16 Buzzy International World Premieres at This Year’s Toronto 

The Toronto Film Festival is awash with international titles. Led by Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed Of The Sacred Fig” and Gints Zilbalodis’ “Flow,” the festival’s huge Centrepiece spread alone has 38 titles from outside Canada and the U.S. The Discovery section has another 18. 

Not all Toronto international titles are world premieres, however. Here are 16 which are sparking good word of mouth. Variety isn’t claiming they are the best. The buzz might not be justified. But they are certainly worth tracking.     

“Sunshine,” (Antoinette Jadaone, Philippines)

Anima, the Filipino studio behind Erik Matti’s Venice winner “On The Job 2: The Missing 8” and Sundance winner “Leonor Will Never” Die, joined Project 8 Projects to co-produce Antoinette Jadaone’s teenage pregnancy drama “Sunshine.” It turns on a young gymnast who discovers she is pregnant on the week of the national team tryouts. On her way to a seller of illegal abortion drugs, she meets a mysterious girl who eerily talks and thinks like her. A follow-up to Jadaone’s “Fan Girl” (2020), which played at Tokyo International Film Festival and in Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s main competition.

“Crocodile Tears,” (Tumpal Tampubolon, Indonesia, France)

The feature debut from the writer of martial arts adaptation “212 Warrior,” set up at Fox International Productions. Produced by Anthony Chen and boarded by Dubai-Based Cercamon at FilMart. “A film that once again showcases the diversity and originality of Southeast Asian cinema,” says Chen, behind Cannes player “The Breaking Ice.”

“Freedom Way,” (Afolabi Olalekan, Nigeria)

Faced with unfavourable laws and incessant police harassment, three young co-founders struggle to keep their startup alive. Written and produced by Blessing Unzi, the story “stems from the precarious social situation in Nigeria, where the Nigerian Police Force is notorious for harassing and extorting young Nigerians,” says Afolabi.

“The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos,” (The Agbajowo Collective, Nigeria, Germany, South Africa, U.S.)   

The debut of Nigeria’s Agbajowo Collective, part thriller, part documentary-like observance, part magical realism, putting an urgent spin on forced evictions in Nigeria as single mother Jawu (“Eyimofe – This Is My Desire’s” Temi Ami-Williams, reportedly great) faces off with hired guns trying to drive her out of her waterside village home.   

“A Missing Part,” (Guillaume Senez, Belgium, France)

From Senez (“Our Struggles”), a drama starring France’s Romain Duris as a taxi driver in his cab every day driving through Tokyo in search of his daughter. Produced by Belgium’s Versus Production and Savage Film, with France’s Les Films Pelleas. Be for Film sells, while Haut et Court Distribution handles the French release, which is usually a recommendation in itself.

“On Falling,” (Laura Carreira, U.K.)

After exploring issues of the mental toll of labor, in the award-winning shorts, “Red Hill” and “The Shift,” a Portuguese immigrant’s difficult transition to life in Scotland is captured in depth in Carreira’s feature debut. Produced by Sixteen Films, one of its first after Ken Loach’s retirement in 2023.

“They Will be Dust,” (Carlos Marqués-Marcet, Spain, Italy, Switzerland)  

At Toronto’s prestigious Platform section, a buzzed up near-comedy, drama and musical starring the “reliably superb” Alfredo Castro, Variety has said, and Angela Molina (“The Obscure Object of Desire”) as partners seeking to end their lives in a Swiss clinic. Latido sells. 

“The Listeners,” (Janicza Bravo, Hannah Battrum, U.K.)

The latest series from Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s Dublin-based Element Pictures (“Room,” “Poor Things”), owned by Fremantle, a psychological thriller introducing Claire (Rebecca Hall), who is tormented by a sound no-one else can hear – including her doctors – and is drawn to a community which can also hear “The Hum.” A parable about “the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarized times,” bound for BBC One and a key Fremantle Mipcom sales title. 

