The Toronto Film Festival is packed with international titles. Led by Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and Gints Zelbaloudis’ “Flow,” the festival’s massive lineup alone includes 38 titles from outside Canada and the United States. The Discovery section features another 18 titles.
But not all international titles held in Toronto are world firsts. Here are 16 that have generated a lot of interest. diverse They don't claim to be the best. The hype around them may not be justified. But they are definitely worth checking out.
“sunrise,” (Antoinette Gadaone, Philippines)
Anima, the production company behind Erik Matti’s Venice winner “On The Job 2: The Missing 8” and Sundance winner “Leonor Will Never Die,” has joined 8 Projects to produce Antoinette Jadon’s teen pregnancy drama “Sunshine.” The film follows a young gymnast who discovers she is pregnant during the week of the national team tryouts. On her way to a vendor selling illegal abortion drugs, she meets a mysterious girl who talks and thinks eerily like her. It is a follow-up to Jadon’s “Fan Girl” (2020), which screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival and in main competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
“crocodile tears” (Tompal Tambopolon, Indonesia, France)
The debut feature from the screenwriter of martial arts thriller “212 Warrior,” produced by Fox International Productions. Produced by Anthony Chen and sponsored by Dubai-based Cercamon at Filmart, “A film that once again highlights the diversity and originality of Southeast Asian cinema,” says Chen, who is behind Cannes-screened “The Breaking Ice.”
“The Road to Freedom” (Afolabi Olalekan, Nigeria)
Facing unfavorable laws and constant police harassment, three young founders struggle to keep their startup afloat. The story, written and produced by Blessing Onze, “stems from the precarious social situation in Nigeria, where the Nigerian police force is notorious for harassing and extorting young Nigerians,” says Afolabi.
“The Legend of the Tramp Queen of Lagos” (Agbajo Group, Nigeria, Germany, South Africa, USA)
The first film from Nigeria's Agbajowo Group, part thriller, part documentary-like observation, part magical realism, it puts an urgent spin on forced evictions in Nigeria, as single mother Jawu (Temi Ami-Williams of “Eyimofe – This Is My Desire,” who is said to be superb) faces off against hired gunmen trying to evict her from her riverside village home.
“missing part” (Guillaume Senez, Belgium, France)
Produced by Cinese (Our Struggle), this drama stars Frenchman Romain Duris as a taxi driver who drives through Tokyo every day in search of his daughter. Produced by Belgian production company Versus and Savage Films, in association with French company Les Films Belleasse. The film was a big seller, while Hot et Court Distribution handled its release in France, which in itself is a recommendation.
“When you fall” (Laura Carrera, UK)
After exploring the psychological burden of work in award-winning short films Red Hill and The Shift, a Portuguese immigrant’s difficult transition to life in Scotland is captured in depth in Carrera’s first feature film. Produced by Sixteen Films, it is one of her first films following Ken Loach’s retirement in 2023.
“They will be dust” (Carlos Marquez-Marce, Spain, Italy, Switzerland)
In Toronto's prestigious Platform section, a comedy, drama and musical starring the “reliably distinguished” Alfredo Castro, diverse Latido and Angela Molina (“The Mysterious Object of Desire”) star as two partners who seek to end their lives in a Swiss clinic. Latido sells.
“listeners” (Janicha Bravo, Hannah Buttrum, UK)
The latest series from Fremantle-owned Element Pictures, owned by Ed Guiney and Andrew Law (“Room,” “Poor Things”), is a psychological thriller featuring Claire (Rebecca Hall), who is tormented by voices that no one else can hear – including her doctors – and is drawn into a community that can also hear “The Hum.” An allegory about “the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarized age,” it is set to air on BBC One and headline Fremantle Mipcom sales.
