Dedicated to first and second feature from the category broadly defined as contemporary international cinema, the Discovery section of the Toronto International Film Festival (taking place from 7 to 17 September 2023) typically features a good amount of European productions. The 2023 line-up is no exception: of the 26 films selected, 10 are European (co-)productions; of those 10, 8 are world premieres. The two films that will have already premiered elsewhere are How to Have Sex [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Molly Manning Walker
scheda film], the debut feature from British director Molly Manning Walker, winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival; and An Endless Sunday [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alain Parroni
scheda film], from Italian director Alain Parroni, a debut feature centred on three youths in the suburbs of Rome that will be landing in Canada after its premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival.

Among the debut features that will be having their world premiere in the Discovery section, we find Achilles [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Farhad Delaram
scheda film], from Iranian director Farhad Delaram, which tells of two fugitives in contemporary Iran and the various people they meet who help them survive.

Themes of oppression and resistance will also be central to French director Mehdi Fikri’s After the Fire [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], centred on a family seeking justice after the police slaying of a young man in the suburbs of Strasbourg, France.

Likewise The Teacher [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]. Starring Saleh Bakri (The Blue Caftan [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) and Imogen Poots, the first fiction feature from British-Palestinian filmmaker Farah Nabulsi follows a Palestinian school teacher committed to political resistance.

Another school teacher resists in Without Air [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Katalin Moldovai
scheda film], the debut feature from Hungarian director Katalin Moldovai. Billed as an absurdist film, it focuses on a highschool teacher accused of promoting homosexal values in the classroom.

Arthur&Diana [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sara Summa
scheda film], by German director Sara Summa (The Last to See Them [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]), sounds like a potentially lighter proposition. The director stars alongside her real-life brother Robin Summa in a semi-biographical, auto-fictional road trip from Berlin to Paris.

Another duo is at the centre of Solitude [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ninna Pálmadóttir
scheda film]. The feature debut from Icelandic filmmaker Ninna Pálmadóttir (who participated in Future Frames at Karlovy Vary in 2021; read our interview) tells of a cross-generational friendship between a man forced to move to the city and a 10-year-old boy.

Also making her feature debut is Norwegian director Sara Margrethe Oskal. The Tundra Within Me [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] follows a Sámi artist as she returns to her hometown.

Finally, British filmmaker Thomas Napper (Jawbone [+leggi anche:
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scheda film]) will take us out of the present and into the past with Widow Clicquot, a biopic of French champagne producer Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin — otherwise known as Veuve Clicquot — starring American actress Haley Bennett in the eponymous role.

Also revealed is the line-up of the famed Midnight Madness section, focused on horror films and gory thrills. Of the ten films selected, seven will be having their world premiere at the festival.

This year’s edition marks the first time that a film from Saudi Arabia features, but also the first time for a Serbian film: the honor goes to Working Class Goes to Hell [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mladen Djordjević
scheda film], by Mladen Đorđević, a socio-horror satire in which the labour union of a small town decides to turn to the dark arts when faced with local corruption.

Also selected, alongside Weston Razooli’s Riddle of Fire [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival), is Boy Kills World by Moritz Mohr (Germany/South Africa/USA), starring Bill Skarsgård as a deaf man trained to be used as a killing machine in a dystopian world.

The current line-up of the sections:

Discovery

​​Achilles [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Farhad Delaram
scheda film] - Farhad Delaram (Iran/Germany/France)
After the Fire [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Mehdi Fikri (France)
A Match - Jayant Digambar Somalkar (India)
Andragogy - Wregas Bhanuteja (Indonesia/Singapore)
An Endless Sunday [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Alain Parroni
scheda film] - Alain Parroni (Italy/Germany/Ireland)
Arthur&Diana [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Sara Summa
scheda film] - Sara Summa (Germany)
Backspot - D.W. Waterson (Canada)
Frybread Face and Me - Billy Luther (USA)
Gonzo Girl - Patricia Arquette (USA)
Hajjan - Abu Bakr Shawky (Saudi Arabia/Egypt/Jordan)
How to Have Sex [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Molly Manning Walker
scheda film] - Molly Manning Walker (UK)
I Don’t Know Who You Are - MH Murray (Canada)
La Suprema - Felipe Holguín Caro (Colombia)
Mandoob - Ali Kalthami (Saudi Arabia)
Mimang - Kim Taeyang (South Korea)
Seagrass - Meredith Hama-Brown (Canada)
Solitude [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ninna Pálmadóttir
scheda film] - Ninna Pálmadóttir (Iceland/Slovakia/France)
Tautuktavuk (What We See) - Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk (Canada)
The Teacher [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Farah Nabulsi (UK/Palestine/Qatar)
The Tundra Within Me [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Sara Margrethe Oskal (Norway)
The Queen of My Dreams - Fawzia Mirza (Canada)
Valentina or the Serenity - Ángeles Cruz (Mexico)
Widow Clicquot - Thomas Napper (France)
Wild Woman - Alán González (Cuba)
Without Air [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Katalin Moldovai
scheda film] - Katalin Moldovai (Hungary)
Yellow Bus - Wendy Bednarz (United Arab Emirates)

Midnight Madness

AGGRO DR1FT - Harmony Korine (USA)
Boy Kills World - Moritz Mohr (Germany/South Africa/USA)
Dicks: The Musical - Larry Charles (USA)
Hell of a Summer - Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk (USA/Canada)
KILL - Nikhil Nagesh Bhat (India)
NAGA - Meshal Aljaser (Saudi Arabia)
Riddle of Fire [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Weston Razooli (USA/France)
Sleep - Jason Yu (South Korea)
When Evil Lurks - Demián Rugna (Argentina)
Working Class Goes to Hell [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mladen Djordjević
scheda film] - Mladen Đorđević (Serbia)