Riz Ahmed’s sci-fi thriller Encounter heads to 46th Toronto International Film Festival

Riz Ahmed and Octavia Spencer’s science-fiction thriller Encounter, directed by British filmmaker Michael Pearce, is heading to the 46^th annual Toronto International Film Festival, taking place September 9-18. The festival will feature a mix of in-person as well as digital screenings.

Stephen Chbosky’s Dear Evan Hansen is set to be the opening night film at Roy Thomson Hall. Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s long-delayed Cultural Revolution-set drama One Second has been selected to close the Canadian festival, organizers said on Tuesday.

Dear Evan Hansen, the screen adaptation of the popular stage musical, stars Ben Platt, Amy Adams, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, Amandla Stenberg, and Nik Dodani. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, the film has Platt reprising the character of Evan Hansen, a socially awkward teen who gets caught up in a lie when he claims he was best friends with a schoolmate who commits suicide. The film is scheduled to get a virtual world premiere at the festival.

Several other interesting titles are also lined-up to appear at TIFF, including the Cannes-certified drama Bergman Island, starring Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps; the darkly comic biopic The Eyes of Tammy Faye starring Chastain and Andrew Garfield; the film-industry satire Official Competition starring Cruz and long-time collaborator Antonio Banderas; and, perhaps most surprisingly, the children’s film Clifford the Big Red Dog.

The announcement of TIFF comes a day after the federal government announced its decision to loosen border restrictions on August 9 for fully vaccinated U.S. citizens who will now be able to visit Canada without needing to quarantine. Inoculated visitors from the rest of the world will be able to enter the country starting September 7, two days before the festival begins.

"We are absolutely thrilled with the news, so now we are working on all different kinds of scenarios,” said Joana Vicente, TIFF’s executive director and co-head.