The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival had some incredible films as films in general made an nice comeback. Will the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival have similar, wonderful Canadian films?
Among directors we know, glad to see a second film from Molly McGlynn after Mary Goes Round. Fitting In shows some promise. Monia Chokri has blown us away with her filmmaking so far. Babysitter was hilarious last fall and now Chokri is back with The Nature of Love | Simple Comme Sylvain.
Louise Archambault working with Sophie Nélisse is enough to get me to see Irena's Vow.
Atom Egoyan reunites with his Chloe star Amanda Seyfried in Seven Veils. The plot is encouraging. Maybe Sophie Dupuis has improved as a film writer and director. Still haven't seen Underground but maybe Solo is a decent film. Denis Côté is back with Mademoiselle Kenopsia. Côté has his own drumbeat as a filmmaker.
Given the recent concerns in Quebec over assisted suicide, the new Ariane Louis-Seize film has good timing: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant.
Backspot, the highly anticipated feature film debut by creator/director D.W. Waterson, will have its World Premiere this September at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). https://t.co/9qDb1jAGBZ@TIFF_NET @levelFILM @ACTRAToronto @TheCdnAcademy @CdnFilmFan @Area33_ pic.twitter.com/2w7RfsmLc4
— Northernstars.ca (@Northernstarsca) August 3, 2023
Devery Jacobs plays a driven cheerleader in Backspot with Elliot Page as an executive producer. That could be intriguing. If your humble narrator can pick a film based on the plot, Seagrass is tops on that list.
Boil Alert feels like a documentary that should have been made 5, 10, 20 years ago. Canadians may go out to theatres to see Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, celebrating Ernie Coombs.
We get the irony of sitting through a documentary on the one Canadian band people love to hate. If you can stand it, Hate to Love: Nickelback is for you.
Bria Mack Gets A Life is a Crave series from Sasha Leigh Henry getting the movie treatment at TIFF 2023.
Here is a list of full-length Canadian films, including co-productions. All descriptions of films supplied by TIFF.
Discovery
Backspot (D.W. Waterson) A driven cheerleader (Devery Jacobs) struggles to handle the pressure when she and her girlfriend are both selected for an elite cheer squad, in D.W. Waterson's feature directorial debut.
I Don't Know Who You Are (M.H. Murray) After a sexual assault, a Toronto musician spends a weekend trying to find the money for HIV-preventive treatment, in this ferocious debut from writer-director M.H. Murray and writer-star Mark Clennon.
Seagrass (Meredith Hama-Brown) A week at a couples therapy retreat — where kids can explore the Pacific coast while their parents work on their issues — exposes the fractures in a biracial family, in Meredith Hama-Brown's debut feature.
Tautuktavuk | What We See (Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk) An evocative, drawn-from-life tale from directors Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk about two siblings' attempts to heal and overcome trauma during the pandemic.
The Queen of My Dreams (Fawzia Mirza) Fawzia Mirza's stylish feature debut mashes up the textures of Indian cinema and a Canadian coming-of-age picture, tracing key moments in the lives of a mother and daughter born three decades apart.
The North American Premiere of Ariane Louis-Seize’s HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON is a deadpan horror comedy following a young Montreal bloodsucker who can only feed on people for whom she feels sympathy. 🧛 #TIFF23 https://t.co/SLc7iqxm0j pic.twitter.com/IxYgoJKEFE
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 10, 2023
Centrepiece
Fitting In (Molly McGlynn) This film mines a traumatic, rare reproductive abnormality diagnosis for laughs and tears in director Molly McGlynn's second feature film, starring Maddie Ziegler as a teen who must confront her new health reality.
Hey, Viktor! (Cody Lightning) A struggling Indigenous actor tries to rejuvenate his career by getting a sequel made to the beloved film Smoke Signals, in star and director Cody Lightning's wildly funny debut mockumentary.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant (Ariane Louis-Seize) Ariane Louis-Seize’s deadpan horror comedy finds droll humour in the plight of a young Montréal bloodsucker who can only feed on people for whom she feels sympathy.
In Flames (Zarrar Kahn) Canada, Pakistan In present-day Karachi, a medical student struggles to keep her family together while being stalked by forces she can't entirely understand.
Irena's Vow (Louise Archambault) Canada, Poland In occupied Poland, a former nurse (Sophie Nélisse) risks her own life to shelter a dozen Jewish men and women from the Nazi war machine.
Kanaval (Henri Pardo) Canada, Luxembourg Kanaval is the story of one young boy's journey from a small port town on the coast of Haiti in 1975, during the town's celebrations of carnival, before a traumatic event forces him and his mother to flee to Quebec.
The Nature of Love | Simple Comme Sylvain (Monia Chokri) Canada, France Biting, funny, and socially astute, this romantic comedy from Quebecois actor, writer, and director Monia Chokri (A Brother's Love) tackles class difference and infidelity.
Ten days, hundreds of films — how do you choose? 🎬
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 15, 2023
Let us help. Reply with your favourite film from #TIFF22 and we’ll recommend you a #TIFF23 title.
