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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Molly Manning Walker
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alain Parroni
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Farhad Delaram
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película], centred on a family seeking justice after the police slaying of a young man in the suburbs of Strasbourg, France.

Likewise The Teacher [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]. Starring Saleh Bakri (The Blue Caftan [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]) 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Katalin Moldovai
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Sara Summa
ficha de la película], by German director Sara Summa (The Last to See Them [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]), 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ninna Pálmadóttir
ficha de la película]. 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] follows a Sámi artist as she returns to her hometown.

Finally, British filmmaker Thomas Napper (Jawbone [+lee también:
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ficha de la película]) 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Mladen Djordjević
ficha de la película], 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] (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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Farhad Delaram
ficha de la película] - Farhad Delaram (Iran/Germany/France)
After the Fire [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Mehdi Fikri (France)
A Match - Jayant Digambar Somalkar (India)
Andragogy - Wregas Bhanuteja (Indonesia/Singapore)
An Endless Sunday [+lee también:
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entrevista: Alain Parroni
ficha de la película] - Alain Parroni (Italy/Germany/Ireland)
Arthur&Diana [+lee también:
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entrevista: Sara Summa
ficha de la película] - 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Molly Manning Walker
ficha de la película] - 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Ninna Pálmadóttir
ficha de la película] - Ninna Pálmadóttir (Iceland/Slovakia/France)
Tautuktavuk (What We See) - Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk (Canada)
The Teacher [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Farah Nabulsi (UK/Palestine/Qatar)
The Tundra Within Me [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - 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 [+lee también:
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entrevista: Katalin Moldovai
ficha de la película] - 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 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] - Weston Razooli (USA/France)
Sleep - Jason Yu (South Korea)
When Evil Lurks - Demián Rugna (Argentina)
Working Class Goes to Hell [+lee también:
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entrevista: Mladen Djordjević
ficha de la película] - Mladen Đorđević (Serbia)