TIFF 2014 - Major Films - and Stars - Headed to Toronto Sept 4 - 14

Piers Handling, CEO and Director of TIFF says its the “people’s festival”.  That’s been the key to TIFF’s greatness for nearly 40 years, that it is public, it is varied and rich and that people feel comfortable there and that it brings Toronto and the world together to share the universal passion for film.

Handling and Artistic Director Cameron Bailey announced some of the titles headed to Toronto for TIFF’s 39^th edition September 4 – 14^th.  The list features stars and films spanning the gamut of cinéma from board mainstream to small and intriguing, altogether 13 galas and 46 Special Presentations which include 37 world premieres.  More titles will be announced as the summer rolls on, but what Handling and Cameron revealed today is enough to grab any cinephile's attention.

Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos with Kate Winslet, Rickman and Stanley Tucci will close the festival, but so far no word on the opening night pick.

Some of the most popular stars on the planet are headed here and could include Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game, an historical drama  about early British computer scientist Alan Turning whose research helped the Allies win WWII), Tom Hardy in The Drop, the crime film with Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini in his final finished role.  Jessica Chastain and Colin Farrell are expected along with director Liv Ullman for Miss Julie.

Willem Dafoe stars in Pasolini, which follows the final days in the life of Italian filmmaker Pier Pasolini.  His body was found on a beach run over by his own car in 1975.  The case remains open today.  It is cloaked in mystery as political and social theories mount up.

Reese Witherspoon has a double header with Wild in which her character follows a break up with a solo 1000 mile hike and The Good Lie co-starring Corey Stoll, about a no bull American woman who takes a Sudanese refugee into her home.  Denzel Washington and Chloe Grace Moretz star in a film adaptation of the iconic TV series The Equalizer.  Jennifer Aniston, Anna Kendrick and Sam Worthington appear together in Cake.

Vanessa Redgrave, Channing Tatum and Steve Carrell – yes, you read it right – appear in Foxcatcher, and Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer and Anthony Mackie star in Black and White.

All-star features include The Judge with Robert Downey, Jr., Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton and Vera Farmiga, and This Is Where I Leave You with Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, and Jane Fonda as well as David Cronenberg’s Map to the Stars with Robert Pattinson, Julianne Moore, Mia Wasikowska and The Humbling’s amazing cast includes Al Pacino, Mandy Patinkin, Dianne Weist and Great Gerwig.

A stellar cast appears in Top Five including Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg, Tracy Morgan, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler, Sherri Shepherd, Cedric the Entertainer and Smoove.

Liam Neeson, Salma Hayek-Pinault, John Krasinski, John Rhys-Davies and Quvenzhané Wallis star in Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.  Adam Sandler, Jennifer Garner and Judy Greer star in Men, Women and Children and Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas star in My Old Lady.

Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts star in While We’re Young with Amanda Seyfried and Adam Driver.  Reese Witherspoon, Adam Driver and Corey Stoll will be especially busy at #TIFF14 with multiple features.

Canadian titles will be announced in two weeks and final lineup will be unveiled at the end of August.