Toronto just announced [Variety] what will likely be part of what shapes the upcoming Oscar race. There are quite a few female names in the lineup, whether or not any of those films go on to be among the small pile that makes it through to Best Picture – we will just have to wait and see. Debra Granik has set the bar high with Leave No Trace, which remains among the best films this year.
GALAS 2018
“Beautiful Boy,” Felix van Groeningen, USA
“Galveston,” Mélanie Laurent, USA
“Everybody Knows,” Asghar Farhadi, Spain/France/Italy
“First Man,” Damien Chazelle, USA
“The Hate U Give,” George Tillman,Jr.,USA
“Hidden Man,” Jiang Wen, China
“High Life,” Claire Denis, Germany/France/Poland/United Kingdom
“Husband Material,” Anurag Kashyap, India
“The Kindergarten Teacher,” Sara Colangelo, USA
“The Land of Steady Habits,” Nicole Holofcener, USA
“Life Itself,” Dan Fogelman, USA
“The Public,” Emilio Estevez, USA
“Red Joan,” Sir Trevor Nunn, United Kingdom
“A Star is Born,” Bradley Cooper, USA
“Shadow,” Zhang Yimou, China
“What They Had,” Elizabeth Chomko, USA
“Widows,” Steve McQueen, United Kingdom/USA

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS 2018
“Ben is Back,” Peter Hedges, USA
“Burning,” Lee Chang-dong, South Korea
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” Marielle Heller, USA
“Capernaum,” Nadine Labaki, Lebanon
“Cold War,” Paweł Pawlikowski, Poland/UnitedKingdom/France
“Colette,” Wash Westmoreland, United Kingdom
“Dogman,” Matteo Garrone, Italy/France
“The Front Runner,” Jason Reitman, USA
“Giant Little Ones,” Kwith Behrman, Canada
“Girls of the Sun (Les filles du soleil),” Eva Husson, France
“Hotel Mumbai,” Anthony Maras, Australia
“The Hummingbird Project,” Kim Nguyen, Canada
“Maya,” Mia Hansen-Løve, France
“Manto,” Nandita Das, India
“Monsters and Men,” Reinaldo Marcus Green, USA
“Mouthpiece,” Patricia Rozema, Canada
“Non-Fiction,” Olivier Assayas, France
“Old Man & the Gun,” David Lowery, USA
“Papi Chulo,” John Butler, Ireland
“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón, Mexico/USA
”Shoplifters,” Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan
“The Sisters Brothers,” Jacques Audiard, USA/France/Romania/Spain
“Sunset,” László Nemes, Hungary/France
“Through Black Spruce,” Don McKellar, Canada
“The Weekend,” Stella Meghie, USA
“Where Hands Touch,” Amma Asante, United Kingdom
“White Boy Rick,” Yann Demange, USA
“Wildlife,” Paul Dano, USA