[Update: To catch up on all of our ongoing TIFF 2016 coverage, from reviews to interviews, click here.]

It’s time once again for the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF is when the awards films comes to play, and with the deluge of quality films, it’s likely that at least one or two films from the festival finds its way into my Top 10 of the year (my favorite film of last year, Spotlight, played at TIFF). It’s a festival where there’s too much to see, and I’m already trying to make peace with the films I know I’m going to miss.

This will be my sixth year at TIFF and the fourth for News Editor Adam Chitwood. Together, we’ll have the festival pretty well covered with our Editor-in-Chief Steve Weintraub handling the interviews. However, with so much to see, it can be difficult to narrow down the must-see pictures. But after going through our schedules, Adam and I have selected 16 must-see films for this year’s festival. Expect to see our reviews on these and many more in the days ahead (assuming Brian Formo didn’t already review them at Telluride).

The 2016 Toronto International Film Festival begins tomorrow and runs through September 18th.

Arrival

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Image via Paramount Pictures

Director Denis Villeneuve’s crime drama/chronicle of American foreign policy Sicario blew me away at TIFF last year and ended up being my favorite film of 2015, so obviously I’m eager to check out the filmmaker’s first foray into sci-fi territory, Arrival. But even without Villeneuve’s involvement, this thing would be mighty promising. Amy Adams is a tremendous actress, and the premise seems to be a unique and refreshing take on the well-worn territory of “first contact” stories. Plus, Selma and A Most Violent Year cinematographer Bradford Young behind the camera? Yes please. – Adam Chitwood

Free Fire

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Image via A24

Director Ben Wheatley is pretty much a TIFF mainstay at this point. All of his features since 2011’s Kill List have played at Toronto, and this year he’ll be opening the Midnight Madness section with Free Fire, a crime thriller about a weapons deal that turns into a standoff inside an abandoned warehouse. Like his previous feature, High-Rise, Free Fire boasts an outstanding cast that includes Oscar-winner Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy, Sharlto Copley, and Wheatley regular Michael Smiley. You never know quite what to expect from Wheatley, and while it doesn’t always work (I was a bit let down by High-Rise), it’s always worth seeing. – Matt Goldberg

La La Land

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Image via Summit

I’m a sucker for musicals, especially those from the 50s and 60s heyday, so La La Land is right up my alley. Damien Chazelle, who made a huge splash with his visceral debut feature Whiplash, tries his hand a something far more extravagant, and he’s got two of the best (and best-looking) young performers of our time in tow. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling lead this story of romance and romanticism, set against the backdrop of Los Angeles and with style to spare, and now the rave reviews out of Venice have me even more eager to check this thing out. – Adam Chitwood

Nocturnal Animals

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Image via Focus Features

Tom Ford’s debut feature A Single Man was a riveting piece of cinema and an announcement that a talented new director had burst on the scene (it didn’t seem fair that this was in addition to Ford already being an immensely talented fashion designer). Then he had to keep us waiting for seven years for his follow-up feature, but it’s finally here. Nocturnal Animals focuses on a woman who’s forced to confront her demons when she’s drawn into the novel written by her ex-husband. When you have Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal as your leads, you have a powerhouse combination, and I can’t wait to see how Nocturnal Animals compares with the stunning A Single Man. – Matt Goldberg

Moonlight

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Image via A24

I’ll be honest, Moonlight wasn’t really on my radar until A24 dropped the first trailer last month. But man, that first look was enough to ratchet this up towards the top of my “must-see” list for TIFF. Barry Jenkins makes his feature directorial debut with a story that chronicles the life of a young man in three stages: boyhood, teenager, and adulthood. Add into the mix struggles with sexuality and race, plus a cast that includes Naomie Harris and André Holland of The Knick fame, and you’ve got yourself a rich recipe for some great drama. That debut trailer set some pretty high expectations, but A24 is on a roll, bolstering my enthusiasm for this picture even further. – Adam Chitwood

Mascots

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Image via TIFF

New Christopher Guest? Yes, please. It’s been a decade since Guest’s last feature, the somewhat disappointing but occasionally funny For Your Consideration, but he looks like he’s roaring back with Mascots. The mockumentary, which focuses on a group of mascots trying to win the coveted Golden Fluffy, sports Guest’s usual cadre of talented performers and I’m always eager to see how they’ll bounce off each other. Additionally, the competition format served Guest well with Best in Show, and this kind of looks like Best in Show but with humans. – Matt Goldberg

The Bad Batch

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Image via Annapurna Pictures

Filmmaker Ana Lily Amirpour burst onto the scene with her stylish 2014 Iranian vampire Western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, and anyone who’s seen that film will find the premise of her follow-up, The Bad Batch, irresistible. This new picture takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where a young woman is dumped into hostile desert territory that’s ruled by cannibals, after which she must fight for her own survival. Amirpour was hailed as the next Tarantino after A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, with that film’s atmospheric visuals and killer soundtrack enveloping the viewer into this wholly unique world, and I can’t wait to see what Amirpour does on a larger canvas. And did I mention Keanu Reeves and Jim Carrey are in this so-called cannibal movie? – Adam Chitwood

