Oscar season is upon the horizon, dear readers. And the (un)official starting siren for the race ahead is the fall festivals. Venice kicks off tomorrow, overlapping with Telluride and Toronto in September, the comes New York and Chicago before then AFI Fest in November.
Our host Nathaniel will be heading out to Toronto in a few short days, so expect to see his responses during those days. While we can't all take in the glut of a major film festival, the fun of watching from home is hearing how the films on your radar are being received. So to let you know what we'll be waiting for, Team Experience has rallied our:
Top 15 Most Anticipated Films of the Fall Festivals
Films narrowly missing the list included Una, Voyage of Time, Loving, American Pastoral, and The Salesman. On our list you'll find five films directed by women and nine from non-US directors. We weren't at Cannes or Sundance, so not everything on our list is a world premiere (and we know you're still looking forward to those as well). Let's just say our #1 made like Katie Ledecky at the Olympics or Mo'Nique at the Oscars, but the list is still bursting with enticements. You can see previous posts on the festival lineups here and here. Chicago is just beginning to announce and Telluride doesn't announce their lineup until the start of the festival.
See what made our list and the festivals they will play after the jump...
15. The Handmaiden (Toronto and Chicago)
Why The Handmaiden? Because Park Chan-Wook is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. Because we are in desperate need of some sexy cinema that is also GOOD cinema. Because there isn't a better person to direct an adaptation of Sarah Waters's novel of Victorian-era lesbians and con artists than the director of the Vengeance Trilogy and Stoker. And also because that trailer is gorgeous and haunting and everything we were looking for before we even knew what we were looking for. - Dancin' Dan
14. Julieta (Toronto and NYFF)
If the words "the new film by Pedro Almodóvar" aren't enough to excite you, Julieta is based on three short stories by Alice Munro which were so powerful they compelled the Spanish auteur to do one of his very few adaptations. After the lukewarm reception of his 2013 comedy I'm So Excited (which if you ask me, is one of his most underrated), Julieta was received with praise at the Cannes Film Festival in May. To play the leading roles, Pedro cast Adriana Ugarte and Emma Suarez, two actresses who are completely new to his oeuvre, and considering how often he works with the same people, this casting suggests we're in store for something we haven't seen from him. - Jose Solis
13. Personal Shopper (Toronto and NYFF)
Once you’ve transcendently twisted the lines between art and reality like Olivier Assayas and Kristen Stewart in their slippery, masterful Clouds of Sils Maria, which ethereal boundary do you blur next? The fabric dividing the living from the dead, apparently. In Personal Shopper, their second outing as director/muse duo, the beguiling Stewart scours Paris for more than just frocks of high fashion, but the ghost of her dead brother who’s got her number from beyond the grave. As in, she’s texting with a ghost. Throw in a Cannes’ Best Director prize alongside the psychological thrills and we're left screaming ASSAYASSS QUEEN! - Daniel Crooke
12. Queen of Katwe (Toronto)
Queen of Katwe, based on the true story of a young Ugandan girl who improbably becomes a chess star, looks at first glance like a textbook Disney underdog-to-champion inspirational narrative. But we could all use a little uplift these days, especially when it’s brought by so much talent: Mira Nair, who at her best makes foreign cultures feel both vibrant and familiar, directs the brilliant David Oyelowo and equally brilliant TFE fav Lupita Nyong’o, as the prodigy’s teacher and mother, respectively. Besides, how often do we get to see a chess movie that focuses on a girl of color? - Lynn Lee
11. American Honey (Toronto)
There’s a shot in Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank where Mia (Katie Jarvis) stands in a warehouse doorway; a tiny silhouette swallowed up by the gaping portal. It’s beautifully composed and still takes my breath away. Raw and unyielding, Fish Tank was like nothing we'd ever seen. That would be enough reason to be excited for the director’s new project, but it’s Arnold’s almost supernatural ability for discovering new talent that has us anxiously awaiting American Honey. Arnold plucked Jarvis from obscurity and her performance was revelatory. We can't wait to see what Arnold and her newest discovery, Sasha Lane, have in store. - Steven Fenton
10. The Bad Batch (Venice and Toronto)
Ana Lily Amirpour returns from the enormous praise and hype of A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night with her first English-language film, The Bad Batch. Described as a cannibal-centered love story in a desolate post-apocalyptic Texas, the film stars Suki Waterhouse and features the surprising supporting cast of Jason Momoa, Diego Luna, Keanu Reeves, and, of all people, Jim Carrey. Amirpour’s distinctive knowledge of horror genre codes, slathered in feminist theory and neo-noir cool, makes her cinematic worlds true pleasures to experience. - Sean Donovan
9. Toni Erdmann (Toronto, NYFF, and possibly Telluride)
A three-hour, whimsical comedy about a father playing tricks on his daughter sounds suspiciously skippable but for the fact that every word from Cannes about Toni Erdmann reads like a prophesy. Maren Ade’s Everyone Else remains a brilliantly paced chronicle of a charged relationship, vigorously acted by Birgit Minichmayr and Lars Eidinger. Ade’s shift from intimate drama to severe comedy raises curiousity, and the plump part for Sandra Hüller is another reason to celebrate. As Germany’s Oscar submission and the most recent film to appear on this list, Toni Erdmann couldn’t come sooner. - John Guerin
