Films of the 2013 Toronto Film Festival: Contemporary World Cinema
TIFF Programmes: World & North American Premieres | TIFF Docs | Midnight Madness | Mavericks | Discovery | Masters | Vanguard
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- DirectorYossi MadmoniStarsAlon AboutboulTom GrazianiRotem Zissman-CohenA young officer returns to his base after a daring mission. The cook's assistant, a religious Holocaust survivor, is envious of him. He believes that there is a place in heaven reserved for the brave officer who endangers his life for the sake of his Jewish brethren. The officer, in the spirit of the Zionist ethos, is secular and a non-believer. At the moment, he is so hungry that, for a plate of shaksuka, he is prepared to sign a contract transferring his secured place in heaven to the cook. Some forty years later, the present time of the movie, the tables have turned - the officer, now a retired general, is on his death bed in the hospital. His son who, to his father's horror, has found religion, is in a race against time. Before his father dies, he has to find that cook's assistant who, forty years earlier, bought his place in heaven. If and when he finds him, the son has to nullify the contract. If he doesn't, his father will go to hell.
- DirectorFernando CoimbraStarsLeandra LealMilhem CortazFabiula NascimentoA journey to the dark cutting edge of desires, lies and wickedness of a love triangle, from the moment a child is mysteriously kidnapped.
- DirectorDanis TanovicStarsNazif MujicSenada AlimanovicSemsa MujicA Roma family lives far from the urban centres of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The father Nazif salvages metal from old cars and sells it to a scrap-dealer. The mother Senada keeps the house tidy, cooks, bakes and cares for their two small daughters. One day, she feels a sharp pain in her abdomen. At the hospital she is told there is something wrong with the baby she is carrying: "They say it's dead." She is at risk of septicaemia and they must operate immediately. But Senada has no medical insurance; since the operation will cost much more than the family can afford the hospital's head refuses to treat her. A race against time together with a mounting sense of hopelessness played by a cast of non-professional actors re-enacting an episode from their own lives. Winner of the Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix and the Silver Bear for best actor at the Berlin Film Festival 2013.
- DirectorMariana RondónStarsSamuel Lange ZambranoSamantha CastilloBeto BenitesA nine-year-old boy's preening obsession with straightening his hair elicits a tidal wave of homophobic panic in his hard-working mother.
- DirectorNéjib BelkadhiStarsChedly ArfaouiTawfik BahriLasaad Ben AbdallahThis is the story of Mohsen aka « Bastardo », a man with no origins or history, who's always been excluded and rejected by the inhabitants of his poor neighborhood. After having been fired from his job, Mohsen, thanks to his friend Khlifa, has a GSM relay installed on his roof for a substantial monthly income. This aerial enables the neighborhood inhabitants to finally enjoy mobile telephony and the modernity of which they'd been deprived until then. This event will disrupt life in the neighborhood, and Mohsen's too, whose social and financial situation improve by the day. But that's not counting with Larnouba, Mohsen's life-long friend, but also the unscrupulous district mobster, who doesn't approve of Mohsen's ascent. This leads to a merciless fight between both men for the domination of the district. Bent Essengra, the mysterious girl with the insects, and secretly in love with Mohsen, will play an essential part in this confrontation, and will tip the scales in Mohsen's favor by committing the worst, out of love. Ridden of his rival and manipulated by his friend Khlifa, Mohsen's path is clear to become the most powerful and respected man in the district.
- DirectorJeffrey JeturianStarsNenita DeonosoKaren Leslie DemateraBoobsieThe movie follows a seemingly-usual day in the life of Loida Malabanan as she embarks on yet another shooting day of a soap opera as an extra. As the shoot goes on we get a glimpse of truth in the ruling system of the production as well as the exploitation of marginalized laborers like Loida.
- DirectorLevan KoguashviliStarsAndro SakvarelidzeIa SukhitashviliArchil KikodzeFortysomething Sandro still lives at home with his parents. He and his best friend seem to have no luck at finding true love during their misadventures of meeting and date various women.
- DirectorRené SampaioStarsFabrício BoliveiraIsis ValverdeFelipe AbibJoão do Santo Cristo leaves his hometown and moves to Brasília in search of a better life. There, he encounters misery and crime, but also discovers love in the arms of Maria Lúcia.
