17/08/2023 - Films by Nikolaj Arcel and Lone Scherfig and a series by Juho Kuosmanen are part of a new batch of titles announced for the Canadian festival

The Toronto International Film Festival (taking place from 7-17 September 2023) has announced a series of additions to its prestigious Gala and Special Presentations programmes. None of the four titles added in the former category are European, but in the latter, we find the latest film from Danish director Lone Scherfig, having its world premiere at the Canadian festival: the eponymous Movie Teller is a young woman who uses her storytelling gifts to recount to the poor inhabitants of her desert mining community the films she has seen at the local theatre (read the news).  

Another Danish addition to the Special Presentations line-up is The Promised Land from Nikolaj Arcel, starring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen as a man determined to tame and cultivate the wild heath of Jutland in 18th-century Denmark. The film will arrive in Toronto fresh from its premiere in the Venice Competition. 

The additional documentary in the TIFF Docs section I am Sirat is a collaboration between Indian-Canadian director Deepa Mehta and the subject of the film, Sirat Taneja, a transgender woman who must act as her mother’s son when at home in New Delhi, but can comfortably live as herself the rest of the time, with her friends and at work with the Government of India.  

In the Primetime Programme, dedicated to series, we find Alice & Jack, starring English actress Andrea Riseborough and Irish actor Domnhall Gleeson as two star-crossed lovers in London. The series is created by New York-based writer Victor Levin and directed by Finland’s Juho Kuosmanen (Compartment No.6 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juho Kuosmanen
film profile]).

Another Finnish presence is Estonia from creator Miikko Oikkonen (read the news). The series tells of the sinking of the cruiseferry MS Estonia in September 1994, known as the deadliest civil maritime disaster in European waters, and follows rescue teams on the scene but also the officials who try to figure out what happened and who is to blame. 

Also having its world premiere in Toronto is Bad Boys, an Israeli series following a young teen fighting to survive in a fortress-like juvenile detention facility, then later in adulthood as a successful comedian at grips with a traumatic past. The series is co-created by Ron Leshem, the screenwriter and producer of the Israeli mini-series that inspired hit American show Euphoria, and Hagar Ben-Asher.

The list of additions:

Gala Presentations

A Normal Family - Hur Jin-ho (South Korea)
Finestkind - Brian Helgeland (USA)
Smugglers - Ryoo Seung-wan (South Korea)
Thank You For Coming - Karan Boolani (India)

Special Presentations

Daddio - Christy Hall (USA)
El Sabor de la Navidad - Alejandro Lozano (Mexico)
Evil Does Not Exist - Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
Quiz Lady - Jessica Yu (USA)
Ru - Charles-Olivier Michaud (Canada)
The Movie Teller - Lone Scherfig (Spain/France/Chile)
The Promised Land - Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark/Germany/Sweden)

TIFF Docs

I am Sirat - A collaboration between Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja (Canada)

Primetime

Alice & Jack - Victor Levin, Juho Kuosmanen, Hong Khaou (UK)
All the Light We Cannot See - Shawn Levy, Steven Knight (USA)
Bad Boy - Hagar Ben-Asher, Ron Leshem, Daniel Chen, Roee Florentin, Moshe Malka, Amit Cohen, Daniel Amsel (Israel)
Bargain - Byun Seung-min, Jeon Woo-sung (South Korea)
Black Life: Untold Stories - Leslie Norville (Canada)
Bria Mack Gets A Life - Sasha Leigh Henry (Canada)
Estonia - Miikko Oikkonen (Finland/Sweden/Belgium/Estonia)
Expats - Lulu Wang (USA)
Telling Our Story - Kim O’Bomsawin (Canada)