31/07/2023 - While the impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes in America on the Canadian festival is still to be fully measured and understood, European productions will be present as usual

Scarlett Johansson, Jessie Buckley and Sienna Miller in Kristin Scott Thomas’ North Star

The ongoing strikes in Hollywood from the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA (The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) requires its members not to work, but also not to promote their work until agreements have been reached and the strikes end. This has raised questions as to the status of all fall festivals, but perhaps none more than the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (taking place from 7 to 17 September 2023), a usually star-studded event that derives much of its status not just from the big American productions that often choose to premiere there, but also from the actors who bring glamour to its red carpet and attract film fans to screenings.

The announcement of a first wave of 60 films in the Gala and Special Presentations sections of the upcoming 2023 edition has quelled some of those concerns, with apparently many high profile actors and directors still willing to premiere their films there, though whether they will be attending to accompany their films remains to be seen. This situation has not resulted in an unusually large European presence at the festival either, though considering the instability of current circumstances, it seems reasonable to expect more changes and surprises in the run-up to the event.

Of the 8 world premieres expected in the Gala Presentations section, two are from the UK: Ellen Kuras’ Lee, starring Kate Winslet as war journalist Lee Miller, and Mahalia Belo’s The End We Start From, a survival film starring Jodie Comer adapted by Alice Birch from the novel of the same name by Megan Hunter.

The musical Flora and Son, from Irish director John Carney (Sing Street [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), will be making its Canadian premiere at the festival, as will The Royal Hotel from Canadian director Kitty Green, a co-production between Australia and the UK.

Meanwhile, the Special Presentations section boasts a total of 29 world premieres — with many quick to point out the large presence of directorial efforts from established actors, apparently a consequence of the pandemic allowing actors to devote time to passion projects, according to TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey.

However, an overwhelming share of the European films having their world premiere in the section are British productions, boasting an array of (mostly British) stars. Alongside the already announced Les Indésirables, the highly anticipated new film from French director Ladj Ly (Les Misérables), we will therefore find the world premieres of North Star, the directorial debut from British actress Kristin Scott Thomas, starring Scarlett Johansson, Freida Pinto, Sienna Miller and Emily Beecham; One Life, from experienced British TV director James Hawes, starring Anthony Hopkins; Shoshana from indefatigable English director Michael Winterbottom; English director Thea Sharrock’s Wicked Little Letters, starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley; The Critic from London-based director Anand Tucker and starring Gemma Arterton; as well as Close to You by British director Dominic Savage (The Escape [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) a co-production between Canada and the UK, starring Elliot Page.

Outside of the UK, European productions and co-productions having their world premiere in Special Presentations include American actor Viggo Mortensen’s second directorial effort, The Dead Don’t Hurt, a co-production between Mexico, Canada and Denmark, with Mortensen starring in the film alongside German actress Vicky Krieps; The Peasants, from Loving Vincent [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dorota Kobiela
film profile] directors DK and Hugh Welchman; Together 99, from Swedish director and novelist Lukas Moodysson; Unicorns by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, who starred in El Hosaini’s 2022 film The Swimmers [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Having its international premiere in the section are A Difficult Year from French duo Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, while Cannes titles Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile] by Justine Triet, Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Kidnapped [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Italy’s Marco Bellocchio, La Chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by his fellow countrywoman Alice Rohrwacher; Last Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Breillat
film profile] from French director Catherine Breillat; and The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
film profile] by British director Jonathan Glazer will also be presented in Canadian or North American premieres. The Beast from French director Bertrand Bonello will be presented in a North American Premiere, fresh off its debut at Venice.

The TIFF Docs programme, meanwhile, features 22 titles from 12 countries, and will open with UK doc Copa 71 from Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine. The film tells the story of the 1971 Women’s Soccer World Cup, a tournament which saw record admissions but was largely forgotten and left out of sporting history until now. Another world premiere from the UK is Clair Titley’s The Contestant, about a Japanese man who lived for more than a year trapped inside a small room, unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV in Japan — a real-life Truman Show.

Also among the world premieres are Karim Amer’s Defiant, a co-production between Ukraine, the UK and the USA, centred on key figures in the Ukrainian government fighting disinformation about the war; Homecoming by Suvi West and Anssi Kömi, a Finland/Norway co-production, which like West’s previous film Eatnameamet – Our silent struggle [+see also:
interview: Suvi West
film profile], concerns Finland’s attitudes towards the Sámi culture and people; and Walls, the directorial debut from Polish-Italian actress Kasia Smutniak, about Poland’s border policies and the European Union’s refugee crisis.

Having its international premiere in TIFF Docs is The Pigeon Tunnel, a co-production between the UK, the USA and Hungary from established American director Errol Morris, and consists of the final interview from British author David Cornwell, a.k.a. John le Carré.

Among the festival’s North American premieres, we can count Bye Bye Tiberias from Lina Soualem (Their Algeria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lina Soualem
film profile]), a co-production between France, Belgium, Qatar and Palestine, about the filmmaker’s mother Hiam Abbass (actress seen notably in the series Succession) and the family’s history of exile. Likewise fresh from its Venice premiere will be God is a Woman from Swiss-Panamanian director Andrés Peyrot, a co-production between France, Switzerland and Panama centred on the Indigenous Kuna people in Panama’s San Blas islands; Frederick Wiseman’s Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros, about a French Michelin-starred restaurant. Other North American premieres with European backing are Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview, winner of the Grand Jury Award in the International Competition at Sheffield DocFest; Norwegian director Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth [+see also:
film review
film profile], which premiered at CPH:DOX; and Pierre-Henri Gibert’s Cannes Classics selection Viva Varda!.

