Guy Nattiv's new film to be screened at the Toronto Film Festival

Among the hundreds of films to be screened this year at the massive Toronto International Film Festival, the largest of its kind in the world, will be the new work of Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv — The Liberation. The tense drama is based on the family story of the filmmaker, who currently lives and works in Los Angeles with his wife Jamie Ray Newman.

At the center of the plot is a Holocaust survivor, modeled after the director's grandmother, Rita Cooper, who is tempted to leave her family for a hedonistic female cult that offers her a chance at a new life. Nattiv, best remembered for winning the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film for "Skin," has an exceptionally impressive cast led by Carrie Coon, who excels in the demanding lead role, alongside Bella Ramsey and Odessa Young as her daughters and Lily James as the seductive cult leader. Tracy Letts, Coon's partner, plays her husband on screen as well.

The project was first presented back in 2019, when it was reported that Nattiv would work on it in his attempt to bring his grandmother Rita to be buried in Israel, after she died in the United States while she was a member of a cult and was buried in an Indian burial. This is the fourth American project that Nattiv has led since leaving Israel, after "Skin," "Golda," and "Tatami," and he returns to collaborate with New York producer Oren Moverman. The screening of The Liberation (the film was originally called "Harmony" after the cult) will officially be the Canadian premiere, which suggests that the world premiere will take place at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival in Colorado on the weekend before.

Also among the films included in the massive festival in Toronto, which serves as a preliminary survey ahead of the Hollywood awards season, are some of the most anticipated works of the year. The event will open on September 10 with the screening of the period drama Being Heumann by Sian Heder, who won an Oscar for "CODA," which deals with a deaf family and this time returns to the disability protest led by activist Judy Heumann in the 70s.

However, it seems that the film generating the most buzz is the large-scale documentary project directed by Alex Gibney about Elon Musk. The veteran director, remembered as the producer behind "The Bibi Files" which was screened in Toronto two years ago, goes to war against another powerful man in the film "Musk," which chronicles the life, work, personality, and vision of the richest man in the world over four hours.

The American production company A24 will have a nice representation at the Canadian festival with two films dealing with the behind-the-scenes of the entertainment industry. At the center of The Debut, directed by Jesse Eisenberg, is the character of an amateur actress (Julianne Moore) who finds herself on a path of incredible success in a lead role in a play being staged at a local theater with the support of a strict director (Paul Giamatti). "Misty Green," the directorial debut of Chris Rock, deals with a former star (Rosalind Eleazar) in a personal existential crisis against the backdrop of her declining status in the industry, partly due to a slap she gave a colleague, which echoes the famous violent incident he shared only with Will Smith at the Oscars. Also in the cast are Adam Driver, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace, and Chris Rock himself.

Also to be screened are:

"Tenzing," by Jennifer Peedom, which chronicles the journey of conquering Everest from the perspective of the Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who touched the summit of the highest mountain in the world together with Edmund Hillary (played by Tom Hiddleston).
The science fiction comedy by brothers David and Nathan Zellner, Alpha Gang, decorated with stars like Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine, Riley Keough, and Lily-Rose Depp.
The action thriller Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother by Pakistani-born Bassam Tariq, which follows a devout Muslim man (Mahershala Ali) on a violent journey of revenge after the death of his wife.

In the Israeli sector, producer Lee Broda is signed on to another success at leading international festivals, this time with the thriller "The Housewife," which follows a New York Times reporter in the midst of an investigation into a Nazi officer living in the city, and finds himself fascinated by his wife. The film by director Ben Shirinian stars Luke Evans, Naomi Watts, Norman Reedus, Ty Sheridan, and Michael Imperioli.