6 Must-Watch World Cinema Films at Toronto Festival | CinemaWorld
Featuring the best storytellers, cinematic gems and giving a stage for emerging filmmakers, the 49th Toronto International Film Festival returns in 2024 with an exciting line-up of fresh stories from all around the globe. From 5 - 15 September his year, the festival will showcase a trove of films, and it remains one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. To welcome the festival’s opening, CinemaWorld spotlights 6 films that have graced the big screens at previous editions of Toronto International Film Festival.
Blackbird
(Drama/2012)
Canada
A Best Canadian First Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2012, Blackbird tells the story of a rebellious teenage outcast Sean Randall, who finds himself wrongly accused of planning a school massacre after posting an innocent but threatening revenge story online that ignites fear in his community.
After he is sent to a juvenile detention centre, Sean's life spirals even further out of control as his poor reputation puts him at odds with a prison gang leader. While he struggles to stay out of conflicts in the detention centre, Sean must also attempt to prove his innocence to the community and the ones close to him.
Fig Tree
(Drama/2019)
Israel/France/Ethiopia
Fig Tree held its official World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018, and clinched the Eurimages Audentia Award – a unique award to greater gender equality in the European film industry.
Set in Addis Ababa, 1989, in the midst of the Ethiopian Civil War, 16-year-old Jewish girl Mina attempts to save her Christian boyfriend Eli from being drafted into Mengistu Haile Mariam’s army just as her family is set to escape to Israel.
Israeli director Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian’s coming-of-age film holds an unflinching gaze at the tenderness of young love against the violent and unforgiving backdrop of civil war.
Heart Of A Lion
(Romance/Drama/2013)
Finland
Part of the Toronto International Film Festival 2013 Contemporary World Cinema Section, Heart of a Lion features the unconventional romance between Teppo, the leader of a gang of neo-Nazis, and the beautiful, charming Sari (played by Laura Birn, an Emmy nominee who starred in Foundations, Games People Play and East Of Sweden). To his shock, Teppo discovers that Sari’s son from her previous marriage is biracial. Caught between his prejudices and loyalties, and his love for Sari, Teppo begrudgingly finds ways to bond with her son.
The chemistry between Peter Franzén (Teppo) and Yusufa Sidibeh (Sari’s son, Rhamadhani) also received much praise, and the Finnish drama was a box-office hit in 2012, being the 2nd highest grossing Finnish film that year.
180 Degree Rule
(Drama/2020)
Iran
Sara, a schoolteacher from Tehran, is preparing for a wedding in northern Iran with her daughter and husband, Hamed. But when an unforeseen emergency at work arises, Hamed suddenly forbids the rest of his family from attending without him.
His unreasonable demands fuels Sara’s determination to continue with the plan, and she decides to attend the wedding ceremony with their daughter in secret. However, an unexpected event at the wedding causes Sara’s minor act of resistance to snowball into something much more severe.
Directed by Iranian filmmaker Farnoosh Samadi, this Best Film Nominee at the Toronto International Film festival 2020, is a grim account of gender inequality that persists in both Iranian families and the larger community.
The Odd-Job Men
(Comedy/2021)
Spain
“Real places, real people, real situations,” writes one reviewer on IMDb. The Odd-Job Men is a Spanish slice-of-life, feel-good comedy about Moha, Valero and Pep – three workers in a small plumbing and electricity company in the outskirts of Barcelona. A Best Film Nominee for the Contemporary World Cinema Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the film catches a glimpse of the often invisible lives of the people who fix the broken things in our homes.
The three men are at different stages of their lives – Moha is on a one-week trial period with the company and is set to replace Pep, who is about to retire. However, Valero doubts Moha has what it takes to take Pep’s place, or that customers will accept a Moroccan worker. As they attempt to tolerate one another at work, their sharp, witty interactions give a genuine, human touch to the story.
Sleepless Night
(Action & Adventure/Crime & Thriller/2011)
France/Belgium/Luxembourg
Sleepless Night held its premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, and continues to be an audience favourite on CinemaWorld.
A classic, action-packed police hunt, the film follows its protagonist, Vincent, who is meant to be one of the best cops in town. However, during a police operation. he steals a big bag of cocaine from the drug dealers he was tracking. In a counterattack, they kidnap his son and threaten to kill him if Vincent does not return the bag. In desperation, Vincent meets them at their headquarters in a nightclub on the outskirts of Paris, only to be drawn into a spiral of crime, violence and madness.
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