Before highlighting 40 films confirmed to be arriving in theaters this fall, we turn our attention to the festival-bound films either without distribution or a confirmed fall release date. Looking over Venice, Toronto, the New York Film Festival, and other selections, we’ve rounded up 20 we can’t wait to see over the next few weeks.
Find our 20 most-anticipated festival premieres below and return for our reviews, as well as news if some of these hit theaters this fall.
2073 (Asif Kapadia; Venice)
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Asif Kapadia returns with what appears to be his most ambitious feature yet. Billed as a documentary thriller set in a dystopia 50 years into the future, 2073 borrows inspiration from Chris Marker’s La Jetée, in which a time-traveler attempted to save humanity after an apocalyptic World War III. The Oscar-winning director, primarily known for capturing intimate portraits of sports and entertainment icons––Amy Winehouse and Diego Maradona––has promised an “epic about the state of the world.” For the first time, Kapadia will excavate something other than the past. – Jake K-S.
Afternoons of Solitude (Albert Serra; San Sebastian)
Following up his career-best work with the mesmerizing Pacifiction, Albert Serra is back just a few years later, this time with a work of non-fiction. Afternoons of Solitude is a portrait of bullfighting star Andrés Roca Rey, “which allows us to reflect on the intimate experience of the bullfighter who assumes the risk of facing the bull as a personal duty out of respect for tradition and as an aesthetic challenge. This challenge creates a form of ephemeral beauty through the material and violent confrontation between human rationality and the brutality of the wild animal,” reads the official synopsis. – Jordan R.
April (Déa Kulumbegashvili; Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
Unfortunately debuting during the first year of the pandemic, Déa Kulumbegashvili’s formally stunning debut feature Beginning might not have received the acclaim it should have, though it still took the San Sebastián International Film Festival by storm with a quartet of awards, including Best Film and Best Director. The Georgian director is now back with April, which finds her once again tackling quite tough material, as the synopsis reveals, “After a newborn dies during delivery, the morals and professionalism of an obstetrician, Nina, come under scrutiny amid rumors that she performs illegal abortions for those in need.” – Jordan R.
Broken Rage (Takeshi Kitano; Venice)
We’ll take anything we can get from the great Takeshi Kitano, even if his latest feature clocks in at just around an hour. Described as a two-part film, the first is “a gritty action film that unfolds in a dark criminal underworld revolving around a hitman and his struggle for survival when he finds himself pinned between the police and the yakuza,” while the “second follows the same story, but transformed into comedy, a parody of the first half in its entirety, scene by scene,” notes the Venice synopsis. – Jordan R.
The Brutalist (Brady Corbet; Venice, TIFF, and NYFF)
Six years after Vox Lux, Brady Corbet is finally returning with his next feature The Brutalist. Led by Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Joe Alwyn, Raffey Cassidy, Stacy Martin, Isaach De Bankolé, and Alessandro Nivola, it’s shaping up to be a drama of epic proportions: 215 minutes long, with a 15-minute intermission, shot on VistaVision, and presented on 70mm across 26 reels weighing 300 pounds. The story, which spans around three decades, starting in World War II through the 1980s, follows Brody as an immigrant architect who flees to America and rebuilds his life under the patronage of Guy Pearce’s wealthy character. While Focus Features has international rights, we’re still waiting for news about a U.S. distributor, which we imagine will arrive soon after the initial reception. – Jordan R.
Cloud (Venice, TIFF) and The Serpent’s Path (San Sebastian) (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
After crafting one of the best films of the year with his medium-length a remake of his superb, bad-vibes 1998 thriller that stars Damien Bonnard, Mathieu Amalric, Ko Shibasaki, and Drive My Car‘s Hidetoshi Nishijima (previously of Kurosawa’s Loft, Creepy, and License to Live). – Jordan R.
Daniela Forever (Nacho Vigalondo; TIFF)
Eight years since his last feature Colossal, Nacho Vigalondo has stayed busy with various TV series but he’s now finally returning with Daniela Forever, premiering at TIFF. Led by Henry Golding, the sci-fi romance follows a man in mourning who signs up for a clinical drug trial that would allow him to reunite with his lost lover (Beatrice Grannò) in dreams. Considering Vigalondo’s past work, we imagine things may take a darker turn. But considering it’s in the Platform section and Midnight Madness, don’t expect anything too dark. – Jordan R.
The End (Joshua Oppenheimer; Venice, TIFF)
One of our most-anticipated films for some time, Joshua Oppenheimer has finally put the finishing touches on The End, his “Golden Age musical about the last human family,” with a cast featuring Tilda Swinton, George MacKay, and Michael Shannon. Shot by cinematographer Mikhail Krichman––a long-time collaborator of Andrey Zvyagintsev, having shot Loveless, Leviathan, Elena, and The Return––we’re mighty curious to see how Oppenheimer transitions to narrative filmmaking after his harrowing documentaries. – Jordan R.
The Friend (Scott McGehee, David Siegel; TIFF, NYFF)
After a mountain of festival premieres that seem to get quietly lost in the sea of distribution, Naomi Watts finally seems to have struck a chord with her upcoming feature. Following the lovely Montana Story, directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s The Friend adapts the witty, heartfelt Sigrid Nunez novel, marking the second high-profile adaptation of one of her works on the fall-festival circuit (alongside Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door). Following a woman who adopts the dog of an author friend (Bill Murray) who commited suicide (don’t worry about spoilers; that is a very early reveal), it still doesn’t have U.S. distribution, but expect that to change soon. – Jordan R.
Friendship (Andrew DeYoung; TIFF)
At long last, Tim Robinson is now a leading man. World-premiering at TIFF this fall, Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship follows the I Think You Should Leave star as a dad who becomes obsessed with becoming friends with his neighbor (Paul Rudd). With this simple setup, we imagine it’s the prime material for Robinson to deliver the perfectly pitched awkward comedy for which he’s beloved. – Jordan R.
