The 48th annual

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

was held from September 7 to 17, 2023.Victoria Ahearn
"TIFF reveals new programmers and other 2023 festival details"
'' Playback'', April 20, 2023. The most noted change from past years was that the Contemporary World Cinema stream was renamed Centrepiece. The festival also announced some changes to its programming team for the 2023 festival, following the retirement of

Steve Gravestock Steve Gravestock is a Canadian film festival programmer, best known as a longtime programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival. Formerly a freelance film critic for various Toronto magazines and newspapers, he first joined TIFF's programm ...

at the end of 2022 and the death of Ravi Srinivasan in early 2023. Noted changes included Norman Wilner taking over Gravestock's role as programmer of Canadian films, and June Kim succeeding Srinivasan as programmer for South Asian films. The festival indicated that with the

2022 Toronto International Film Festival The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, the 47th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, is scheduled to be held from September 8 to 18, 2022. Festival organizers have indicated that the 2022 festival will be staged primar ...

having returned to more normal attendance figures, the event would take place exclusively in-person, ending the online platform that had been offered since the

2020 Toronto International Film Festival The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online stream ...

.Jeremy Kay
"Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins’ to world premiere at Toronto 2023"
''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...

'', June 28, 2023. An additional change from past years was that the film market screenings for industry professionals began on September 6, one day earlier than the festival's official opening to the public. Festival organizers acknowledged that the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike was likely to impact the festival if not resolved in time, in particular because the strike prevents actors from taking part in promotional appearances to support their films, but indicated that the festival would still proceed even if fewer celebrities than usual are in attendance. The rule did not necessarily bar all American actors from attending the event, however; for instance, as

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

's ''

Seven Veils ''Seven Veils'' (1998) is an album by the United States, U.S. Ambient music, ambient musician Robert Rich (musician), Robert Rich. It is inspired by Arab culture and Arabic music, music. This album has a heightened emphasis on rhythms,Rich, "Seve ...

'' was a Canadian production shot under

ACTRA The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has 25,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. The org ...

rather than SAG-AFTRA contracts, lead actress

Amanda Seyfried Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...

remained able to attend the premiere, though she ultimately chose not to attend. As well, several films in the 2023 program were directed by notable movie stars, who were able to attend the premieres in their capacity as directors. The festival indicated that overall, 70 per cent of its planned program for 2023 came from independent and/or international producers, and would not be affected by the strike.

Key programming announcements

The first film,

Taika Waititi Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at t ...

's '' Next Goal Wins'', was announced on June 28.

Ladj Ly Ladj Ly (; born 19 March 1980 in Paris) is a French film director and screenwriter. He won a Jury Prize in Cannes Film Festival for ''Les Misérables'' in 2019. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Biography Ly's ...

's '' Les Indésirables'' and

's ''

'' were announced in July, prior to the announcement of the full Gala and Special Presentations programs on July 24. The TIFF Docs lineup followed on July 26. The festival's opener was the Japanese animated film '' The Boy and the Heron'' by

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, director, producer, screenwriter, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Japanese animated feature films, and is widel ...

, which will mark the first time in history that an animated film has opened the festival. It concluded with ''Sly'',

Thom Zimny The surname Thom is of Scottish origin, from the city of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Angus, and is a sept of the Clan MacThomas. Thom is also a first name variant of the abbreviation " Tom" of "Thomas" that holds the "h". People with the surn ...

's documentary film about actor

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

; Stallone also participated in an ''In Conversation'' event in conjunction with the film. ''In Conversation'' events were held with film director

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narr ...

and actors

Lee Byung-hun Lee Byung-hun (; born July 12, 1970) is a South Korean actor. He has received critical acclaim for his work in a wide range of genres, most notably ''Joint Security Area'' (2000); ''A Bittersweet Life'' (2005); ''The Good, the Bad, the Weird'' ...

, Park Seo-jun and

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

. Lee and Park costarred in the TIFF premiere ''

Concrete Utopia ''Concrete Utopia'' () is an upcoming South Korean disaster-thriller film directed by Um Tae-hwa and starring Lee Byung-hun, Park Seo-joon and Park Bo-young. The film is based on second part of webtoon ''Pleasant Bullying'' by Kim Sung-nik whic ...

'', Lau starred in the TIFF premiere ''The Movie Emperor'', and Almodóvar's talk was paired with the North American premiere of his short film '' Strange Way of Life (Extraña forma de vida)''. ''Punjab '95'', by Indian director Honey Trahan, was originally announced in the "Gala Presentations" section, but was pulled out from the festival. TIFF clarified that the film was pulled by its Indian distributor, with sources telling ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' that political pressure was being applied to the distributor due to the film's "potentially incendiary" content. The festival also staged a special 40th anniversary screening of a new 4K restoration of the classic concert film ''

Stop Making Sense ''Stop Making Sense'' is a 1984 American concert film featuring a live performance by the American rock band Talking Heads. Directed by Jonathan Demme, it was shot over the course of three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theater in December 1983 ...

