Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Toronto >> 2023 >> Centrepiece
View other Toronto International Film Festival Films by strand: Bell Lightbox, Discovery, Galas, Industry Selects, Midnight Madness, Special Presentations, TIFF Classics, TIFF Docs, Wavelengths
The Teachers' Lounge and Inshallah A Boy
The Breaking Ice
(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Anthony Chen; Writer: Anthony Chen; Stars: Zhou Dongyu, Liu Haoran, Qu Chuxiao)
The relationship between a trio of young people over a period of a few days in the snow.
Chuck Chuck Baby
(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Janis Pugh; Writer: Janis Pugh; Stars: Louise Brealey, Annabel Scholey, Celyn Jones, Sorcha Cusack)
Romance unfolds at a chicken packing factory.
City Of Wind (Ser Ser Salhi)
(Country: Qatar, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Mongolia, France; Year: 2023; Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; Writer: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir; Stars: Tergel Bold-Erdene, Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba, Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee, Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren)
A teenage shaman finds his life shifting after he meets a girl.
Close Your Eyes (Cerrar Los Ojos)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2023; Director: Victor Erice; Writer: Víctor Erice, Michel Gaztambide; Stars: Jose Coronado, Ana Torrent, María León, Soledad Villamil)
A TV show looking into the mysterious disappearance of an actor leads a director on a journey into his own past while making discoveries in the present.
The Delinquents (Los Delincuentes)
(Country: Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile; Year: 2023; Director: Rodrigo Moreno; Writer: Rodrigo Moreno; Stars: Margarita Molfino, Esteban Bigliardi, Cecilia Rainero)
Two bank staff rob their own establishment.
Toll and Sweet Dreams
Fallen Leaves (Kuolleet Lehdet)
(Country: Finland; Year: 2023; Director: Aki Kaurismäki; Writer: Aki Kaurismäki; Stars: Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen)
The course of potential love does not run smooth for a shelf-stacker and a metal worker.
The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Joanne Arnow; Writer: Joanne Arnow)
A fragmented, experiential look at the life of a woman as time passes in her long-term casual BDSM relationship, low-level corporate job, and quarrelsome Jewish family.
Green Border (Zielona granica)
(Country: Poland, Germany, France, Czechia, Belgium; Year: 2023; Director: Agnieszka Holland; Writer: Agnieszka Holland, Gabriela Lazarkiewicz-Sieczko, Maciej Pisuk; Stars: Jalal Altawil, Maja Ostaszewska, Tomasz Włosok, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi, Dalia Naous)
Multifaceted drama about the plight of refugees on the Belarus/Poland border.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire Humaniste Cherche Suicidaire Consentant)
(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Ariane Louis-Seize; Writer: Christine Doyon, Ariane Louis-Seize; Stars: Sara Montpetit, Félix-Antoine Bénard, Steve Laplante, Sophie Cadieux, Noémie O'Farrell, Lilas-Rose Cantin, Arnaud Vachon, Marie Brassard, Madeleine Péloquin, Gabriel-Antoine Roy, Isabella Villalba, Patrick Hivon, Marc Beaupré, Micheline Bernard, Sylvie Lemay)
Sasha is a young vampire with a serious problem: she’s too sensitive to kill. When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha’s life is in jeopardy. Luckily, she a lonely teenager with suicidal tendencies. But their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest.
Inshallah A Boy (Inshallah Walad)
(Country: Jordan; Year: 2023; Director: Amjad Al Rasheed; Writer: Delphine Agut, Rula Nasser, Amjad Al Rasheed; Stars: Mouna Hawa)
A mother fights for her rights in a partriachal system after her husband's death.
Fallen Leaves and Chuck Chuck Baby
In Flames
(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Zarrar Kahn; Writer: Zarrar Kahn; Stars: Ramesha Nawal, Omar Javaid, Bakhtawar Mazhar, Mohammad Ali Hasni, Adnan Shah)
After the death of the family patriarch, a mother and daughter’s precarious existence is ripped apart by figures from their past – both real and imagined.
