TIFF Day 1 – Borg/McEnroe, On Chesil Beach, Call Me By Your Name

And in what seemed like a flash, summer is over and that tell-tale sign that autumn is fast approaching is here.  The 42nd Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has yet again taken over Canada’s most populated city for ten days of galas, premieres, celebrities and midnight madness craziness.

While the festival unofficially got off to a start at the TIFF Soiree Wednesday evening, with special guest Priyanka Chopra (also in town for the premiere of The Little Visitors), it wasn’t until Thursday that the opening film was screened.

While the official opening movie was Borg/McEnroe, the first in the schedule to screen was actually On Chesil Beach.  Absent from the Chesil Beach red carpet was star Saoirse Ronan, however co-star Billy Howle, director Dominic Cooke and author Ian McEwan, who wrote the book on which the film is based (and also penned the screenplay) attended.  Ronan was on the original list of talent to be attending the festival, so no word on whether or not she will attend the premiere of Lady Bird, happening later this weekend.

Also getting their premiere last night was the much buzzed about Call Me By Your Name, the critical darling out of this year’s Sundance.  Stars Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet and director Luca Guadagnino were on hand to present the beautiful film (our review coming soon).

Borg/McEnroe, as previously mentioned, was the opening gala with Shia LaBeouf, Stellan Skarsgard and Sverrir Gudnason all in attendance to support the film.  The producers even got in the spirit, dressing in full tennis gear to walk the red carpet.

Other notable premieres Thursday were: Papillon with Charlie Hunnam, Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami and the Midnight Madness program premiere of Bodied, an Eminem produced exploration on battle rapping (which Twitter was raving about overnight!)

TIFF continues through until September 17th.  Tickets to screenings, and information on films is available through tiff.net