14/08/2023 - European (co)productions abound in the section which used to be called the Contemporary World Cinema

Formerly known as Contemporary World Cinema, the Centrepiece Programme of the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (taking place from 7 to 17 September 2023) showcases 47 titles from filmmakers representing 45 countries. Of these, seven are European (co)productions having their world premiere at the festival. 

Norwegian director Hisham Zaman will be back in Toronto with his third feature, A Happy Day, centred on three teenage boys at a remote centre for young asylum seekers in Norway planning their escape. 

In Holiday, by Italian director Edoardo Gabbriellini, a young woman is found innocent of a brutal double murder after a long trial, in what is described as a subtle cat-and-mouse game. 

A co-production between Canada and Poland, Louise Archambault’s Irena’s Vow centres on a former nurse who shelters a dozen Jewish men and women during WWII in occupied Poland.

Canadian director Henri Pardo’s Kanaval, a co-production between Canada and Luxembourg, tells the story of a young boy and his mother who settle in Quebec after leaving their small port town on the coast of Haiti in 1975. 

The Reeds, the fifth feature from Turkish director Cemil Ağacıkoğlu, is set in an Anatolian village where a man finds himself engaged in a battle between good and evil when livelihood is threatened by local gangs.

Gangs are also central to the plot of Toll, from São Paulo-based director Carolina Markowicz. Co-produced with Portugal, the film centres on a Brazilian mother who falls in with some thieves in order to raise money to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop. 

Completing the European world-premieres in the Centrepiece Programme is Woodland from Austrian director Elisabeth Scharang. Inspired by Wald, a 2015 novel by the bestselling author Doris Knechtentred, the film centres on a traumatised woman who finds refuge in a secluded house in the woods. 

Several films which had their world premiere in Cannes are also present in the Centrepiece Programme, among them Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Best Actress winner About Dry Grasses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile], Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Cannes Competition contender Banel & Adama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
film profile], Aki Kaurismäki’s Jury Prize winner Fallen Leaves [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Víctor Erice’s Cannes Premiere title Close Your Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Amjad Al Rasheed’s Critics’ Week entry Inshallah A Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], and ​​Pablo Berger’s Special Screening Robot Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. Three films from Un Certain Regard are also in the selection: Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Moreno
film profile], Monia Chokri’s The Nature of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Monia Chokri
film profile], and Felipe Gálvez Haberle’s The Settlers [+see also:
film review
interview: Felipe Gálvez
film profile].

Fresh from Venice will be Agnieszka Holland’s The Green Border from the Competition, and from Orizzonti, City of Wind by Mongolian director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, and Upon Open Sky by Mariana and Santiago Arriaga. Sira [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Apolline Traoré
film profile], from Burkinabé director Apolline Traoré, won the Panorama Audience Award for Best Feature in Berlin, while Ilker Çatak’s The Teacher’s Lounge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile] was awarded in the same section. 

Je’vida by Finnish director Katja Gauriloff premiered at Tribeca, while They Shot the Piano Player by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal will be premiering in San Sebastián. Amsterdam-based Bosnian filmmaker Ena Sendijarević will be presenting Sweet Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ena Sendijarević
film profile], which just premiered in Locarno. Also in the selection are Janis Pugh’s Chuck Chuck Baby, which premiered in Edinburgh and The Monk and the Gun from Bhutanese director Pawo Choyning Dorji (Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom).

The full selection:

100 Yards - Xu Haofeng, Xu Junfeng (China)
About Dry Grasses [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile] - Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey/France/Germany/Sweden)
A Happy Day - Hisham Zaman (Norway/Denmark)
A Ravaging Wind - Paula Hernández (Argentina/Uruguay)
A Road to A Village - Nabin Subba (Nepal)
Banel & Adama [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
film profile] - Ramata-Toulaye Sy (France/Senegal/Mali)
Chuck Chuck Baby - Janis Pugh (United Kingdom)
City of Wind - Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (France/Mongolia/Portugal/Netherlands/Qatar/Germany)
Close Your Eyes [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Víctor Erice (Spain/Argentina)
Death of a Whistleblower - Ian Gabriel (South Africa)
Fallen Leaves [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Aki Kaurismäki (Finland/Germany)
Fitting In - Molly McGlynn (Canada)
Green Border - Agnieszka Holland (Poland/Czech Republic/France/Belgium)
Hey, Viktor! - Cody Lightning (Canada)
Holiday - Edoardo Gabbriellini (Italy)
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person - Ariane Louis-Seize (Canada)
I Do Not Come To You By Chance - Ishaya Bako (Nigeria)
In Flames - Zarrar Kahn (Canada/Pakistan)
Inshallah a Boy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Amjad Al Rasheed (Jordan/France/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/Egypt)
Irena’s Vow - Louise Archambault (Canada/Poland)
Je’vida - Katja Gauriloff (Finland)
Kanaval - Henri Pardo (Canada/Luxembourg)
Limbo - Ivan Sen (Australia)
Lost Ladies - Kiran Rao (India)
Mountains - Monica Sorelle (USA)
National Anthem - Luke Gilford (USA)
Perfect Days [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Wim Wenders (Japan/Germany)
Robot Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Pablo Berger (Spain/France)
Shadow of Fire - Shinya Tsukamoto (Japan)
Shayda - Noora Niasari (Australia)
Sira [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Apolline Traoré
film profile] - Apolline Traoré (Burkina Faso/Senegal/France/Germany)
Snow Leopard - Pema Tseden (China)
Sweet Dreams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ena Sendijarević
film profile] - Ena Sendijarević (Netherlands/Sweden/Indonesia/France)
The Breaking Ice - Anthony Chen (China)
The Delinquents [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rodrigo Moreno
film profile] - Rodrigo Moreno (Argentina/Brazil/Luxembourg/Chile)
The Feeling That the Time for Something Has Passed - Joanna Arnow (USA)
The Monk and the Gun - Pawo Choyning Dorji (Bhutan/France/USA/Taiwan)
The Nature of Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Monia Chokri
film profile] - Monia Chokri (Canada/France)
The Reeds - Cemil Ağacıkoğlu (Turkey/Bulgaria)
The Settlers [+see also:
film review
interview: Felipe Gálvez
film profile] - Felipe Gálvez Haberle (Chile/Argentina/France/Denmark/United Kingdom/Taiwan/Sweden/Germany)
The Teachers’ Lounge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: İlker Çatak
interview: Leonie Benesch
film profile] - Ilker Çatak (Germany)
They Shot the Piano Player - Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal (Spain/France)
Toll - Carolina Markowicz (Brazil/Portugal)
Upon Open Sky - Mariana Arriaga, Santiago Arriaga (Mexico/Spain)
We Grown Now - Minhal Baig (USA)
Woodland - Elisabeth Scharang (Austria)
Your Mother’s Son - Jun Robles Lana (Philippines)