The full list of films announced:

Gala Presentations

Concrete Utopia - Um Tae-Hwa (South Korea)
Dumb Money - Craig Gillespie (USA)
Fair Play - Chloe Domont (USA)
Flora and Son - John Carney (Ireland/USA)
Hate to Love: Nickelback - Leigh Brooks (Canada)
Lee - Ellen Kuras (United Kingdom)
Next Goal Wins - Taika Waititi (USA)
NYAD - Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin (USA)
Punjab ’95 - Honey Trehan (India)
Solo - Sophie Dupuis (Canada)
The End We Start From - Mahalia Belo (United Kingdom)
The Movie Emperor - Ning Hao (China)
The New Boy - Warwick Thornton (Australia)
The Royal Hotel - Kitty Green (Australia/United Kingdom)

Special Presentations

A Difficult Year - Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache (France)
A Normal Family - Hur Jin-ho (South Korea)
American Fiction - Cord Jefferson (USA)
Anatomy of a Fall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Justine Triet
film profile] - Justine Triet (France)
Close to You - Dominic Savage (Canada/United Kingdom)
Days of Happiness - Chloé Robichaud (Canada)
El Rapto - Daniela Goggi (Argentina)
Ezra - Tony Goldwyn (USA)
Fingernails - Christos Nikou (USA)
Four Daughters [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] - Kaouther Ben Hania (France/Tunisia/Germany/Saudi Arabia)
His Three Daughters - Azazel Jacobs (USA)
Hit Man - Richard Linklater (USA)
In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon - Alex Gibney (USA)
Kidnapped [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France/Germany)
Knox Goes Away - Michael Keaton (USA)
La Chimera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Alice Rohrwacher (Italy/France/Switzerland)
Last Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Catherine Breillat
film profile] - Catherine Breillat (France)
Les Indésirables - Ladj Ly (France)
Memory - Michel Franco (USA/Mexico)
Monster - Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan)
Mother Couch - Niclas Larsson (USA)
North Star - Kristin Scott Thomas (United Kingdom)
One Life - James Hawes (United Kingdom)
Pain Hustlers - David Yates (USA)
Poolman - Chris Pine (USA)
Reptile - Grant Singer (USA)
Rustin - George C. Wolfe (USA)
Seven Veils - Atom Egoyan (Canada)
Shoshana - Michael Winterbottom (United Kingdom/Italy)
Sing Sing - Greg Kwedar (USA)
Smugglers - Ryoo Seung-wan (South Korea)
Swan Song - Chelsea McMullan (Canada)
The Beast - Bertrand Bonello (France/Canada)
The Burial - Maggie Betts (USA)
The Convert - Lee Tamahori (Australia/New Zealand)
The Critic - Anand Tucker (United Kingdom)
The Dead Don’t Hurt - Viggo Mortensen (Mexico/Canada/Denmark)
The Holdovers - Alexander Payne (USA)
The Peasants - DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman (Poland/Serbia/Lithuania)
The Zone of Interest [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Jonathan Glazer (United Kingdom/Poland/USA)
Together 99 - Lukas Moodysson (Sweden/Denmark)
Unicorns - Sally El Hosaini, James Krishna Floyd (United Kingdom/USA/Sweden)
Uproar - Paul Middleditch, Hamish Bennett (New Zealand)
Wicked Little Letters - Thea Sharrock (United Kingdom)
Wildcat - Ethan Hawke (USA)
Woman of the Hour - Anna Kendrick (USA)

TIFF Docs

Boil Alert - Stevie Salas, James Burns (Canada/USA)
Bye Bye Tiberias - Lina Soualem (France/Belgium/Qatar/Palestine)
Copa 71 - Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine (United Kingdom)
Defiant - Karim Amer (Ukraine/United Kingdom/USA)
Flipside - Chris Wilcha (USA)
God is a Woman - Andrés Peyrot (France/Switzerland/Panama)
Homecoming - Suvi West, Anssi Kömi (Finland/Norway)
In the Rearview - Maciek Hamela (Poland/France/Ukraine)
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros - Frederick Wiseman (France/USA)
Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa - Lucy Walker (USA)
Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe - Robert McCallum (Canada)
Silver Dollar Road - Raoul Peck (USA)
Songs of Earth [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Margreth Olin (Norway)
Sorry/Not Sorry - Caroline Suh, Cara Mones (USA)
Stamped From the Beginning - Roger Ross Williams (USA)
Summer Qamp - Jen Markowitz (Canada)
The Contestant - Clair Titley (United Kingdom)
The Mother of All Lies - Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Qatar)
The Pigeon Tunnel - Errol Morris (United Kingdom/USA/Hungary)
The World is Family - Anand Patwardhan (India)
Viva Varda! - Pierre-Henri Gibert (France)
Walls - Kasia Smutniak (Italy)