“The Wolves Always Come at Night,” (Gabrielle Brady, Australia, Mongolia) 

Another Platform title. In it, Brady “lays bare the emotional ruptures of climate change and urban migration on Mongolian herders, told through the experiences of one family, who abandon their herding rural life for the big city after a devastating sand storm,” say Toronto program notes.  An arresting concept and hybrid narrative/non-fiction acquired for sales by Cinephil. 

“Faithless,” (Tomas Alfredson, Norway)

From Alfredson, director of “Tinker Tailor Solider Spy” and “Let the Right One In,” and prized scribe Sara Johnsen (“July 22”), a series adaptation of 2000 Cannes main competition movie “Faithless” written by Ingmar Bergman and directed by Liv Ullman, and in itself a fascinating mix of atonement, self-excoriation and denial by Bergman. Here, the series extends the fallout from a life-defining adulterous affair down the decades. Produced by Norway’s Fremantle-owned Miso Film (“The Rain,” “Warrior,” “1864”) a world premiere in Toronto Primetime section.  

“Winter in Sokcho,” (Koya Kamura, France)

Set in an off-season wintry Sokcho resort in Korea, an adaptation of Elisa Shua Dusapin’s novel, capturing the delicate unraveling of a young woman’s search for identity and the complexities of human connection, Variety has said. As French artist Kerrand encounters Soo-ha, he is looking for a muse, she, however, is looking for answers to long buried questions. Kamura’s feature debut, segueing from Toronto’s Platform program to the also prestigious San Sebastian New Directors’ section.

“Blue Road – the Edna O’Brien Story,” (Sinéad O’Shea, U.K., Ireland)

If the film is as good as a clip sneaked to Variety in which Irish writing legend and rebel O’Brien explains in an around-1970s TV interview to a blushing interviewer Melvyn Bragg what the only thing men are good for, this will be a gem. Sinead O’Shea’s (“Pray For Our Sinners”) captures the indomitable O’Brien at 93  looking back on a life which saw her scandalise her native Ireland, writing “Country Girls,” a frank portrayal of female sexual desire which “didn’t break the mould, it was the one that created it,” said fellow Irish woman novelist Eimear McBride. 

“Seven Days,” (Ali Samadi Ahadi, Germany)

A political thriller written by Mohammad Rasoulof, an Iranian human rights activist, granted a seven-day leave from prison, begins a dangerous two-day hike through snow-covered mountains as the first part of a daring plan to smuggle her out of Iran to reunite with her family. That, however, would mean abandoning her fight for equality and democracy. From Ahadi, at Sundance with “The Green Wave,” sold by Goodfellas.

“Under the Volcano,” (Damian Kocur, Poland)

A Ukrainian family ends its holiday on Tenerife, Spain. Once at the airport, their flight is canceled: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Trapped on the island, the tourists become refugees. An anticipated follow-up to Kocur’s feature debut “Bread and Salt” which won the 2022 Venice Horizons Special Jury Prize, promising a slightly different take on Ukraine and the war from Kocur who’s slightly wilder than most Polish arthouse directors. Sold by Salaud Morisset. 

“Daughter’s Daughter,” (Huang Xi, Taiwan)

Executive produced by Cannes award-winner Hou Hsiao-Hsien, and reuniting Hou, star Sylvia Chang and Huang after their collaboration on HBO series “Twisted Strings” in 2022. A widow travels to New York after the death of her daughter, and must make life altering decisions. Huang directed “Missing Johnny,” which won awards at both the Taipei Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards.

“Bound in Heaven,” (Huo Xin, China)

A film on everybody’s must-check-out lists, world premiering at Toronto and then hitting San Sebastian’s main competition. A dying man connects closely to a woman who is the victim of domestic violence. The directorial debuted of reputed screenwriter Huo, behind “Kung Fu Hustle,” “Sunflower” and “The Monkey King.” Cast is equally robust: Ni Ni (Zhang Yimou’s “The Flowers of War”; Zhou You, star of Jia Zhang-ke’s “Caught By The Tides,” and Liao Fan, a Berlin Silver Bear winner for Diao Yinan’s “Black Coal, Thin Ice.” Rediance handles international rights. 

Rafa Sales Ross, Callum McLennan and Marta Balaga contributed to this article.