''. The festival's annual "Rising Stars" program, a networking and development program for emerging actors in festival films, spotlighted Adwa Bader (''NAGA''), Almudena González (''The Ravaging Wind''),

Amrit Kaur Dame Rajkumari Bibiji Amrit Kaur (''née'' Ahluwalia) DStJ (2 February 1887 – 6 February 1964) was an Indian activist and politician. Following her long-lasting association with the Indian independence movement, she was appointed the first ...

(''The Queen of My Dreams''), Aria Mia Loberti (''All the Light We Cannot See''),

Cody Lightning Cody Lightning (born August 8, 1986) is a Cree actor from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Kerry Benjoe, "Indigenous film world filled with people passionate about their art". ''Regina Leader-Post'', December 12, 2015. He is the son of Georgina Lightning ...

(''Hey, Viktor!''), Kudakwashe Rutendo (''Backspot''), Léah Aubert (''Sisterhood''), Mark Clennon (''I Don't Know Who You Are'') and Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne (''The Convert'').

Awards

TIFF Tribute Awards

The

TIFF Tribute Awards The TIFF Tribute Awards are an annual award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to honour distinguished achievements in filmmaking. Unlike the festival's regular awards, which are presented based on audience or jury voting during ...

, the festival's program of honouring film personnel for their overall achievements in cinema, were presented early during the festival run.

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

was announced as the recipient of the Ebert Director Award, and

was announced as the recipient of the Jeffrey Skoll Award in Impact Media.

Shawn Levy Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian film director, film producer, actor, and founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. He has worked across genres and is perhaps best known as the director of the ''Night at the Museum'' film franchise an ...

was announced as the recipient of the inaugural Norman Jewison Award for career achievement. Performer awards were presented to

Colman Domingo Colman Jason Domingo (born November 28, 1969) is an American actor, writer, and director widely known for his performance as Mr. Bones in the Broadway musical '' The Scottsboro Boys'' (2011), and for his role as recovering drug addict Ali on HBO ...

Jeremy Kay
"TIFF to present ‘Sing Sing’ star Colman Domingo with Tribute Performer Award"
''

'', August 28, 2023. and

Vicky Krieps Vicky Krieps (born 4 October 1983) is a Luxembourgish-German actress. She has appeared in a number of American, Luxembourgish, French and German productions. Krieps' breakthrough role was in Paul Thomas Anderson's Academy Award-winning film ''Pha ...

;

Patricia Arquette Patricia Tiffany Arquette (born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in '' A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987). Her other notable films include ''True Romance'' (1993), ''Ed Wo ...

was the recipient of the Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award. Polish cinematographer

Łukasz Żal Łukasz Żal (; born 24 June 1981) is a Polish cinematographer, best known for his work on the films '' Ida'' (2014), ''Loving Vincent'' (2017) and ''Cold War'' (2018). Life and career Żal has said that he "fell in love" with cinema at the age o ...

was the recipient of the ''Variety'' Artisan Award, Brazilian film director

Carolina Markowicz Carolina Markowicz is a Brazilian film director and screenwriter, whose debut feature film '' Charcoal (Carvão)'' premiered in 2022. Based in São Paulo, she directed a number of short films in her early career, most notably winning the Queer Pa ...

was presented with the Emerging Talent Award, and Hong Kong actor and singer

received a Special Tribute award.

Regular awards

Official selections

Gala Presentations

The following films were selected to the ''Gala Presentations'' section:

Special Presentations

The following films were selected to the ''Special Presentations'' section:

Centrepiece

TIFF Docs

The following films were selected to the ''TIFF Docs'' section:

Discovery

Platform

The

Platform Prize The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision."Barry Jenkins Barry Jenkins (born November 19, 1979) is an American filmmaker. After making his filmmaking debut with the short film ''My Josephine'' (2003), he directed his first feature film ''Medicine for Melancholy'' (2008) for which he received an Indep ...

Nadine Labaki Nadine Labaki ( ar, نادين لبكي ''Nādīn Labikī''; born February 18, 1974) is a Lebanese actress, director and activist. Labaki first came into the spotlight as an actress in the early 2000s. Her film-making career began in 2007 after ...

and

Anthony Shim Anthony Shim ( ko, 심명보) is a Canadian actor and filmmaker based in Vancouver, British Columbia.Kelly Townsend"Anthony Shim’s sophomore feature to film in B.C., South Korea" ''Playback (magazine), Playback'', August 27, 2021. Born in Seoul, ...

.John Hazelton
"Toronto unveils 2023 Platform line-up; ‘Dream Scenario’ with Nicolas Cage to open"
''

'', August 2, 2023.

Midnight Madness

Primetime

Short Cuts

Wavelengths

TIFF Classics

Industry Selects

Films that were screened for film buyers and all industry professionals at the festival, but not open to the general public:

Festival Street

Older films, usually with some sort of connection to a film screening as part of the main program, shown at

David Pecaut Square Pecaut Square (formerly known as Metro Square) is a large concrete-and granite-clad plaza located in front of Metro Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The square supports the PATH (Toronto), PATH network connection between Metro Hall and nearby bui ...

as part of TIFF's Festival Street event.

References

External links

* {{TIFF , state=collapsed

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

2023 in Toronto

September 2023 events in Canada