11 movies playing at TIFF 2020 that will change how you see the world

Film, especially right now when our typical window into the world has been narrowed to the size of whatever screens we have access to, has the ability to introduce us to people and ideas we might never otherwise encounter. This year’s Toronto International Film Festival, running from September 10 to 19, will look different than any iteration since it was launched in 1976, with films moving online, to drive-in theatres or small, socially-distanced screenings and events. But no matter how you engage and approach these films this fall, the lineup of movies will provide cinephiles with original and gripping stories that will change the way they see the world. Here are 11 TIFF titles you won’t want to miss.

Bruised

[caption id="attachment_4948569" align="alignleft" width="960"] Halle Berry in 'Bruised' (Courtesy of TIFF)[/caption]Halle Berry’s directorial debut sees her also stepping into the lead role as a down-and-out MMA fighter whose personal and professional redemption depends on her returning to the ring to do “the only thing she’s good at.” While movies about the world of mixed martial arts aren’t hard to find, Bruised finally puts a female fighter at the centre of the story while promising edge-of-your-seat fight scenes backed by some serious dramatic heft. 

Concrete Cowboy

[caption id="attachment_4948570" align="alignleft" width="960"] Idris Elba and Caleb McLaughlin in a scene from 'Concrete Cowboy' (Courtesy of TIFF)[/caption]In this family-drama-meets-deep-dive-into-obscure-American-subculture, moviegoers are transported (via Idris Elba, no less) to the world of Black horse trainers who call the big city of Philadelphia home—as opposed to the wide open plains of Montana, for example. Concrete Cowboy is director Ricky Staub’s fascinating look at an urban horse-handling legacy that goes back generations but has yet to receive proper time in the spotlight. 

Good Joe Bell

[caption id="attachment_4948571" align="alignleft" width="960"] Reid Miller and Mark Wahlberg star in 'Good Joe Bell' (Courtesy of TIFF)[/caption]It might feel like empathy is in short supply right now even though it’s arguably more critical and necessary than ever. In Good Joe Bell, understanding and empathy comes too late but that doesn’t dull the impact. In the film, from the writers of Brokeback Mountain, a father’s regret drives him towards redemptive action that increases awareness about critical social issues like bullying and suicide through the lens of an LGBTQ+ teen confronting brutal homophobia, demonstrating how incomprehensible loss can be transformed into meaningful change. 

40 Years A Prisoner

[caption id="attachment_4948568" align="alignleft" width="960"] A scene from 'No Ordinary Man' (Courtesy of TIFF)[/caption]With an ongoing and global racial reckoning and widespread, mainstream support for the Black Lives Matter movement, documentaries like 40 Years A Prisoner provide valuable historical context for the current wave of demonstrations and how this moment  isn't about a singular incident. The story of Mike Africa Jr.’s fight to free his parents from prison is just one example of an entrenched and insidious tradition of injustice in North America and how systemic anti-Black racism truly is.

No Ordinary Man

[caption id="attachment_4948565" align="alignleft" width="960"] (Courtesy of TIFF)[/caption]The jazz world isn’t exactly known for its strict social mores but for Billy Tipton, acceptance was conditional. It wasn’t until after his death in the late '80s that Tipton’s trans identity was revealed since professionally, he was always seen as a woman "passing" as a man for career-boosting purposes. In No Ordinary Man, co-directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt employ trans actors to examine Tipton’s life as the musician and jazz icon experienced it. 

Inconvenient Indian

[caption id="attachment_4948564" align="alignleft" width="960"] (Courtesy of TIFF)[/caption]Indigenous actress, writer and filmmaker Michelle Latimer has adapted the work of writer Thomas King for the screen in a captivating and engaging film about the ongoing difficulties that North American Indigenous communities face in attempts to access their own culture, language and history thanks to the roadblocks installed by the violent process of colonization. It’s an unflinching doc that powerfully negates the oft-repeated excuse, "We didn’t know." 

Ammonite

Mental health, the scientific community’s rejection and exclusion of women, female anger and LGBTQ+ romance are all explored in this 19th century-set drama starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan as two women who find each other at the precise moment when each needs it most. Ammonite is unafraid in its exploration of all of the above—a refreshing and realistic take on women’s relationships and sexuality not often given the big-screen treatment with Oscar-winning and nominated stars at the helm. 

Beans

Beans revisits a pivotal moment in Canadian history that is too often forgotten: the 1990 Oka Crisis. The three-month standoff saw two of Quebec’s Mohawk communities (Kanehsatà:ke and Kahnawá:ke) protesting a golf course expansion due to be built on forest and burial ground. Stuck between the RCMP and the Canadian military, audiences see the strife through Beans' (Kiawentiio) teenage eyes while director Tracey Deer draws from personal experience to explore how the injustice, violence, and racism visited upon the Mohawk locals forms the identity of a young activist. 

The Way I See It

Former White House photographer Pete Souza became internet-famous for trolling the current U.S. president with photos he’d taken of former POTUS Barack Obama juxtaposed with Trump's opposite POV on everything from treatment of women to reaction from critics. The Way I See It follows the publication of Souza’s book, Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents, and how both offer examinations of the current political situation in the U.S. and a sobering look ahead at the stakes of November's upcoming American election. 

One Night in Miami

Like 2018’s TIFF film Mary, Queen of Scots, One Night In Miami imagines a meeting between historical legends that never actually took place. Following her 2019 Oscar win, actress and first-time feature film director Regina King brings civil rights leader Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), musician Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and footballer Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge)—all friends in real life—together for an evening that illustrates a moment in the long and ongoing fight for racial equality and the role Black fame and celebrity played at the time and how its effects still resonate today. 

New Order

Through both the MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, systemic sexism and racism are being confronted by a powerful (and hopefully lasting) reckoning. In Mexican director Michel Franco’s New Order, another thorny social issue, class divide, is in the crosshairs as audiences witness a small-scale collapse in Mexico City when a violent protest seeks to pit the rich against the poor in a film that has global resonance.[video_embed id='2023739']RELATED: Canada's top red carpet photographer dishes on TIFF 2020[/video_embed]