Check out top 10 films to watch at Toronto Film Festival 2020

Kicking off from September 10, Toronto virtual market offers some hope for the film industry. With many theatres still shuttered around the world, strong presales for in-development titles to hit theatres in 2021 or 2022 offers hope.

TIFF, which will allow only Canadian citizens to attend this year, is typically packed with big commercial films and award hopefuls.

"There hasn’t been a market that we haven’t bought at since COVID started, and we don’t expect TIFF to be any different," says Neon CEO Tom Quinn, who bought Spencer, Pablo Larraín’s Princess Diana feature starring Kristen Stewart, in Cannes.

And the streaming platforms including new kids on the block Disney+, HBO Max and Apple+.

Check out the list of some film titles that could do well:

'Bruised'
Director Halle Berry
Cast Halle Berry

Halle Berry’s directorial debut, in which she stars as a disgraced MMA fighter trying to regain her place in the cage and the affections of her distant son, could tap into the underdog appeal of Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 TIFF hit ‘The Wrestler’.

'Concrete Cowboy'
Director Ricky Staub
Cast Caleb McLaughlin, Idris Elba, Jharrel Jerome

This is a father-son drama with horses. ‘Stranger Things’ star McLaughlin breaks out as a brooding teen caught between a life of crime and the vibrant urban-cowboy community to which his estranged father (Elba) belongs.

'The Duke'
Director Roger Michell
Cast Jim Broadbent, Helen Mirren, Fionn Whitehead
Michell’s latest has "feel-good, adult-skewing hit" written all over it. Broadbent stars in the true story of a 60-year-old cab driver who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London and sent a ransom note saying he would return it only if the government did more to help the elderly.

'Good Joe Bell'
Director Reinaldo Marcus Green
Cast Mark Wahlberg, Reid Miller, Connie Britton, Gary Sinise
The Oscar-winning writers of Brokeback Mountain tell the true story of a father’s walk across the country to raise awareness about the harms of bullying. In a best actor contender role, Wahlberg plays the father of a teen who suffers brutal homophobic taunting.

'I Am Greta'
Director Nathan Grossman
Cast Greta Thunberg

A strong awards contender, this Hulu co-produced doc follows teenage environmental advocate Thunberg, whose activism captured the world’s attention in 2019 and made her Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

'I Care A Lot'
Director J Blakeson
Cast Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest

The film centers on a legal conservator (Pike) who defrauds elderly cli- ents and runs afoul of a gangster (Dinklage). Gone Girl’s Pike stars as the ice-cool and unscrupulous profiteer.

'The Making Of'
Director Ed Zwick
Cast Richard Gere, Diane Keaton, Blake Lively, Lin-Manuel Miranda

Based on the star power and premise, this romantic comedy aims to please both Hollywood insiders and a broader audience. In their first teaming since 1977’s ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbar’, Gere and Keaton portray a long-married filmmaker couple whose fabled love story is getting the cinematic treatment, with Blake Lively and Lin-Manuel Miranda playing their younger selves.

'Run Hide Fight'
Director Kyle Rankin
Cast Isabel May, Radha Mitchell, Thomas Jane, Treat Williams

One of the few straight-up action thrillers on offer in Toronto, Run Hide Fight sees May, of Netflix teen-friendship sitcom Alexa & Katie, cast against type as a 17-year-old forced to fight for her life against a group of live- streaming school shooters.

'And Tomorrow the Entire World'
Director Julia von Heinz
Cast Mala Emde, Noah Saavedra

German-language dramas can be a hard sell, but the ripped-from-the-headlines feel of helmer/co-writer von Heinz’s story, about a young woman who joins Antifa — the activist group demonized by Donald Trump in his reelection bid — could make it a winner for art house buyers.

'Pieces of a Woman'
Director Kornél Mundruczó
Cast Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn

From Hungarian director Mundruczó (White God), this intense drama stars LaBeouf and The Crown’s Kirby as a couple reeling — in very different ways — from the death of an infant. Martin Scorsese recently came on as an executive producer of the film, which is taking its North American bow after a Venice world premiere.