Limbo
(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Ivan Sen; Writer: Ivan Sen; Stars: Simon Baker, Rob Collins, Natasha Wanganeen, Nicholas Hope, Mark Coe)
A detective reopens the case of an Aboriginal woman murdered 20 years ago. The people in the victim’s small outback town and her family are silent because the cop is white and the truth is complex.
The Nature Of Love (Simple Comme Sylvain)
(Country: Canada, France; Year: 2023; Director: Monia Chokri; Writer: Monia Chokri; Stars: Magalie Lépine-Blondeau , Pierre-Yves Cardinal, François Létourneau , Monia Chokri)
Sophia, a 40-year-old philosophy professor. Sylvain is a craftsman, renovating Sophia and her partner Xavier's new country house. When Sophia and Sylvain meet, Sophia’s world is turned upside down.
Perfect Days
(Country: Japan, Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Wim Wenders; Writer: Takuma Takasaki, Wim Wenders; Stars: Kôji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano, Aoi Yamada, Yumi Asô)
The story of an urban renewal project which involves the creation of 17 public toilets in key locations in the Japanese capital.
The Settlers (Los Colonos)
(Country: Chile, Argentina; Year: 2023; Director: Felipe Gálvez; Writer: Felipe Gálvez)
19th century drama. A man on an expedition is forced to take part in a massacre. Afterwards he forms a bond with the only survivor.
Close Your Eyes and City Of Wind
Shadow Of Fire (Hokage)
(Country: Japan; Director: Shin'ya Tsukamoto; Writer: Shin'ya Tsukamoto; Stars: Mirai Moriyama, Tatsushi Ômori, Shuri, Hiroki Kono, Gô Rijû, Ouga Tsukao)
Shayda
(Country: Australia; Year: 2023; Director: Noora Niasar; Writer: Noora Niasar; Stars: Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Osamah Sami, Leah Purcell, Jillian Nguyen, Mojean Aria, Selina Zahednia)
Shayda, an Iranian mother, finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Year, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, but when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardised.
Snow Leopard (Xue Bao)
(Country: China; Year: 2023; Director: Pema Tseden; Writer: Pema Tseden; Stars: Jinpa, Ziqi Xiong)
A dad and son argue about whether to kill a leopard that enters their home.
Sweet Dreams
(Country: Netherlands, Sweden, Indonesia, Réunion; Year: 2023; Director: Ena Sendijarević; Writer: Ena Sendijarević; Stars: Renée Soutendijk, Hayati Azis, Lisa Zweerman, Florian Myjer, Muhammad Khan, Hans Dagelet, Rio den Haas, Peter Faber, Verdi Solaiman)
When Dutch patriarch and plantation owner Jan dies suddenly in Indonesia, his son arrives from Europe with plans for radical change. But when Jan’s will puts his Indonesian concubine Siti at the forefront of the family estate, ideals prove to be futile and blood thicker than water.
The Teachers' Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: İlker Çatak; Writer: İlker Çatak; Stars: Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Löbau, Michael Klammer, Anne-Kathrin Gummich)
When one of her students is suspected of theft, teacher Carla Nowak decides to get to the bottom of the matter. Caught between her ideals and the school system, the consequences of her actions threaten to break her.
Green Border and Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
They Shot The Piano Player
(Country: Spain, France, Netherlands; Year: 2023; Director: Javier Mariscal, Fernando Trueba; Writer: Fernando Trueba; Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes, Paulo Moura)
A music journalist from New York sets out on a frantic investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Brazilian pianist Tenorio Jr, regular accompanist of Vinicius de Moraes, among others.
Toll (Pedágio)
(Country: Brazil, Portugal; Year: 2022; Director: Carolina Markowicz; Writer: Carolina Markowicz; Stars: Maeve Jinkings, Thomas Aquino, Isac Graça, Caio Macedo, Aline Marta Maia, Kauan Alvarenga)
Suellen, a toll booth attendant, realises she can use her job to raise some extra money illegally. But this is only for a noble cause: to send her son to an expensive gay conversion workshop led by a renowned foreign priest.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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