eddie Izzard, Tenzing Norgay Trainor
This animated collaboration between Dreamworks Animation and China’s Pearl Studio follows the adventures of teenage girl Yi (Chloe Bennet), determined to reunite her new friend Yeti with his family in the Himalayas. Culton co-wrote the script for Monsters, Inc., so you can definitely expect a Boo/Sullly vibe.
Photo: Courtesy of Dreamworks Animation.
American Woman
Director: Semi Chellas
Cast: Hong Chau, Sarah Gadon, Lola Kirke, John Gallagher Jr., Ellen Burstyn, David Cubitt
In 1974, American heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, and held for 19 months. During that time, she embraced their ideals and become a wanted fugitive, eventually arrested and convicted, though President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence. American Woman tells that story, and it doesn’t. The film centers around Vietnamese-American peace activist Jenny (Chao), who ends up living with Hearst (Gaddon) and some of her captors, helping them elude law enforcement. In that sense, American Woman tells a well-known story from an entirely new perspective.
Photo: Courtesy of Killer Films.
Clemency
Director: Chonoye Chukwu
Cast: Alfre Woodard, Wendell Pierce, Danielle Brooks
This Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winner stars Woodard as a death row prison warden whose growing more and more distant from her husband (Wendell Pierce), family and friends as the job takes its toll.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Harriet
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monae, Joe Alwyn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jennifer Nettles
It’s kind of shocking that Harriet Tubman’s life hasn’t been made into a biopic until now. She’s a real-life superhero, with a story filled with high stakes and thrills. Erivo plays the American icon as she escapes slavery, joins the burgeoning abolitionist movement, and returns to help others on the same journey to freedom.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Hustlers
Director: Lorene Scafaria
Cast: Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Julia Stiles, Lizzo, Cardi B
Based on Jessica Pressler’s New York Magazine article, “The Hustlers at Scores,” this movie is the event of the season. Constance Wu and Jennifer Lopez star as the ringleaders of a group of New York City strippers who come up with a plan to scam Wall Street executives after the 2008 financial crisis leaves them with few other options.
Photo: Courtesy of STX Films.
Instinct
Director: Halina Reijn
Cast: Carice Van Houten, Marwan Kenzari
This directorial debut from Dutch director Reijn isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a complex and intense deep dive into the darkest corners of the human psyche through the eyes of a female psychologist (Van Houten) obsessed with one of her patients (Kenzari), who has a history of violent assault.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Ordinary Love
Director: Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn
Cast: Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville
Manville and Neeson play the very ordinary Joan and Tom, a long-married couple expecting to spend the rest of their lives in cozy familiarity. But Joan’s sudden breast cancer diagnosis, and the difficult treatment process that follows, puts a strain on their relationship. As time passes, the cracks that were always dormant under the surface of placid marital bliss start to show themselves — and deepen.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Radioactive
Director: Marjane Satrapi
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Sam Riley, Anya Taylor Joy, Aneurin Bernard
Adapted from an award-winning graphic novel by MacArthur "Genius Grant"–winner Lauren Redniss, Radioactive stars Pike as Marie Curie, the only person ever to win the Nobel Prize in two different fields, physics and chemistry.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
The Sky is Pink
Director: Shonali Rose
Cast: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Zaira Wasim, Farhan Akhtar
Talk about unusual storytelling! The Sky Is Pink is a story told from the perspective of a couple’s recently deceased teen daughter (Zaira Wasim), who recounts her mother (Chopra Jonas) and father’s (Farhan Akhtar) 25-year relationship, spanning India and the United Kingdom, with humor and affection.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Pelican Blood
Director: Katrin Gebbe
Cast: Nina Hoss, Katerina Lipovska, Adelia-Constance Giovanni Ocleppo, Murathan Muslu
A mother must make the difficult decision of whether or not to keep her newly adopted child when she realizes that she suffers from an attachment disorder that prevents her from feeling any empathy. As Raya (Katerina Lipovska) gets increasingly violent, and her behavior more shocking, she starts to claim that her actions are being controlled by a dark spirit.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Director: Celine Sciamma
Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel
Already one of the buzziest movies to come out of the Cannes Film Festival in May, Celine Sciamma’s queer French-language love story promises to be just as popular at TIFF. When 18th century eligible bachelorette Héloïse’s (Haenel) parents commission a portrait of her to be used to attract a husband, she refuses. So, the painter, Marianne (Merlant), must pose as a lady’s maid-in-order to get close to her.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
The Other Lamb
Director: Malgorzata Szumowska
Cast: Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman
Born into a reclusive and insular cult led by Shepherd (Huisman), Selah has never known any other life. But as she hits puberty, and Shepherd’s sexual expectations become increasingly clear, she begins to doubt her community and its leader.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Tammy’s Always Dying
Director: Amy Jo Johnson
Cast: Felicity Huffman, Anastasia Phillips, Clark Johnson, Lauren Holly, Kristian Bruun, Jessica Greco, Aaron Ashmore
Tammy (Huffman) and her daughter Catherine (Phillips) have a complicated relationship, made even more so by the former’s terminal cancer diagnosis. In an effort to reconcile, Catherine invites a TV producer into their home to document her caring for her mother in the late stages of her life, But there’s a problem: Tammy just won’t die.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
My Zoe
Director: Julie Delpy
Cast: Julie Delpy, Daniel Brühl, Gemma Arterton, Richard Armitage, Sophia Ally
Delpy’s seventh feature film is described as “a psychological drama with hints of science fiction.” The actress and director plays Isabelle, a high-profile scientist and mother living in Berlin in the aftermath of a toxic marriage, and struggling to co-parent her daughter, Zoe (Ally).
