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 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], from Irish director John Carney (Sing Street [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), will be making its Canadian premiere at the festival, as will The Royal Hotel [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Ladj Ly et Giordano Gederl…
fiche film], the highly anticipated new film from French director Ladj Ly (Les Misérables [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Ladj Ly et Giordano Gederl…
fiche film]), 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], from experienced British TV director James Hawes, starring Anthony Hopkins; Shoshana [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]) 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Viggo Mortensen
fiche film], a co-production between Mexico, Canada and Denmark, with Mortensen starring in the film alongside German actress Vicky Krieps; The Peasants [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], from Loving Vincent [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Dorota Kobiela
fiche film] directors DK and Hugh Welchman; Together 99 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], from Swedish director and novelist Lukas Moodysson; Unicorns [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] by Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd, who starred in El Hosaini’s 2022 film The Swimmers [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film].

Having its international premiere in the section are A Difficult Year [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Olivier Nakache et Eric To…
fiche film] from French duo Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, while Cannes titles Anatomy of a Fall [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Justine Triet
fiche film] by Justine Triet, Four Daughters [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Kaouther Ben Hania
fiche film] by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, Kidnapped [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] by Italy’s Marco Bellocchio, La Chimera [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] by his fellow countrywoman Alice Rohrwacher; Last Summer [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Catherine Breillat
fiche film] from French director Catherine Breillat; and The Zone of Interest [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] by British director Jonathan Glazer will also be presented in Canadian or North American premieres. The Beast [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Bertrand Bonello
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] by Suvi West and Anssi Kömi, a Finland/Norway co-production, which like West’s previous film Eatnameamet – Our silent struggle [+lire aussi :
interview : Suvi West
fiche film], concerns Finland’s attitudes towards the Sámi culture and people; and Walls [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Lina Soualem
fiche film] from Lina Soualem (Their Algeria [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Lina Soualem
fiche film]), 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Andrés Peyrot
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], about a French Michelin-starred restaurant. Other North American premieres with European backing are Maciek Hamela’s In the Rearview [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film], winner of the Grand Jury Award in the International Competition at Sheffield DocFest; Norwegian director Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] - John Carney (Ireland/USA)
Hate to Love: Nickelback - Leigh Brooks (Canada)
Lee - Ellen Kuras (UK)
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 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] - Mahalia Belo (UK)
The Movie Emperor - Ning Hao (China)
The New Boy - Warwick Thornton (Australia)
The Royal Hotel [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Kitty Green (Australia/UK)

Special Presentations

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

TIFF Docs

Boil Alert - Stevie Salas, James Burns (Canada/USA)
Bye Bye Tiberias [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Lina Soualem
fiche film] - Lina Soualem (France/Belgium/Qatar/Palestine)
Copa 71 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] - Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine (UK)
Defiant - Karim Amer (Ukraine/UK/USA)
Flipside - Chris Wilcha (USA)
God is a Woman [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Andrés Peyrot
fiche film] - Andrés Peyrot (France/Switzerland/Panama)
Homecoming [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Suvi West, Anssi Kömi (Finland/Norway)
In the Rearview [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Maciek Hamela (Poland/France/Ukraine)
Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - 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 [+lire aussi :
critique
fiche film] - 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 (UK)
The Mother of All Lies - Asmae El Moudir (Morocco/Egypt/Saudi Arabia/Qatar)
The Pigeon Tunnel [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Errol Morris (UK/USA/Hungary)
The World is Family - Anand Patwardhan (India)
Viva Varda! - Pierre-Henri Gibert (France)
Walls [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Kasia Smutniak (Italy)