26/07/2024 - The former sees world premieres of 12 European productions, whilst the genre strand will host the North American premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes hit The Substance

Claes Bang, Lily McInerny and Chloë Sevigny in Durga Chew-Bose's Bonjour Tristesse

It’s beginning to look a lot like festival season. The autumn’s array of new European cinema comes into greater focus with the announcement of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery strand, this year showcasing 24 premieres from 25 countries. And there’s also the matter of TIFF’s audience favourite Midnight Madness section, with Coralie Fargeat returning for opening night with her Cannes winner The Substance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile], after her career was launched there in 2017 with the visceral Revenge [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile] (which is really worth catching up with if you haven’t seen it). 

Of the 15 world and international premieres of European titles in Discovery, a few stand out as the most intriguing. Durga Chew-Bose, best known as a culture writer and author, is making her writing and directing debut with Bonjour Tristesse [+see also:
film review
film profile], the second major adaptation of the novella by Françoise Sagan; Otto Preminger directed the first in 1958, featuring an iconic turn by Jean Seberg. Sticking to its original timeframe of the 1950s, the glamorous cast is led by Lily McInerny, Claes Bang and Chloë Sevigny. 

César Augusto Acevedo’s Horizonte [+see also:
film review
film profile] has featured on a number of festival prognostication lists this year; following up his 2015 Cannes Critic’s Week entry Land and Shade [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], his second feature finally makes its world premiere in the Discovery line-up. Its quite abstract plot description tells of the “ghosts” of a mother and a son (played by Claudio Cataño and Paulina García) who traverse a war-torn world to find the boy’s missing father. Laura Carreira’s On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile], coming from the unusual co-production duo of the UK and Portugal, follows a Portuguese warehouse worker in Scotland who seeks to improve her fortunes. It's notable for being produced by Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, with the British social realist legend thought to have made his final feature with The Old Oak [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. 

Giovanni Tortorici’s Diciannove [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (produced by Luca Guadagnino) enjoys its international premiere, having already been selected in Venice’s Orizzonti competition; Sad Jokes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabian Stumm
film profile] by Fabian Stumm also shows here after its Munich bow, where Cineuropa’s Savina Petkova offered a highly positive take.

Filmmakers in Discovery will be hoping to follow similar fortunes to some of its alumni, which include Christopher Nolan, Ildikó Enyedi, Alfonso Cuarón, Maren Ade, Yorgos Lanthimos and Barry Jenkins.

Else [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], from Thibault Emin, is Midnight Madness’s only other European offering; TIFF’s programming notes describe it as a “mesmerising” body-horror romance, where a strange epidemic causes sufferers to melt into their surroundings.

Here are the two newly announced slates in full: 

Discovery

Bonjour Tristesse [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Durga Chew-Bose (Canada/Germany) (opening film)
Horizonte [+see also:
film review
film profile] - César Augusto Acevedo (Colombia/France/Luxembourg/Chile/Germany) 
Gülizar [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Belkıs Bayrak and Bekir Beh…
film profile] - Belkıs Bayrak (Turkey/Kosovo) 
On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile] - Laura Carreira (United Kingdom/Portugal)
Aberdeen - Ryan Cooper and Eva Thomas (Canada) 
Boong - Lakshmipriya Devi (India)
The Courageous [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Jasmin Gordon (Switzerland)
Seeds - Kaniehtiio Horn (Canada)
Saba - Maksud Hossain (Bangladesh)
The Quiet Ones [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Frederik Louis Hviid (Denmark) 
The Paradise of Thorns - Boss Kuno (Thailand)
The Party’s Over [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Elena Manrique
film profile] - Elena Manrique (Spain)
Do I Know You From Somewhere? - Arianna Martinez (Canada) 
Meat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dimitris Nakos
film profile] - Dimitris Nakos (Greece)
Freedom Way - Afolabi Olalekan (Nigeria) 
U Are the Universe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pavlo Ostrikov
film profile] - Pavlo Ostrikov (Ukraine/Belgium)
My Fathers’ Daughter [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Egil Pedersen Sápmi (Norway/Sweden/Finland) 
Really Happy Someday - J Stevens (Canada)
Sad Jokes [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fabian Stumm
film profile] - Fabian Stumm (Germany)
Diciannove [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Giovanni Tortorici (Italy)
Ink Wash [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Sarra Tsorakidis (Romania/Greece/Denmark) 
Linda [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Mariana Wainstein (Argentina/Spain) 
Shook - Amar Wala (Canada)
Mother Mother - K’naan Warsame (Kenya/Somalia)

Midnight Madness

The Substance [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Coralie Fargeat
film profile] - Coralie Fargeat (United Kingdom/USA/France) (opening film)
Friendship - Andrew DeYoung (USA) 
Dead Mail - Joe DeBoer, Kyle McConaghy (USA) 
Else [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Thibault Emin (France/Belgium) 
Dead Talents Society - John Hsu (Taiwan)
Escape from the 21st Century - Yang Li (China) 
Ick - Joseph Kahn (USA)
It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This - Rachel Kempf, Nick Toti (USA)
The Shadow - Strays Timo Tjahjanto (Indonesia)
The Gesuidouz - Kenichi Ugana (Japan)