“Wolves always come at night.” (Gabriel Brady, Australia, Mongolia)
Another platform title. In this book, Brady explores “the emotional ruptures that climate change and urban migration have had on Mongolian herders, through the experiences of one family who abandoned their rural herding life and moved to the big city after a devastating sandstorm,” according to Toronto program notes. An engaging concept and hybrid novel/non-fiction acquired for sale by Cineville.
“kafir,” (Thomas Alfredson, Norway)
From Alfredson, director of “Tinker Tailor Soldierer Spy” and “Let the Right One In,” and the distinguished writer Sarah Johnson (“July 22”), this series is an adaptation of the 2000 Cannes main competition film “Faithless,” written by Ingmar Bergman and directed by Liv Ullmann, itself a fascinating mix of atonement, self-reproach, and Bergmanian denial. Here, the series explores the fallout of a life-defining adultery over the decades. Produced by Fremantle-owned Norwegian company Miso Film (“The Rain,” “Warrior,” “1864”), it has its world premiere in Toronto’s Primetime section.
“Winter in Sokcho” (Coyia Camorra, France)
Set in the off-season winter resort of Sokcho in Korea, the film is based on the novel by Elisa Choi Dusapin and depicts the delicate revelation of a young woman's search for identity and the complexities of human connection. diverse As he says. When French artist Kirand meets Soha, he is looking for inspiration, but she is looking for answers to long-buried questions. Camorra’s first feature film moves from the Toronto Platform program to the prestigious New Directors section in San Sebastián.
“The Blue Road – The Edna O'Brien Story” (Sinead O'Shea, UK, Ireland)
If the movie is as good as the trailer it's made for. diverse In a 1970s television interview with interviewer Melvyn Bragg, Irish writing legend and rebel O’Brien explains the one thing men are good at, and it’s a gem. Sinead O’Shea’s song (“Pray for Our Sins”) depicts the headstrong O’Brien, 93, looking back on a life that brought her scandal in her native Ireland and wrote “Country Girls,” a frank portrayal of female sexuality that “didn’t break the mold, it created it,” as fellow Irish novelist Eimear MacBride put it.
“seven days” (Ali Samadi Ahadi, Germany)
This political thriller by Mohammad Rasoulof, an Iranian human rights activist granted a seven-day furlough from prison, begins with a dangerous two-day trek through snow-covered mountains as the first part of a daring plan to smuggle her out of Iran and reunite with her family. However, this means abandoning her fight for equality and democracy. From Ahadi, at Sundance with “The Green Wave,” sold by Goodfellas.
“Under the volcano” (Damian Kukor, Poland)
A Ukrainian family ends their holiday in Tenerife, Spain. As soon as they arrive at the airport, their flight is cancelled: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Trapped on the island, the tourists have become refugees. An anticipated follow-up to Cukor’s feature debut Bread and Salt , which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, it promises a slightly different vision of Ukraine and war from Cukor, who has a more brutal eye than most Polish directors. Sold by Salud Morissette.
“My daughter's daughter” (Huang Shi, Taiwan)
Produced by Cannes winner Hou Hsiao-Hsien, it reunites Hou and star Sylvia Chang and Huang after their collaboration on HBO’s “Twisted Strings” in 2022. A widow travels to New York after the death of her daughter and must make life-changing decisions. Huang directed “Missing Johnny,” which won awards at both the Taipei Film Awards and the Golden Horse Awards.
“bound in heaven” (Huo Xin, China)
A must-see film, it will have its world premiere in Toronto and then be screened in main competition in San Sebastian. A dying man comes into close contact with a woman who is a victim of domestic violence. The film is directed by acclaimed screenwriter Hu, who has directed films such as “Kung Fu Hustle,” “Sunflower,” and “The Monkey King.” The cast also includes Ni Ni (Zhang Yimou’s “The Flowers of War”); Zhou Yu, star of Jia Zhangke’s “Caught By The Tides”; and Liao Fan, Berlin Silver Bear winner for Diao Yinan’s “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” Radiance holds the film’s international rights.