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open
Director: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Kathleen Hepburn
Cast: Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Violet Nelson, Charlie Hannah, Barbara Eve Harris, Jay Cardinal Villeneuve
It’s only fitting that a film about the importance of women looking out for one another should be a collaboration between two, talented women directors. This fictional retelling of a real moment in Tailfeathers’ life stars the director as Áila, who takes in a stranger, Rosie (Violet Nelson) after finding her distraught on a Vancouver street.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Atlantics
Director: Mati Diop
Cast: Mama Sané, Amadou Mbow, Ibrahima Traoré, Nicole Sougou, Amina Kane, Mariama Gassama, Coumba Dieng, Ibrahima Mbaye, Diankou Sembene
Diop made history at the Cannes Film Festival this year when she became the first Black woman to be accepted into the competition lineup in its 72-year run. She took home the Grand Prix, the second most prestigious prize after the Palme D’Or, for Atlantics, a supernatural romance set in Senegal’s capital of Dakar. The director will also be receiving TIFF’s inaugural Mary Pickford Award, which celebrates outstanding female talent.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
There’s Something in the Water
Director: Ellen Page, Ian Daniel
Page and Daniel, who previously collaborated on the docu-series Gaycation, take a trip to the former’s Nova Scotia hometown, plagued by social strife as the community deals with the consequences of decades of the irresponsible and racially-targeted environmental pollution of a former Indigenous sanctuary.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
The Perfect Candidate
Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Cast: Mila Alzahrani, Dhay, Nourah Al Awad, Khalid Abdulrhim
In 2012, Mansour became the first Saudi woman ever to direct a film with W adjda, also the first ever film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. Her latest feature marks another important first. The Perfect Candidate follows Maryam (Mila Alzahrani, in her debut performance), a doctor who decides to run for local city council when she’s barred from attending a medical conference abroad because she doesn’t have a male partner to accompany her.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Jordan River Anderson, The Messenger
Director: Alanis Obomsawin
Obomsawin’s 53rd film tracks the true story of Jordan River Anderson, a member of the Canada’s First Nations, who died at the age of 5 in 2005 after spending his entire life in a hospital, while provincial and federal governments argued over who was responsible for him. Featuring interviews with his relatives and activists in the community, the documentary highlights urgent issues facing Canada’s indigenous population as they continue to fight for equal treatment.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
The Sleepwalkers
Director: Paula Hernández
Cast: Érica Rivas, Luis Ziembrowsky, Daniel Hendler, Marilu Marini, Valeria Lois, Ornella D’Elia, Rafael Federman
The latest from this talented Argentinian director is a mother-daughter story about sleepwalking through your life, both literally and not. Luisa feels stifled in her marriage, and is trying to deal with yet another summer surrounded by her husband’s extended family. Meanwhile, her teenage daughter Ana has been sleepwalking naked, and is starting to attract unwanted male attention — from her cousin. Something’s got to give.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
Disco
Director: Jorunn Myklebust Syversenr
Cast: Josefine Frida Pettersen , Kjærsti Odden Skjeldal, Nicolai Cleve Broch, Andrea Bræin Hovig, Espen Klouman Høiner, Fredericke Rustad Hellerud
You may already know Pettersen from the cult Norwegian series SKAM. If not, remember her name. The TIFF 2019 International Rising Star plays Mirjam, a member of a radical Christian cult who defends the honor of her tribe in dance competitions put on by various rivals. But when she starts to lose, her family blames it on a lack of faith, causing her to seek more and more extreme ways to cope.
Photo: Courtesy of TIFF.
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