10 Queer Titles We're Looking Forward to at TIFF 2024

"Really Happy Someday"

Set in Toronto, "Really Happy Someday" follows Z (Breton Lalama), an up and coming actor who has to face the fact that his transition and testosterone injections has altered his singing voice. After he bombs a big audition for Broadway, he takes up vocal lessons to retrain his voice, and his journey to regain his singing abilities sees his life changing in unexpected ways. First-time feature director J Stevens co-wrote the screenplay with Lalama, and the loose, improvisatory approach to the writing and direction, combined with the subject matter's specificity, should make for a compelling look at Z growing into and embracing his identity.

"Really Happy Someday" is currently seeking distribution.

"The Room Next Door"

If "Queer" isn't the gay cinephile event of 2024, then it has to be Pedro Almodóvar's latest feature, his first in English and starring queer icons Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. Moore plays Ingrid, a successful novelist who learns that her old friend Martha (Swinton) has recently fallen ill. Ingrid visits Martha, and the reunion reignites their friendship despite the less than ideal circumstances. Since this is an Almodóvar film starring what could possibly be the two best actresses possible for his English language debut, the excitement levels for "The Room Next Door" are through the roof.

"The Room Next Door" will get a limited theatrical release in December followed by a nationwide release in January 2025.

"Sad Jokes"

Fabian Stumm's sophomore feature premiered earlier this year at the Munich International Film Festival, where it picked up several awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film, and now makes its way to Toronto for its International Premiere. Stumm writes, directs, produces, and stars as the lead character in "Sad Jokes," where he plays Joseph, a gay filmmaker who's dealing with a variety of issues. This includes raising the child he co-parents while the mother gets treated for depression, difficulties writing the screenplay for his next feature, getting over his ex-boyfriend, and (to top it all off) a broken finger. "Sad Jokes" takes inspiration from Stumm's own life, including the casting of his own son as his character's child, and structures itself as a series of tragicomic vignettes that forms a promising work from a new filmmaker.

"Sad Jokes" is currently seeking distribution.

"Viet and Nam"

Before it premiered earlier this year at Cannes, controversy brewed around Trương Minh Quý's "Viet and Nam" in its home country. A psychological drama about gay lovers who work and make love in an underground mine, the film was banned from release in Vietnam. Surprisingly, the ban supposedly had nothing to do with the homosexual content in the film; Vietnam's Cinema Department criticized the film's "gloomy, deadlocked, and negative view" of the country as the main reason for its ban. Despite this hurdle, "Viet and Nam" received high praise from critics at Cannes, and after its North American premiere at TIFF it will screen at the prestigious New York Film Festival.

"Viet and Nam" will receive a limited theatrical release at a later date.

"Will & Harper"

Back in January, Josh Greenbaum's "Will & Harper" premiered at Sundance to multiple standing ovations and audience members in tears, which is about as perfect as a Sundance screening could be. It didn't take long for buyers to come knocking, with Netflix ending up victorious after a supposed eight-figure offer. It's a large amount, but it makes sense given how the film seems geared to be a crowd pleaser. Greenbaum documents a 16 day road trip from New York to Los Angeles between Will Ferrell and his longtime friend Harper Steele, a former "SNL" writer who recently came out as transgender. After Steele comes out as trans to her friends, Ferrell suggests the trip as a way of helping the two of them navigate their friendship now that Ferrell is technically getting to know Harper for the first time. Sure to be a hit with audiences at TIFF as it was at Sundance, it wouldn't be a surprise if "Will & Harper" ends up in the running for the festival's People's Choice Award.

"Will & Harper" will receive a limited theatrical release in the future before streaming on Netflix.