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Toronto International Film Festival · 2023

Toronto International Film Festival 2023

TIFF Docs

Programme

23 films · 10 reviews

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Boil Alert

Review preview for Boil Alert

Stitching together the various pieces of Layla’s journey are sequences which use dance to explore wild landscapes, adding a different dimension to the film.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Activist Layla Staats shows the faces and personal stories behind the struggle of First Nations reserves to access a basic human right: drinkable water.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2023; Director: James Burns, Stevie Salas; Writer: James Burns; Stars: Jessica Matten, Autumn Peltier, Santee Smith, Layla Staats, Michelle Thrush)

Full review

Bye Bye Tiberias (Bye Bye Tibériade)

Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Hiam Abbass returns home with her daughter, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

(Country: Palestine, Belgium, Qatar, France; Year: 2023; Director: Lina Soualem; Writer: Lina Soualem, Nadine Naous, Gladys Joujou; Stars: Hiam Abbass)

The Contestant

Review preview for The Contestant

An intriguing piece of work which probes the psychology of contestant, producers and viewers alike.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
The story of a Japanese reality TV star left naked in a room for more than a year, tasked with filling out magazine sweepstakes to earn food and clothing.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Clair Titley; Writer: Clair Titley; Stars: Tomoaki Hamatsu, Toshio Tsuchiya)

Full review See: Interview with Clair Titley about The Contestant

Copa 71

Review preview for Copa 71

As Copa 71 goes on to show, it’s not the players that are the problem but the lack of a level playing field.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Told by the pioneering women who participated, this is the extraordinary story of the 1971 Women's Soccer World Cup, a tournament witnessed by record crowds that has been written out of sporting history - until now.

(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: James Erskine, Rachel Ramsay; Writer: James Erskine, Victoria Gregory, Rachel Ramsay; Stars: Brandi Chastain, Alex Morgan, Jose Palma)

Full review

Defiant

Review preview for Defiant

A film that lives in the moment.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
This documentary offers unique access to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and other key figures in the administration who are fighting to save their country against Russia's invasion by combatting disinformation.

(Country: US, Ukraine, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Karim Amer; Stars: Dmytro Kuleba, Mykhailo Fedorov, Rustem Umerov, Iryna Andriivna Vereshchuk)

Full review

Flipside

Review preview for Flipside

This film strikes one of those wonderful paradoxes, being simultaneously about holding on and letting go.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A comical attempt to save a New Jersey record store and confront a mid-life crisis

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Christopher Wilcha; Writer: Joe Beshenkovsky, Adam Samuel Goldman, Christopher Wilcha)

Full review

God Is A Woman (Dieu Est Une femme)

Review preview for God Is A Woman

Peyrot’s documentary becomes increasingly absorbing - so that we want to see this original film as much as they do.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Documentary about the Kuna people focusing on a film that was supposed to be made about them in the Seventies.

(Country: France, Switzerland; Year: 2023; Director: Andres Peyrot)

Full review See: God Is A Woman director Andres Peyrot on bringing a film back to a community and engaging in dialogue about it

Homecoming (Máhccan)

Review preview for Homecoming

This is a quiet and thoughtful film with slowly building power. It will leave you awed by the resilience of its subjects yet angry that they needed it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A personal story about the return of Sámi artefacts — long held in a museum — to their homeland.

(Country: Finland, Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Suvi West, Anssi Kömi; Writer: Suvi West)

Full review See: Interview with Suvi West and Anssi Kömi about Homecoming

In The Rearview (Skąd dokąd)

Review preview for In The Rearview

Beyond the stories that unfold within the vehicle, the tension of these journeys, often on dirt tracks in rural areas, is brought home.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
This fly-on-the-wall film captures Ukrainians as they are forced to leave their homes and drive into the unknown.

(Country: Poland, France, Ukraine; Year: 2023; Director: Maciek Hamela)

Full review

I Am Sirat

A documentary about a trans woman who must act as her mother’s son when at home in New Delhi, but can be the woman she really is with her friends and at work with the Government of India.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Deepa Mehta, Sirat Taneja; Stars: Sirat Taneja)

Menus Plaisirs - Les Troisgros

A behind-the-scenes excursion into the world of restaurant La Maison Troisgros, which has held three Michelin stars for more than five decades.

(Country: France, US; Year: 2023; Director: Frederick Wiseman)

The Mother Of All Lies

Review preview for The Mother Of All Lies

Everything about El Moudir’s film is unusual, from the structure to the mood.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
The filmmaker doesn’t have any pictures of herself as a child. This is the starting point of a documentary investigation that unfolds the secrets of a Casablanca family.

(Country: Morocco, France, Qatar; Year: 2023; Director: Asmae El Moudir)

Full review

Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa

A single mother working as a dishwasher has another life as a record-breaking mountain climber and the first Nepali woman ever to reach the summit of Everest.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Lucy Walker; Stars: Lhakpa Sherpa)

Mr. Dressup: The Magic Of Make-Believe

A documentary about the iconic television show from Canada which impacted multiple generations across its 39 year presence on television and its ongoing legacy.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Robert McCallum; Writer: Robert McCallum, Jordan Christopher Morris; Stars: Michael J Fox, Graham Greene, Eric McCormack, Paul Sun-hyung Lee, Scott Thompson)

The Pigeon Tunnel

This documentary spans six decades as le Carré gives his final and most personal interview, interrupted with rare archival footage and dramatic anecdotes. It is set against the stormy Cold War backdrop that extends into the present day.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Errol Morris; Stars: John le Carré, Douglas Rankine)

Silver Dollar Road

A Black family in North Carolina has been harassed for decades by land developers attempting to take their waterfront property.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Raoul Peck; Writer: Raoul Peck)

Songs Of Earth (Fedrelandet)

Being connected to nature, what does it mean? Father knows and father shows. The director's father is 84. We follow in his footsteps into the mountain home. Into nature's smallest life and out to grand panoramas, where he grew up.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2023; Director: Margreth Olin; Writer: Margreth Olin; Stars: Jørgen Mykle)

Sorry/Not Sorry

Review preview for Sorry/Not Sorry

By taking their time and standing back from the fray, Mones and Suh are able to take a much more objective look at these social phenomena.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A re-examination of the case of Louis CK, who was accused of sexual harassment in 2017, exploring his comeback and the unseen effects of this on the women who spoke publicly about his behaviour.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Caroline Suh, Cara Mones; Stars: Jen Kirkman, Megan Koester)

Full review

Stamped From The Beginning

An exploration of the roots and evolution of racist concepts in the US.

(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Roger Ross Williams; Writer: Mara Brock Akil, Ibram X Kendi; Stars: Alexa Rachelle Jennings, John Gazzale)

Summer Qamp

At a camp 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.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2023; Director: Jennifer Markowitz)

Viva Varda!

Agnès Varda has become a source of inspiration for a whole new generation of young filmmakers. For the first time ever, this documentary provides a counter-shot through interviews and previously unseen archives materials.

(Country: France; Year: 2023; Director: Pierre-Henri Gibert; Stars: Agnès Varda)

Walls

The actor turned filmmaker visits Poland's banned red zone to shed light on her home nation's border restrictions and the refugee situation in the European Union

(Country: Italy; Year: 2023; Director: Kasia Smutniak; Stars: Kasia Smutniak)

The World Is Family (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan)

A documentary portrait of the director's parents, whose families were intertwined with Gandhi and India’s independence movement.

(Country: India; Year: 2023; Director: Anand Patwardhan)