The first world premiere for the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has been announced, with Taika Waititi‘s “Next Goal Wins” debuting at this year’s festival.
The long-awaited sports comedy is directed and co-written by Waititi. “Next Goal Wins” will make its world premiere at the 48th annual film festival, which runs September 7 through 17.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Taika back to the festival and share his audacious take on the most popular sport in the world,” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said in a press statement. “‘Next Goal Wins’ is perfect for TIFF fans of the beautiful game looking for their football fix…”
“Next Goal Wins” is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name and follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around.
Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss also star in the Searchlight Pictures release, along with Oscar Knightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Uli Latukefu, Semu Filipo, and Lehi Falepapalangi.
To note, Arnett replaced Armie Hammer in the role of a soccer executive. Moss portrays coach Rongen’s wife. Samoan-New Zealand actor Knightley is the head of American Samoa’s soccer federation. Actor Kamaina plays the trans football player Jaiyah Saelua, whose relationship with Coach Rongen is a large part of the film, as writer-director Waititi previously teased.
This marks Waititi’s return to TIFF after the 2019 premiere of Oscar-winning “Jojo Rabbit,” for which he won TIFF People’s Choice Award. Waititi has also been bestowed the TIFF Ebert Director Award.
Waititi compared “Next Goal Wins” to being the “‘Cool Runnings’ of soccer,” telling Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, “I’d never made a sports film before, and I really wanted to try that out. It’s about a sport I don’t know that much about. Rugby is the national sport in New Zealand, but it’s about underdogs, and I just love underdog stories. Most of my films are about people who live on the margins, or are a little bit left out, and it just fit right in for me.”
“Next Goal Wins” is produced by Waititi, Jonathan Cavendish, Garrett Basch, Mike Brett, and Steve Jamison. The film will be released by Searchlight Pictures November 17.
