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 SchuurmansJonas SmuldersTwo 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-kyungKim Ah-rimA 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.