Richard Linklater’s ‘Blue Moon’ Sets North American Premiere at Toronto Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival announced the lineup for its Centerpiece program on Tuesday, spotlighting 55 total films from nearly 50 countries. “Blue Moon” from director Richard Linklater, a collaboration between the U.S. and Ireland, will have its North American premiere in the largely international section of the festival.

Of the 55 films screening in the Centerpiece program, 51 represent countries outside of the U.S. Some are collaborations with the U.S., while most are entirely international productions. Likewise, only six films are sole productions of Canada, with one co-production between Canada and Hungary.

18 of the films present in the section will have their world premieres at TIFF. These include “Good Boy,” starring Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough; Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner “Carolina Caroline,” from director Adam Carter Rehmeier, who previously made “Dinner in America” and “Snack Shack”; and “Wasteman,” the debut feature from Cal McMau starring David Jonsson from “Alien: Romulus” and “Industry.”

After premiering at Berlin International Film Festival, Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” will screen for the first time in North America at TIFF. The film follows Ethan Hawke (who starred in Linklater’s “Before” trilogy and “Boyhood”) as Lorenz Hart, a former collaborator of Richard Rodgers’, on the opening night of the musical “Oklahoma!” (created by Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II) in 1943. The movie is written by Robert Kaplow, whose book “Me and Orson Welles” was the basis for Linklater’s 2008 film of the same name.

Also at the festival will be director László Nemes’ new film “Orphan,” which he co-wrote with Clara Royer. The film will have its world premiere at Venice Film Festival before having its North American premiere at TIFF. Nemes’ first feature, “Son of Saul,” went on to win Best Foreign Language Film for Hungary at the Academy Awards in 2016. Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake,” winner of the Director’s Fortnight Audience Award and the Golden Camera award at Cannes, will also have its North American premiere at TIFF.

Last year’s Centrepiece lineup included “Flow,” the Latvian film that won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and was also nominated for Best International Feature Film, and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” another Oscar international nominee. Centrepiece selections “Cloud,” “Julie Keeps Quiet,” “Kill the Jockey,” “Santosh” and “Universal Language” were the Oscar entries from Japan, Belgium, Argentina, the United Kingdom and Canada, respectively.

Additional films will be announced for the 50th Toronto International Film Festival in a string of different releases between Aug. 6 and Aug. 8. The festival will take place from Sept. 4-14, 2025.

2025 Centerpiece films

“A Useful Ghost,” Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (North American Premiere)
“Arco,” Ugo Bienvenu (North American Premiere)
“Barrio Triste,” STILLZ (North American Premiere)
“Blood Lines,” Gail Maurice (World Premiere)
“Blue Heron,” Sophy Romvari (North American Premiere)
“Blue Moon,” Richard Linklater (North American Premiere)
“The Blue Trail,” Gabriel Mascaro (North American Premiere)
“Carolina Caroline,” Adam Carter Rehmeier (World Premiere)
“The Condor Daughter,” Álvaro Olmos Torrico (World Premiere)
“The Cost of Heaven,” Mathieu Denis (World Premiere)
“Dandelion’s Odyssey,” Momoko Seto (North American Premiere)
“Diya,” Achille Ronaimou (North American Premiere)
“Duse,” Pietro Marcello (International Premiere)
“Eagles of the Republic,” Tarik Saleh (North American Premiere)
“Erupcja,” Pete Ohs (World Premiere)
“Exit 8,” Genki Kawamura (North American Premiere)
“Follies,” Eric K. Boulianne (North American Premiere)
“The Fox King,” Woo Ming Jin (World Premiere)
“Girl,” Shu Qi (North American Premiere)
“Good Boy,” Jan Komasa (World Premiere)
“Hamlet,” Aneil Karia (Canadian Premiere)
“Honey Bunch,” Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli (North American Premiere)
“I Swear,” Kirk Jones (World Premiere)
“In Search of The Sky,” Jitank Singh Gurjar (World Premiere)
“Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream,” Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji (North American Premiere)
“The Last One for The Road,” Francesco Sossai (North American Premiere)
“The Last Viking,” Anders Thomas Jensen (North American Premiere)
“Left-Handed Girl,” Shih-Ching Tsou (North American Premiere)
“Little Amélie or the Character of Rain,” Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han (North American Premiere)
“The Little Sister,” Hafsia Herzi (North American Premiere)
“The Love That Remains,” Hlynur Pálmason (North American Premiere)
“Lucky Lu,” Lloyd Lee Choi (North American Premiere)
“Mama,” Or Sinai (North American Premiere)
“Memory of Princess Mumbi,” Damien Hauser (North American Premiere)
“Milk Teeth,” Mihai Mincan (North American Premiere)
“Miroirs No. 3,” Christian Petzold (North American Premiere)
“Motor City,” Potsy Ponciroli (North American Premiere)
“My Father’s Shadow,” Akinola Davies Jr. (North American Premiere)
“The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” Diego Céspedes (North American Premiere)
“New Year’s Rev,” Lee Kirk (World Premiere)
“Nomad Shadow,” Eimi Imanishi (World Premiere)
“Olmo,” Fernando Eimbcke (North American Premiere)
“Orphan,” László Nemes (North American Premiere)
“Palimpsest: the Story of a Name,” Mary Stephen (World Premiere)
“The President’s Cake,” Hasan Hadi (North American Premiere)
“Renoir,” Chie Hayakawa (North American Premiere)
“Saipan,” Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn (World Premiere)
“Space Cadet,” Kid Koala (North American Premiere)
“The Sun Rises On Us All,” Cai Shangjun (North American Premiere)
“Two Prosecutors,” Sergei Loznitsa (North American Premiere)
“Under The Same Sun,” Ulises Porra (World Premiere)
“Unidentified,” Haifaa Al Mansour (World Premiere)
“Wasteman,” Cal McMau (World Premiere)
“Whitetail,” Nanouk Leopold (World Premiere)
“Youngblood,” Hubert Davis (World Premiere)

The post Richard Linklater’s ‘Blue Moon’ Sets North American Premiere at Toronto Film Festival appeared first on TheWrap.