Harvest (Athina Rachel Tsangari; Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
Some deliciously weird shit’s likely to happen in a movie if Caleb Landry Jones is involved. Such is the case for Harvest, the upcoming fourth feature from Greek filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari. Jones joins Frank Dillane, Rose McEwen, and Harry Melling in this tale of economic turmoil and scapegoating in a remote English village. Melling, who you may know as Harry Potter’s bullying cousin Dudley, has been picking very interesting roles lately, including Edgar Allen Poe and a straight-laced hetero husband who falls for a leather daddy. Between him and Jones, this should be interesting. – Lena W.
Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2 (Kevin Costner; Venice)
It’s virtually unheard-of for a major studio to premiere a film at a fall festival without any exact distribution announced, but such the strange case of Kevin Costner’s second chapter in his western epic Horizon. After being pulled from its August release, it’ll now world-premiere at Venice Film Festival and, depending on the reaction, hopefully Warner Bros. will slot it in for a prime fall release. While we were one of the few on Chapter 1‘s bandwagon out of Cannes courtesy of 
12 years since On the Road and a documentary on Jia Zhangke in-between, Walter Salles is back with his latest narrative feature. I’m Still Here, which is stopping by all the major fall festivals, follows the true story in 1971 of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), whose husband, a former congressman who criticized Brazil’s then-new dictatorship, gets taken by the authorities. As she transforms her life into an activist and lawyer, Salles captures a personal journey in a political fight.
The Last Showgirl (Gia Coppola; TIFF)
Although the less said about her previous feature the better, Gia Coppola is now set to premiere her (potential) comeback at TIFF. The Last Showgirl, which finds Pamela Anderson in a leading role and supported by Jamie Lee Curtis, Dave Bautista, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, and Billie Lourd, follows “a seasoned showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat to her showgirl family,” according to the official synopsis. – Jordan R.
My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow (Julia Loktev; NYFF)
With it being thirteen long years since her last brilliant feature The Loneliest Planet, Julia Loktev is finally returning this year with a five-hour documentary––the first of a two-part project. World-premiering at the New York Film Festival, My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow finds Loktev capturing Putin’s assault on independent journalism in Russia, which was only exacerbated by his full-on attack on Ukraine. The film captures Loktev documenting a group of her friends fighting the good fight running TV Rain, Russia’s last remaining independent news channel – Jordan R.
Queer (Luca Guadagnino; Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
With his post-Bond career only affording us another Benoit Blanc adventure, Daniel Craig finally seems to be truly stretching his acting muscles (and perhaps many others) with Luca Guadagnino’s second feature of the year. “Queer will be my most personal film,” Guadagnino recently said of his forthcoming William S. Burroughs adaptation. “It’s a tribute to Powell and Pressburger. I’ve seen The Red Shoes at least 50 times and I think they would appreciate the sex scenes in Queer, which are numerous and quite scandalous.” Quite surprisingly still seeking distribution, considering the recent success of Challengers, we expect an announcement soon. – Jordan R.
Pavements (Alex Ross Perry; Venice, NYFF)
Six years since his last solo directing feature, Her Smell, Alex Ross Perry returns to the world of rock in a very different way with Pavements. A tribute to Stephen Malkmus’ group, the film jumps between band documentary, biopic, Broadway-musical creation, museum exhibition, and more to try containing the genius of this influential group. Amidst a swath of talking-head music docs, this one looks to be a breath of fresh air. – Jordan R.
Stranger Eyes (Venice, NYFF)
Not every film (thankfully!) is about filmmaking, but to watch one is to watch watching. We survey and are surveilled by the mirror-screen. A thoughtful director of images like Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua explores without exploiting this formal is / isn’t. Following up on his Golden Leopard-winning A Land Imagined (2018), Yeo’s Stranger Eyes is described as a “thriller with domestic surveillance at its core.” For starring Wu Chien-Ho (fresh off his Golden Horse-nominated performance in Chung Mong-hong’s A Sun) and Lee Kang-Sheng (fresh off one of the most thrilling three-decade collaborations with Tsai Ming-liang) which national / emotional space Yeo locates watching from remains an anticipation to gawk at. – Frank F.
TWST / Things We Said Today (Andrei Ujică; Venice, NYFF)
Before Sam Mendes helms his quartet of narrative Beatles features, we’re getting one more film about the lads from Liverpool. Capturing New York City upon the August, 1965 arrival of the legendary band, a straight-up archival concert documentary this is not. Romanian director Andrei Ujică instead incorporates the sights and sounds of the city to create a bustling symphony of anticipation, capturing the last gasps of a culture that was in the process of forever changing. – Jordan R.
Youth (Homecoming) (Wang Bing; Venice, TIFF, NYFF)
Following the recent premiere of Youth (Spring) at Locarno Film Festival, Wang Bing is back sooner than expected with the conclusion of his epic, 10-hour-plus documentary project capturing the labor and less-than-ideal living conditions of textile workers in China. Rory O’Connor said of his second entry, “With all that, Youth (Hard Times) leaves you with the feeling of something monumental: a granular view of the frayed hems of late capitalism that still has 152 minutes to go and, if reports are to be believed, a couple of weddings to get through.” – Jordan R.
Honorable Mentions
- Apocalypse in the Tropics
- The Assessment
- Baby Invasion
- Daughter’s Daughter
- Eden
- Emmanuelle
- Happyend
- Ick
- Maldoror
- Millers in Marriage
- Nutcrackers
- On Swift Horses
- Pedro Paramo
- Relay
- Suburban Fury
- Separated
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