This year at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Gala Presentations included two world premieres: Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir's 1930s-set historical epic "Palestine 36" and Nicholas Hytner's WWII dramedy "The Choral" starring Ralph Fiennes, and the Toronto Premiere for Montreal-based filmmaker Anne Émond's romantic comedy "Peak Everything," which first premiered earlier this year at Cannes. All three films seek to examine contemporary society, two through the past, one through the present, with mixed results.