'The Aeronauts,' 'Burnt Orange Heresy' Added to Toronto Film Fest Lineup

TIFF also adds screenings of Natalie Portman's 'Lucy in the Sky' and Kristen Stewart's Jean Seberg thriller 'Seberg.'

The 2019 Toronto Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled another slew of star-driven titles for its 44th edition, including red carpet premieres at Roy Thomson Hall for Tom Harper's The Aeronauts and Giuseppe Capotondi's The Burnt Orange Heresy.

Toronto will give Amazon Studios' ballooning adventure The Aeronauts, which reunites Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne, a Canadian premiere before the period adventure debuts in a select number of theaters Dec. 6 and debuts two weeks later on Amazon Prime. TIFF also booked a gala slot for the North American premiere of Capotondi's neo-noir thriller The Burnt Orange Heresy, which stars Claes Bang, Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland and Mick Jagger and will close the Venice festival in an out-of-competition slot.

Toronto programmers added another 16 star-driven titles to the special presentations sidebar, including world bows for Kenny Leon's American Son for Netflix, starring Kerry Washington; Marc Meyers' Human Capital, an English-language remake of Paolo Virzì’s Italian film of the same name; Max Winkler's Jungleland underground fighting drama, which stars Charlie Hunnam and Jack O'Connell; and Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky, which sees Natalie Portman play an astronaut returning from space, only to lose touch with earthly reality.

There are also world debuts for Jason Lei Howden's Guns Akimbo; the sci-fi drama Synchronic, from directors Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson and starring Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie; Gregor Jordan's Australian love story Dirt Music; and Geetu Mohandas' The Elder One.

Special presentations also booked international premieres for Trey Edward Shults' musical drama Waves, headlined by Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lucas Hedges and Taylor Russell; Dan Friedkin's Lyrebird; and Quentin Dupieux's Deerskin.

The special presentations section also booked North American debuts for Benedict Andrews' Jean Seberg thriller Seberg, which stars Kristen Stewart; Matthew Carnahan's true-life Iraqi war tale and directorial debut Mosul, produced by Joe and Anthony Russo; Justine Triet's Sibyl; Olivier Assayas' Wasp Network with Penelope Cruz; and Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth, which is set to open Venice and stars Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke.

The contemporary world cinema program will open with Atiq Rahimi's Rwandan genocide drama Our Lady of the Nile, and includes Mati Diop's Atlantics, the Cannes Grand Prix winner; Nadav Lapid's Synonyms, Berlin's Golden Bear winner; and the Cannes Jury Prize winners, Ladj Ly's Les Miserables and Bacurau, by directors Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles.

There's also a Canadian premiere for Minhal Baig's coming-of-age tale Hala, which is produced by Jada Pinkett Smith. The program also features world bows for Pat Collins' Henry Glassie: Field Work; Yaron Zilberman's Incitement, about the assassination of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin; Jessica Woodworth and Peter Brosens' The Barefoot Emperor; Jose Pellissery's Jallikattu; Rubaiyat Hossain's Made in Bangladesh; Zaida Bergroth's Maria's Paradise; and Karl Markovics' Nobadi.

Elsewhere, the masters sidebar will give a world bow to Arturo Ripstein's 29th feature, The Devil Between The Legs; along with a North American bow for Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You, another for Marco Bellocchio's political drama The Traitor and a Canadian premiere for Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life.

And the wavelengths program of experimental titles is bringing to Toronto Albert Serra's Liberte; Pedro Costa's Vitalina Varela; Sergei Loznitsa's State Funeral; Anocha Suwichakornpong and Ben Rivers' Krabi, 2562.

The Toronto Film Festival, set to run Sept. 5-15, will unveil its final additions to the lineup Aug. 20.