- DirectorAleksey UchitelStarsAleksey MantsyginAleksandr NovinArtyom BystrovAn explosive Russian crime drama about the violent rivalry that erupts when an elite police operative falls for the girlfriend of a powerful gangster.
- DirectorCãlin Peter NetzerStarsLuminita GheorghiuBogdan DumitracheNatasa RaabAfter the terrible news of a fatal car accident involving her son, a desperate mother will do anything in her power to set her child free.
- DirectorFernando EimbckeStarsMaría Renée PrudencioLucio Giménez CachoDanae ReynaudHector and his young mother Paloma go on vacation. Out of season their hotel is deserted. They spend their days sitting on the edge of the swimming pool. Then attractive Jazmin arrives and we see how Paloma loses her son to a summer fling.
- DirectorLeticia TonosStarsJames SaintilAkari EndoYasser MichelénSet in the Dominican Republic, Leticia Tonos Paniagua's uniquely Caribbean retelling of Romeo and Julie chronicles the love between a kind-hearted teenager, ostracized for his mixed Haitian-Dominican descent, and the beautiful sister of a local drug kingpin he's hired to protect.
- DirectorMenno MeyjesStarsThekla ReutenDaan SchuurmansJacob DerwigTwo well-to-do couples with plenty to lose have dinner to discuss the gruesome act their teenage sons may or may not have committed together.
- DirectorRobin CampilloStarsOlivier RabourdinKirill EmelyanovDaniil VorobyovA businessman makes a regular arrangement with a Ukrainian prostitute, despite the youngster's involvement in a controlling street gang.
- DirectorDaniel Vega VidalDiego Vega VidalStarsFernando BacilioLidia RodríguezJuan Luis MaldonadoSomeone is out to get Constantino Zegarra. At least that's what Constantino Zegarra believes - and he has his reasons. His car window is smashed, he receives a career-killing demotion, and then, while driving at night, he's hit in the neck by what appears to have been a stray bullet. Or was it? Constantino is a judge with no sympathy for sob stories and an impressive conviction rate.
- DirectorPhilippe KotlarskiAnne WeilStarsSokoJérémie LippmannVladimir FriedmanIn 1979, Carole and Jerome are 20 and go on tour in Odessa, behind the Iron Curtain. They are cousins and pretend engaged. The day as tourists, they visit monuments and museums. In the evening, they part company and the group meet clandestinely refuseniks, Jews harassed by the Soviet regime for trying to leave the country. They discover an unknown world, brutal and absurd. Jerome's real motivation for this trip is Carole, but Carole is truly driven by the commitment and willingness to take risks.
- DirectorToa FraserStarsGillian MurphyQi HuanAbigail BoyleA beautiful and moving story focusing on the much loved ballet of the same name.
- DirectorDome KarukoskiStarsPeter FranzénLaura BirnJasper PääkkönenNeo-Nazi falls in love with a woman who has a black son and finds himself fighting with conflicting feelings.
- DirectorJan HrebejkStarsAnna GeislerováStanislav MajerJirí CernýIt should have been the best day of her life, but then a strange guest with a stranger claim entered the marriage merriment. About the shadows which catch up with each of us.
- DirectorLisa LangsethStarsAlicia VikanderDavid DencikAnna BjelkerudErika has it all: a good job, lots of friends and a secure relationship. Until the day it all falls apart. Suddenly this perfect life means nothing, and the feelings she once was able to control are no longer within reach. She starts going to group therapy and meets other people suffering from various forms of trauma. One day Erika and this eclectic group of four people decide to take matters into their own hands and heads off together in search of a way out. They start checking into hotels - a place of complete anonymity where one can wake up as a different person.
- DirectorLars Daniel Krutzkoff JacobsenStarsDaniel GjerdeHanne Bach HansenMichael RingdalCamilla which is persuaded into prostitution by her boyfriend William, though recently becoming parents, so that they can afford buying a mobile home and go to Spain. The activity is taking place at their rich friend Anders' apartment.
- DirectorYoung-seok NohStarsJun Suk-hoOh Tae-kyungA screenwriter retreats to a secluded cabin in the woods only to be rudely interrupted by some uninvited guests.