Una

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Image via TIFF

Sometimes a cast is too good to pass up. While I’m unfamiliar with the work of director Benedict Andrews, he’s lined up a tremendous trio of lead actors with Riz Ahmed, Rooney Mara, and Ben Mendelsohn. The character drama focuses on a young woman (Mara) who shows up at the workplace of an older man (Mendelsohn) to confront him about events from their past that shaped both their lives. Una promises to be one of the most emotionally complex films of the festival as it dives into the crucible of abuse, and hopefully the picture won’t offer any easy answers. – Matt Goldberg

A Monster Calls

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Image via Focus Features

Each TIFF I’ve been to, I’ve seen at least one film that’s delivered a wallop of an emotional gut-punch. This year my money’s on A Monster Calls. The book began as an idea from author Siobhan Dowd, who died before she could write it, and Patrick Ness picked up the pieces and fashioned it into the emotionally rich story that it became. The film adaptation sees The Impossible helmer J.A. Bayona blending his knack for staggering visuals with a character-centric story of a son trying to come to terms with his mother’s terminal illness, and Felicity Jones fills the mother role in what could be an Oscar-contending performance. The trailers knocked me flat, so I’m bracing myself for a tough (yet hopefully rewarding) viewing experience. – Adam Chitwood

Trespass Against Us

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Image via TIFF

If you can find a way to work a Michael Fassbender/Brendan Gleeson movie into your film festival, you should. They’re two of the most reliable actors working today, and the opportunity to watch them play off each other is too good to pass up. In Adam Smith’s Trespass Against Us, the play a son and father of a crime family that come into conflict when the son wants to leave the life of crime behind rather than assume his father’s position. Throw in a score by The Chemical Brothers (who did outstanding work with their previous film score for Hanna), and I’m surprised that this film doesn’t have a higher profile at this year’s festival. – Matt Goldberg

Voyage of Time

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Image via TIFF

I mean, it’s Terrence Malick telling the story of human evolution. What’s not to be excited about? While the Days of Heaven filmmaker may have veered heavily into experiential film territory with his last few features, the documentary Voyage of Time is a labor of love that Malick’s been obsessing over for decades. The film aims to visualize the creation and evolution of our universe, albeit in a way that only Malick could express. The Tree of Life came close to becoming a religious experience at times, and I’m curious to see how the blend of science and faith that’s so prevalent in many of Malick’s films manifests itself in this here documentary. – Adam Chitwood

Wakefield

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Image via TIFF

This one is tricky. One the one hand, the story—which is about “a successful lawyer and family man who disappears from his own life and observes his baffled loved ones from a hiding place in the attic”—could end up being twee and cloying. The world ill-needs another sad, privileged, white man story. And yet, I don’t think director Robin Swicord is going to take it there. She’s got a strong lead performer with Bryan Cranston, and there’s interesting emotional material to mine with this story. Wakefield is a bit of a risk, but I hope it’s one worth taking. – Matt Goldberg

The Handmaiden

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Image via the Cannes Film Festival

Park Chan-wook made his English-language debut a few years ago with the sorely underrated Stoker, but he’s now firmly back in Korean film territory with his follow-up film, the erotic thriller The Handmaiden. I’ve heard nothing but raves about the movie thus far, and have also been cautioned to go in knowing as little as possible, but this adaptation of the Sarah Walters novel Fingersmith looks to be staggeringly beautiful and somewhat insane if the first trailer is any indication. – Adam Chitwood

Brimstone

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Image via TIFF

I’m a sucker for westerns at film festivals. Sometimes, that leads me horribly astray (looking at you, Sweetwater), but I just can’t help myself. I’m a huge fan of the genre, and we rarely get Westerns any more. So if one pops up at film festival, I’m going to go see it, especially if it stars Guy Pearce, Dakota Fanning, and Carice van Houten. The story focuses on a young woman who must go on the run when she’s targeted by a vengeful preacher. Brimstone could be a bit of a longshot, but when the Western calls at a film festival, I answer. – Matt Goldberg

Loving

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Image via Cannes

While this might not seem like the most obvious choice of material for Take Shelter and Mud filmmaker Jeff Nichols, the story of an interracial couple who are arrested and sentenced to prison for their marriage in 1958 Virginia is an incredibly promising jumping off point for Nichols’ brand of intensely focused character studies. If Midnight Special was Nichols’ version of a sci-fi film, Loving appears to be his take on the “period drama”, albeit with a pair of fantastic actors at his disposal in Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton. The trailer promises an emotionally charged yet touching story with the potential to speak to issues we’re still facing today, and I can’t wait to see what Nichols has up his sleeve here. – Adam Chitwood

I, Daniel Blake

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Image via Cannes Film Festival

I may not always agree with Cannes’ Palme d’Or winner, but they’re always worth checking out. That honor has led me to see 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The White Ribbon, Amour, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Dheepan, and it’s going to lead me to see I, Daniel Blake. While on the surface the story seems a bit mawkish (“an aged, ailing handyman’s battle to survive after being denied his government health allowance”), the Cannes jury usually doesn’t go for cheap sentiment. I trust that director Ken Loach has taken an interesting approach to the material, and I’m eager to see what wowed the audiences at Cannes earlier this year. – Matt Goldberg