Primetime, TIFF '23
Black Life: Untold Stories (Leslie Norville) This new CBC documentary series uses contemporary interviews and archival footage to chronicle Canada’s long history of anti-Black racism, including episodes on police brutality and the rise of hip-hop music.
Bria Mack Gets A Life (Sasha Leigh Henry) This comedy series from Sasha Leigh Henry shows what adulthood is like for a smart young Black woman reluctantly entering the workforce.
Telling Our Story (Kim O'Bomsawin) The English-language debut of Telling Our Story, a visually stunning four-part documentary series highlighting 11 different First Nations in Quebec, illuminates the rich Indigenous cultures and stories that exist within the province.
Writer-director Chloé Robichaud and actor Sophie Desmarais reunite at #TIFF23.
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) July 24, 2023
The World Premiere of DAYS OF HAPPINESS follows a young orchestra conductor as she faces a crossroads in her life and career in this ambitious drama. https://t.co/yhXKc6SqZx pic.twitter.com/Pa0S9RwClq
Special Presentations
Close To You (Dominic Savage) Canada, United Kingdom Sam (Elliot Page) has a chance encounter with an old friend (Hillary Baack) on his way home to a dreaded family reunion that forces him to confront long-buried memories.
Days of Happiness | Les Jours heureux (Chloé Robichaud) A young orchestra conductor faces a crossroads in her life and career in this ambitious drama that reunites writer-director Chloé Robichaud with actor Sophie Desmarais.
Ru (Charles-Olivier Michaud) Based on the Governor General's Award–winning novel by Kim Thúy, Ru is the story of the arduous journey of a wealthy family fleeing from Vietnam, before landing in Quebec.
Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan) Atom Egoyan and his Chloe star Amanda Seyfried reunite for this knotty psychodrama about a young theatre director forced to re-examine her own trauma while working on a remount of Salome.
The Beast | La Bête (Bertrand Bonello) France, Canada This heady, sci-fi examination of yearning, obsession, and existential dread by visionary French auteur Bertrand Bonello stars Léa Seydoux and George MacKay as two lovers connecting and reconnecting across time and space, all while catastrophe looms.
Gala Presentations
Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks) Nickelback is one of the most successful acts in music history — they're also the number one band haters love to hate. This intimate portrait surveys the Canadian stadium rockers' rollercoaster career.
Solo (Sophie Dupuis) Set in Montréal's vivacious drag scene, this tender character study from writer-director Sophie Dupuis (Underground) focuses on a talented young performer whose past and present merge in unexpected ways.
Swan Song (Chelsea McMullan) Chelsea McMullan takes us inside the National Ballet of Canada’s 2022 production of Swan Lake, directed and staged by the legendary Karen Kain.
Platform
The King Tide (Christian Sparkes) Ten years after a child with miraculous gifts arrives at an isolated East Coast island town, her adoptive parents must decide whether her safety is more important than their community's prosperity.
Wavelengths, TIFF '23
He Thought He Died (Isiah Medina) In his sly, elegant, and perspicacious film, director Isiah Medina plays a painter who plots a heist to steal back his work from the same museum vault where a filmmaker is shooting their next project.
Mademoiselle Kenopsia (Denis Côté) A lone woman occupies an empty building, waiting for something to break her stasis, in the new feature from director Denis Côté and actor Larissa Corriveau.
Midnight Madness
Hell of a Summer (Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk) U.S., Canada A masked killer terrorizes the counsellors of a summer camp in this sardonic slasher-comedy, the feature directorial debut from actors Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk.
An ode to the tickle trunk and Ernie Coombs. 🪄
— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) July 26, 2023
The World Premiere of Robert McCallum’s (@RobMcZob) MR. DRESSUP: THE MAGIC OF MAKE-BELIEVE celebrates the iconic Canadian TV personality that encouraged generations of kids to be their best selves. #TIFF23 https://t.co/rSzNbc23V6 pic.twitter.com/F4Xbd0Pbp4
TIFF Docs
Boil Alert (James Burns, Stevie Salas) Canada, U.S. This urgent documentary by activist Layla Staats shows the faces and personal stories behind the struggle of First Nations reserves to receive a basic human right: drinkable water.
Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (Robert McCallum) This heartfelt documentary celebrates the life and work of Ernie Coombs, the iconic Canadian children’s television personality who encouraged generations of kids to be their best selves.
Summer Qamp (Jen Markowitz) At Camp fYrefly in rural Alberta, queer, non-binary, and trans teens get to just be kids in a supportive space, surrounded by counsellors who can relate to their experience ― and help them toast the perfect marshmallow.
TIFF Classics
Artie Shaw: Time Is All You've Got (Brigitte Berman) 1985 Unavailable for decades, Brigitte Berman's Oscar-winning documentary about the mercurial bandleader returns to the screen in a pristine new restoration.
2022 TIFF Canadian film preview
CanadianCrossing.com film coverage
TIFF 2023 — the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival — runs September 7-17.
Twitter captures: @Northernstarsca; @TIFF_NET (x4)
photo credits: Backspot; Seagrass; Summer Qamp
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