The Toronto International Film Festival® Primetime program has been unveiled led for 2023, with nine series from around the world, including eight world premieres.
“This year’s Primetime program is bigger than ever and gives audiences the exclusive and unmatched opportunity to celebrate the best new international series together, in cinema, on the big screen,” said Anita Lee, TIFF chief programming officer. “TIFF audiences will be the first to see the Prime Video series Expats–Lulu Wang’s highly anticipated follow-up to The Farewell, starring Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, and Ji-young Yoo, a Pulitzer Prize–winning adaptation from Shawn Levy and Steven Knight, a high-octane Korean thriller, a brand new vision from the creator of Euphoria, an atypical love story between Domhnall Gleeson and Andrea Riseborough, a contemporary Scandinavian tragedy, and three powerful Canadian series, all spotlighting underrepresented voices from an exciting new wave of storytellers.”
The Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 7–17, 2023.
Here’s a rundown of the 2023 Primetime program:
PRIMETIME PROGRAM
Alice & Jack Victor Levin, Juho Kuosmanen, Hong Khaou | United Kingdom
World Premiere
North American Sales Title
All the Light We Cannot See Shawn Levy, Steven Knight | USA
World Premiere
Bad Boy Hagar Ben-Asher, Ron Leshem, Daniel Chen, Roee Florentin, Moshe Malka, Amit Cohen, Daniel Amsel | Israel
World Premiere
North American Sales Title
Bargain Byun Seung-min, Jeon Woo-sung | South Korea
North American Premiere
Black Life: Untold Stories Leslie Norville | Canada
World Premiere
Bria Mack Gets A Life Sasha Leigh Henry | Canada
World Premiere
Estonia Miikko Oikkonen | Finland/Sweden/Belgium/Estonia
World Premiere
North American Sales Title
Expats Lulu Wang | USA
World Premiere
Telling Our Story Kim O’Bomsawin | Canada
World Premiere – English Language Version
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More