- DirectorAlberto MoraisStarsOmar KrimBlanca BautistaMikel SarasaMiguel makes the journey that his grandfather, locked up by his own family, cannot: his mission is to go to a funeral and leave an army jacket on the grave of his grandfather's friend. Accompanied by Lola and Guillermo, Miguel leaves that cement island that is his Nazaret neighborhood. He wanders the outskirts of Valencia, looking for a cemetery and faces a deserted city.
- DirectorDonovan MarshStarsS'Dumo MtshaliPresley ChweneyagaeIsrael Matseke-ZuluAn undercover cop risks his career (and life) to settle a score.
- DirectorMohamed MalasStarsGianna AanidEzat Abu-JabalHussein Al ShazliGhalia is inhabited by the soul of Zeina, a girl who drowned the day she was born. Haunted by Zeina's past life, Ghalia travels to Damascus to study acting and understand her present condition. She meets Fouad an aspiring filmmaker who becomes fascinated by Ghalia's duality. He takes her under his wing and helps her find a place to live in a Damascene house, now converted into a dorm inhabited by young Syrians from different regions. Within the confines of the house and its ancient courtyard, Fouad's love for Ghalia and Zeina blossoms while the tumultuous events in Syria start unfolding in the streets around them gradually encroaches on their idyllic isolation.
- DirectorJános SzászStarsLászló GyémántAndrás GyémántPiroska MolnárTwin siblings enduring the harshness of WWII in a village on the Hungarian border hedge their survival on studying and learning from the evil surrounding them.
- DirectorLance DalyStarsKelly ThorntonFionnula FlanaganPat ShorttTells the story of a family as they search for a lost fortune around the streets of Dublin.
- DirectorAlexandre RockwellStarsLana RockwellNico RockwellRene Cuante-BautistaA couple of young kids living in Los Angeles (played by Rockwell's children Nico and Lana), decide that they want to see "the river." Setting out alone, their encounters along the way provide the heart and soul of the movie. Moments of wordless play are interspersed with the camera exploring the city as if through the eyes of his youthful protagonists
- DirectorYuriy BykovStarsDenis ShvedovYuriy BykovIrina NizinaIn a car accident, a policeman accidentally killed a child. The other cops are trying to hush up the case.
- DirectorMohammad RasoulofStarsAnonymousAnonymousM. Ali NazarianKhosrow and Morteza set out on a mission to kill someone. The assassination ought to be arranged as a suicide. At the last minute however, they are obliged to change their initial plans...
- DirectorJosh C. WallerStarsDavid MorseMike VogelCory MonteithSet over the course of one day, a narcotics detective hunts for a seemingly harmless young criminal who knows a truth about the cop's past.
- DirectorRagnar BragasonStarsThora Bjorg HelgaIngvar SigurdssonHalldóra GeirharðsdóttirA girl is caught between the life that took her brother and her own inability to strike out on her own. In her grief, she finds solace in the dark music of Black Metal and dreams of becoming a rock star.
- DirectorGuillaume GiovanettiÇagla ZencirciStarsMegumi AyukawaXiao Mu LeeMasako WajimaA Japanese CEO is under pressure to save his company, until his mental state is challenged: is his life somehow linked to the legend of the Fox and the Raccoon?
- DirectorGötz SpielmannStarsNora WaldstättenPeter SimonischekUrsula StraussA successful actress returns to her family home in rural Austria to visit her ailing father and sister, who spent her whole life taking care of him and her family. The reunion is marked by jealousy, introspection and a secret.
- DirectorRaisa BonnetStarsLaura Cristina CardonaJulio Ramos VelezMaría VelázquezRaisa Bonnet's naturalistic short sketches an almost wordless tale of the relationship between a young girl and her grandmother. Beautifully shot, it never tries to do too much within it's limited running time. -Piers Handling
- DirectorRashid MasharawiStarsMahmoud Abu JaziSalah HanounRamzi MaqdisiTwo Palestinian brothers plan on immigrating to Canada after the Israeli air force bombs their family home. Milad (Stereo) used to be a wedding singer but because his wife dies in the attack he doesn't want to live in palestine or sing anymore. The bombing also leaves his brother Samy mute and deaf. The two set about earning money for their travel to Canada by buying a secondhand sound system that they rent out for events in Ramallah.
