Two Chinese movies to be screened at Toronto film festival

Jia Zhangke is honored with the Caroussel D'Or during the 68th Cannes International Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 14, 2015.[Photo/IC]

This year's Toronto film festival will open with Demolition, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts, and with Jean-Marc Vall e, who is from Quebec, as director, according to Piers Handling, the CEO and director of TIFF.

Valle is not the only Canadian director to be featured at the festival. Other well-known Canadian filmmakers are in the spotlight too. Toronto-based Deepa Mehta's Beeba Boys, about gang violence among young Indo-Canadian men, will be highlighted, as will be Remember, another film by director Atom Egoyan, also a longtime friend of the festival.

After a strong showing at Cannes, the film Sicario by French- Canadian director Dennis Villeneuve will have its North American premiere at TIFF 2015. The film, starring Emily Blunt and Benicio Del Toro, is about a young FBI agent drawn into a violent war on drugs on the US-Mexican border.

And Gyllenhaal is just one of the many A-list stars who have become fan favorites at the Toronto festival. After her Oscar-winning turn in Still Alice, Julianne Moore will walk the red carpet again for Freeheld, a movie she stars in alongside Canadian actress Ellen Page. The film focuses on the real-life love story and fight for justice by two New Jersey women and is likely to be especially poignant in a year where same-sex marriage became legal in the United States.

Benedict Cumberbatch fans may get a chance to see their idol for a third year in a row: the British actor is expected to attend the festival as part of the star-studded film Black Mass. Directed by American Scott Cooper, the mob thriller co-stars Johnny Depp, Kevin Bacon and Joel Edgerton.

Festival-goers can also expect to catch a glimpse of Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain. After co-starring in Insterstellar, the actors are back in space in iconic director Ridley Scott's new film The Martian.

The Toronto film festival, which was founded in 1976, now is seen as one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Organizers are expected to unveil more of its lineup in the next few weeks for the 40th festival, which runs Sept. 10-20.

Related:

Chinese director Jia Zhangke to lead Toronto film festival's inaugural jury

Chinese director Jia Zhangke honored at Cannes