TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Defines the Candidates for 2023 Awards Season Gold

By Norah Lawlor

Fabulous Festival screens the movies that everyone will need to know about in time for next Year’s Awards Ceremonies.

Every September, Hollywood players head to Ontario, Canada for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The timing is critical as it’s the first significant North American festival where the films that will likely garner the awards early in 2023 are screened and discussed amongst those in the know. Eligibility for some awards have stringent requirements for where and when a film must be screened to be considered – Toronto is an important testing ground for the “Award Whisperers” to gauge what is hot, and what might be not. Here is one perspective on the Films that are golden this awards season;

Allelujah (1hr 39mins)

The adaptation of the play of the same name by Alan Bennett, Allelujah had its premiere during this year’s TIFF and tells the story of a rural community’s fight to save the local hospital’s geriatric ward from closure. Starring Jesse Akele, Jessica Baglow, Judi Dench and Jennifer Saunders.

The Banshees of Inisherin (1hr 54mins)

A tale of the complexities of friendship set against a backdrop of a small community in 1920s Ireland and bringing together the stars of In Bruges, Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.

The Fabelmans (2hrs 31mins)

Steven Spielberg immerses you in the world of his childhood, seeking to uncover the things that propelled him into a career as a filmmaker. Starring Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogan and Gabrielle LaBelle as the young Director. (www.thefabelmans.movie)

The Good Nurse (2hr 1 min)

The true story of a nurse in New York who comes to the realization that one of her colleagues is a serial killer who may have killed hundreds of patients. Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain star. (www.netflix.com)

The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2hrs 6mins)

Zac Efron, Russell Crowe and a cameo by Bill Murray highlight the telling of a true story about the effort of one man to take his friends a taste of home – into the battelfields in the middle of the Vietnam war. Based on the book written by Joanna Molloy of Rush & Molloy fame. (www.greatestbeerrunevermovie.com)

In Her Hands (93 mins)

A documentary following the youngest female Mayor in Afghanistan in the run-up to the return of the Taliban in 2021. Made by Afghan Tamana Ayazi and Marcel Mettelsiefen, and executive produced by a team including Secretary Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, the documentary works to bring home the complexity of the twenty year conflict through the lives of the people living it. (www.netflix.com)

The Inspection (95 mins)

Written and Directed by Elegance Bratton, This is the true story of an African-American man who joins the US Marines after a decade living in housing precarity after being kicked out of his home – all the time grappling with his sense of belonging and sexual identity. (www. a24films.com)

Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blue (1hr 44mins)

A beautiful documentary treatment of the Life of Jazz Legend Louis Armstrong through his personal audio diaries. Louis was a prolific recorder of audio diaries which Director Sacha Jenkins has turned into a treatment of the subtlety and complexity of the man behind the music (www.appletv.com)

My Policeman (1hr 53mins)

Based on the book by Bethan Roberts, a story set in 1950s Britain which grapples with social change, sexual identity and romance starring man-of-the-moment Harry Styles, Emma Corrin and David Dawson. (www.amazonstudios.com)

The Swimmers (2hrs 14mins)

Director Sally El Hosaini tells the remarkable true tale of sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, who fled their home in war-torn Damascus, Syria to seek a new life in Europe and earn the chance to compete in the 2016 Olympics. (www.neflix.com)