- DirectorUlrich SeidlStarsMelanie LenzVerena LehbauerJoseph LorenzThe final installment in Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy, 'Paradise: Hope' tells the story of overweight thirteen-year-old Melanie and her first love. While her mother travels to Kenya ('Paradise: Love') and her aunt does missionary work ('Paradise: Faith'), Melanie spends her summer vacation at a strict diet camp for overweight adolescents. Between physical education and nutrition counseling, pillow fights and her first cigarette, Melanie falls in love with the camp director, a doctor forty years her senior. As the doctor struggles with the guilty nature of his desire, Melanie had imagined her paradise differently.
- DirectorAnup SinghStarsIrrfan KhanTisca ChopraTillotama ShomeUmber Singh is a Sikh who loses everything during the separation of India in 1947 and is forced to leave his homeland. He obsessively wishes for a male heir. When his fourth daughter is born, he decides to wage a fight against destiny.
- DirectorAhmad AbdallaStarsAsser YassinAmr AbedMohamed MamdouhIn one of the most extraordinary nights in the history of Egypt, the prisons were suddenly opened, leaving thousands of prisoners wandering the desert. Among them was one man trying to find his way in a city that is rapidly changing for good.
- DirectorStephen BrownStarsCiarán HindsSinéad CusackJoe GallagherThe story of a man who returns to the sea where he spent his childhood summers in search of peace following the death of his wife.
- DirectorClio BarnardStarsConner ChapmanShaun ThomasSean GilderTwo thirteen year-old working-class friends in Bradford seek fortune by getting involved with a local scrap dealer and criminal.
- DirectorJudy KibingeStarsSusan WanjiruQdamah KipchumbaDavid Kiprotich MutaiSOMETHING NECESSARY is a film about a pivotal period in the life of Anne, a woman struggling to rebuild her life after the civil unrest that swept Kenya following the 2007 elections, claiming the life of her husband, the health of her son and leaving her isolated farm in ruins. Joseph, a troubled young gang member who participated in the countrywide violence is drawn to Anne and her farm seemingly in search of redemption. Both he and Anne need something that only the other can give to allow them to shed the painful memories of their past and move on, but will either of them find it?
- DirectorRoberto MinerviniStarsSara CarlsonColby TrichellTim CarlsonSara, a girl being home-schooled on a goat farm alongside her 11 siblings, finds her devout values challenged after she meets Colby, an amateur bull rider.
- DirectorAlain GuiraudieStarsPierre DeladonchampsChristophe PaouPatrick d'AssumçaoSummertime. A cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man. Franck knows this but wants to live out his passion anyway.
- DirectorRóbert I. DouglasStarsCarlos OtteryChristopher LotonAi WanGary is in Beijing to make it big, after failing to impress his Chinese investors he soon takes up English teaching and gets life lessons from Frank, an incompetent mentor. Gary's real reasons for staying become apparent when his son and Chinese ex-wife enter.
- DirectorDante LamStarsNick CheungEddie PengTing MeiFai, once a world champion in boxing, escapes to Macau from the loan sharks and unexpectedly encounters Qi, a young chap who is determined to win a boxing match. Fai becomes Qi's mentor and rediscovers his passion to fight not only in the ring, but for his life and the ones he cares about.
- DirectorDyana GayeStarsRalph AmoussouMarème Demba LySouleymane Seye NdiayeBetween New York, Dakar and Turin, the fates of Sophie, Abdoulaye and Thierno intersect and intermingle. From disillusionment to decisive encounters, their journey will lead them to make the choice of freedom.
- DirectorCorneliu PorumboiuStarsBogdan DumitracheDiana AvramutMihaela SirbuDuring the production of his new movie, a director wants to add a scene to improve the film's narrative by emphasising the aesthetic of female nudity. Endless negotiations ensue between lunch and dinner. Can they conclude?
- DirectorDana RotbergStarsWhirimako BlackRachel HouseAntonia PrebbleA medicine woman - a giver of life - is asked to hide a secret which may protect one life but which will destroy another.
- DirectorAvi NesherStarsAdir MillerOri HizkiahYehuda LeviThe complex relationship between a Jerusalem street artist and a mysterious, modern-day prophet being held prisoner in an abandoned apartment across the alleyway.
- DirectorPhilippe LacôteStarsAlexandre DesaneAbdoul-Karim KonateAdelaïde OuattaraDuring a visit to Abidjan, French artist Jean-Michel Baquiat comes face to face with demons, ghosts, doubt - and his own death
- DirectorJim ChuchuStarsElsaphan NjoraPatricia KihoroShiv SinghFantasy, science fiction and infatuation fuse as an obsessed neighbour invents ever stranger scenarios for wooing the girl of his dreams.
