Amanda Seyfried’s ‘Seven Veils’ world premiere at Toronto Film Festival

Canadian director Atom Egoyan is bringing his latest film, Seven Veilsat the Toronto Film Festival for a world premiere, with Amanda Seyfried in the lead role of a troubled opera director.

Seyfried returned to work with her Chloe director Egoyan for the opera-themed drama in which she plays Jeanine, a theater director who remakes her former mentor’s most famous play, an adaptation of the play Salome by composer Richard Strauss, based on the play by Oscar Wilde. When Jeanine reenters the world of opera after years of absence, she is haunted by dark and haunting memories of her past as her repressed trauma colors the present.

Also starring Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Mark O’Brien and Vinessa Antoine Seven Veils, which was filmed in and around Toronto earlier this year. If ongoing strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA continue this fall, American actors will be barred from advertising any big studio films at festivals like Venice and Toronto.

Seven Veils as a Canadian-funded indie will test TIFF’s ability to produce sizzling premieres this year. The independent film was filmed under the jurisdiction of ACTRA, the Canadian Actors Union with longstanding ties to SAG-AFTRA. This will allow Egoyan to lead his cast on the red carpet in Toronto and connect with festival-goers amid an expected limited US cinema attendance.

Egoyan’s drama will debut Sept. 10 as part of the Special Presentations section, and marks the Canadian director’s 18th film to debut in Toronto.

A major selling point for booking Canadian films into high-profile gala slots or special presentations is, like Seven Veils, have often cast Hollywood names in key roles to secure sales in the United States and other countries. This will help TIFF generate star power in September, should the Hollywood union actions persist.

Seyfried starred alongside Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore in Egoyan’s 2009 thriller Chloe, who bowed to Toronto. “We are honored to premiere Atom Egoyan’s extraordinary film at this year’s festival. Egoyan’s cinematic works are unparalleled and we are thrilled to bring them Seven Veils to our TIFF audience and the city of Toronto, its home,” Toronto Film Festival CEO Cameron Bailey said in a statement.

Egoyan wrote the screenplay for Seven Veils, while also producing alongside longtime collaborators Niv Fichman, Simone Urdl, Fraser Ash and Kevin Krikst. XYZ Film’s Aram Tertzakian, Nate Bolotin, Maxime Cottray and Nick Spicer will serve as executive producers, along with John Sloss of Cinetic Media, and Noah Segal and Adrian Love of Elevation Pictures.

The film is produced by Rhombus Media and Ego Film Arts. XYZ Films is handling worldwide sales, while Elevation Pictures will distribute the indie in Canada.

The Toronto Film Festival runs from September 7-17, with more lineup announcements coming in the coming weeks.