8. The 13th (NYFF)
Any project from Ava DuVernay would seize us with bated breath, but when her next was announced as a documentary it brought a whole new level of intrigue. Marketing strategies force films down out throats years in advance, so a surprise project like this is always welcome. Focusing on America's history of racial injustice and its disproportionate incarceration of African American men, expect a film the draws the horrifying parallels between our past and present as passionately as she did with Selma. Details are otherwise under wraps, but the film will debut on Netflix soon after opening NYFF. - Chris Feil
7. Elle (Toronto, NYFF, and Chicago)
Isn’t it time Isabelle Huppert had a huge box office hit in the US? You know being considered one of the world’s greatest living actors isn't enough. Surely the director of Basic Instinct and Total Recall is the one to give her that hit. Ha! If only that was the world we live in... Elle promises more of the same. The Huppert we love from The Piano Teacher, White Material, La Ceremonie, to name just three. Uncompromising, difficult and utterly brilliant characterization - exactly what we need from her. Oscar may come knocking, as a big push is supposedly planned. As easier prediction: this Huppert performance will end up, once again, as the favorite of the year for many. - Murtada Elfadl
6. Arrival (Venice, Toronto, and possibly Telluride)
Denis Villeneuve has had a compelling career. All of his movies have been immensely watchable, yet different from each other. He went from an emotional melodrama (Incendies) to a cerebral thriller (Enemy) to a studio potboiler (Prisoners) to a suspenseful horror story about the war on drugs (Sicario). He brings different shades and surprises even when you think you’ve figured the movie out (looking at you, Melissa Leo). That trajectory is why Arrival is so intriguing. The logline sounds like Gravity crossed with Contact, but with Villeneuve at the helm, who knows? - Murtada Elfadl
5. Manchester By The Sea (Toronto, NYFF, and possibly Telluride)
As if the critical hosannas out of Sundance weren't enough , the recently debuted trailer preps us for the emotional powerhouse that awaits. With Casey Affleck's star turn, Michelle Williams's bold but brief role, and writer/director Kenneth Lonergan bouncing back from the ultimately redeemed hubbub that was Margaret, it looks like we might have three former Oscar nominees finally getting their due. That the film returns Lonergan to the intimate sentiment of You Can Count On Me is just a cherry on top. - Chris Feil
4. Nocturnal Animals (Venice and Toronto)
I was as surprised as everyone else by the sheer brilliance of Tom Ford's A Single Man back in 2009. We all knew it'd look gorgeous but did we also know the designer-turned-director would coax out (sadly not Oscar-)winning performances out of Colin Firth and Julianne Moore? Or that his adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's heartbreaking novella would be near perfect? The strength of A Single Man alone is enough to raise excitement about the follow up. That it's a Jake Gyllenhaal/Amy Adams meta-fiction yarn about novelists and revenge? Even better. Sold! - Manuel Betancourt
3. 20th Century Women (NYFF)
When looking at upcoming films with few details and no trailers yet available, you have to think about what looks good on paper. "Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning, and Billy Crudup" is a good start. That's an eclectic mix for sure, but often that makes for the most interesting ensembles. "Written and directed by Mike Mills" should be music to anyone's ears, especially those who loved Beginners. And then you read that it's about a single mother teaching her teenage son about "love and freedom" in Santa Barbara in 1979 and you just have to say, 'Okay, yes, this sounds like we'll be smiling the whole way through.' Since Fall Season (capital letters required) so often feels oppressive and dour (so many men frowning!), we'll take a female-heavy, adult-driven dramedy any day. - Manuel Betancourt
2. Moonlight (Toronto, NYFF, Chicago and possibly Telluride)
Considering representation has been such a strong topic in film lately – and only getting louder – a film like Moonlight feels like perfect timing. The stories of queer people of colour have rarely been given the space to reach wider audiences and with A24 behind it, Barry Jenkins’ sophomore feature looks to have the goods to fill that void. And how! The recently released trailer was rapturously received, bathed in beautiful colours and featuring a cast that could offer us a whole swath of breakthroughs. Eight years after Medicine for Melancholy, Jenkins is poised to really shake things up. - Glenn Dunks
1. La La Land (Venice, Toronto, and possibly Telluride)
There aren't nearly enough film musicals, which would be reason enough to keep a torch lit for La La Land (and it's entirely original, rarer still). The trailer promises a neon-lit dream of stately elegance, with all of the rhythm and none of the aggression of director Damien Chazelle's last film, the Oscar-winning Whiplash. More importantly, with stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, it's showcases two of the prettiest people in contemporary Hollywood. Sometimes, all you want is for a movie to be a pleasurable indulgence, and La La Land looks to fill that role perfectly. - Tim Brayton
What festival films have you the most excited? Did one of your most anticipated miss our list?