- DirectorVincent MoloiStarsAbena AyivorWilson DunsterAlone in his high-rise apartment, Aaron Zukerman's Berea is long gone, but the old man has one last link to the here and now - a weekly visit from a beautiful stranger. Long after his friends and family have moved on, Jewish pensioner Aaron Zukerman remains in his inner-city apartment, his world getting ever smaller and smaller, as the city closes in on his memories and happiness. His focus is on a weekly assignation with a kindly prostitute, for which he prepares days in advance. But when her unexpected replacement arrives one Friday, an initially angry response sparks a chain of events that ultimately changes the way the old man sees his world. A gentle, poetic ode to the power of reinvention.
- DirectorAkosua Adoma OwusuStarsJojo AbotKoo NimoGrace OmaboeThe traditional West African fable of Kwaku Ananse is combined with the story of a young outsider named Nyan Koronhwea attending her estranged father's funeral. Nyan's father led two separate lives with two wives and two families - one in Ghana, one in the United States. Nyan's ambivalence about her father's double life is a reflection of a broader truth about the nature of our personal relationships.
- DirectorMark Dornford-MayStarsChumisa Dornford-MayMandisi DyantyisPauline MalefaneUnogumbe follows the plot of Benjamin Britten's Noye's Fludde opera closely but moves the action from medieval England to present-day South Africa, where the background and poverty of the township is a striking metaphor for man's inhumanity to man. Sung in Xhosa, with subtitles in medieval English, it is completely re-scored for African instruments. Noye is now a woman and has to deal with a drunken husband, hold her family together as well as build the Ark and collect the animals. The opera is a tale for children; however the threat of global warming and its consequences make the flood seem a closer reality, and maybe a fitting end for man if he continues to display inhumanity and a lack of care for the world.
- DirectorCatherine MartinStarsAriane LegaultSébastien RicardMarie-Ève BertrandTwo solitary people meet each other and form a bond in the back country of the Gaspe peninsula.
- DirectorIngrid VeningerStarsAaron PooleHannah CheesmanJohnathan SousaAs a thirty something acting teacher attempts to push a group of eager young performers out of their comfort zones, he struggles with his own ability to live an authentic and fulfilling life with his teenage son.
- DirectorTerry MilesStarsLauren Lee SmithJennifer BealsBen CottonAs a young woman prepares a memorial film retrospective for her late estranged father, his work begins to influence her life in strange and significant ways.
- DirectorBruce SweeneyStarsTom ScholteGabrielle RoseJillian FargeyThe Dick Knost Show is a comedic, character based story that satirizes sportstalk culture. Dick, 43, prickly, acerbic sportstalk host battles hard to hold his job. His chair. His mic. His life. Problem is, Dick's pathologically impulsive. He sends inappropriate tweets, inappropriate comments, and chronically does the wrong thing at the wrong time. This leads to enemies, CLAIRE, network executive, or SIMON, a rival host, who want to get Dick out of his chair. Permanently. Fortunately KELLY, 56, the show's producer, has Dick's back. But now Dick's in crisis, he faces his biggest challenge yet. Dick, an advocate of tough hockey, and dismissive of the dangers of concussions, ironically suffers a severe concussion playing squash. He can't remember a thing. Dick has to fight to get his show back. He has to battle to overcome his physical disability in order to win back his chair, his mic. His life.
- DirectorPeter StebbingsStarsCara GeeShay EyreBarbara GordonThree generations of First Nations women struggle to deal with the demons of their past.
- DirectorSébastien PiloteStarsGabriel ArcandGilles RenaudLucie LaurierWhen his grown daughter returns to the family farm in desperate need of money, solitary and stoic Gaby will be asked to sacrifice everything for those closest to him. WINNER - Cannes Film Festival
- DirectorRichie MehtaStarsRajesh TailangTannishtha ChatterjeeAnurag AroraA chain-wallah from Delhi travels across India in search of his missing son, in the hopes that whoever took him, returns him unharmed.
- DirectorDavid Christopher LynchA lone dog wakes to an empty house. Silence greets it at every turn. As night's blanket drapes down the dog finds its owner waiting in the silence. Waiting to be found.