Toronto 23
Toronto 2023

Here you can learn about the fascinating Nordic films that are taking part in Toronto in 2023. The 48th Toronto International Film Festival is taking place from September 7 to 17.

Platform

Shame on Dry Land

Axel Petersén / Sweden / 2023 / 91 min / World Premiere

In the shade of Malta’s scorching sun, around the edges of the Swedish online gaming community, exiled lottery swindler Dimman shows up for a lavish wedding, kicking off a desperate and decadent pursuit of redemption.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Special Presentations

Together 99

Lukas Moodysson/ Sweden / 2023 / 115 min / World Premiere

In 1975, a group of very different individuals lived in a commune called “Together”. Now it´s 1999, 24 years later, and they´re meeting up again. A sequel to Lukas Moodysson´s Together.

More info & Screening Scheduele

The Promised Land

Nikolaj Arcel / Denmark / 2023 / 127 min / Canadian Premiere

In 1755, the impoverished captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer the harsh, uninhabitable Danish heath with a seemingly impossible goal: to build a colony in the name of the King. In exchange, he’ll receive a desperately desired Royal name for himself. But the sole ruler of the area, the merciless Frederik de Schinkel, arrogantly believes this land belongs to him. When De Schinkel learns that the maid Ann Barbara and her servant husband have escaped for refuge with Kahlen, the privileged and spiteful ruler swears revenge, doing everything in his power to drive the captain away. Kahlen will not be intimidated and engages in an unequal battle—risking not only his life, but also that of the family of outsiders that has formed around him

More info & Screening Scheduele

Discovery

Solitude

Ninna Pálmadóttir/ Iceland / 2023 / 75 min / World Premiere

Gunnar is forced by the state to sell his country home. He leaves without looking back, abandoning his horses to relocate to the capital. He soon meets 10-year old Ari and their friendship proves to be transformative for them both.

More info & Screening Scheduele

The Tundra Within Me

Sara Margrethe Oskal / Norway / 2023 / 95 min / World Premiere

After living for many years in Oslo, Lena moves back to Northern Norway with her young son to explore Sami gender in an art project. While researching in the wintry tundra, she falls in love with reindeer herder Máhtte – whose mother, the head of the family, disapproves of the relationship. As decisions from the past come to haunt her, Lena struggles to find out whether her and Máhtte’s lifestyles can ever be compatible.

More info & Screening Scheduele

TIFF Docs

Homecoming

Suvi West, Anssi Kömi / Finland / 2023 / 76 min / World Premiere

As museums worldwide are increasingly pressured to return cultural property, co-directors Suvi West and Anssi Kömi share a personal and insightful story about the return of Sámi artifacts — long held in a museum — to their homeland.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Songs of Earth

Margreth Olin / Norway / 2023 / 90 min / North American Premiere

With Olin’s 85-year-old father as a guide, we experience Norway’s most scenic valley, Oldedalen in Nordfjord. This is where he grew up and where generations before him have lived in balance with nature. Majestic images of wild mountains, calving glaciers, and bustling wildlife go side by side with the parents’ stories about the generations who trod the trails, the relationship we have with nature, and what is valuable in life. The music is composed of unique sound recordings – nature’s own melodies, translated and performed by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Centrepiece

A Happy Day

Hisham Zaman / Norway / 2023 / 113 min / World Premiere

Three teenage friends stuck in a frozen, hopeless place come up with a plan to escape over the mountain to a world where their dreams can be fulfilled. But when one of them falls in love, their plan begins to unravel.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Fallen Leaves

Aki Kaurismäki / Finland / 2022 / 81 min / Canadian Premiere

The film tells the story of Ansa, a supermarket shelf-stocker on a zero-hour contract, later a recyclable plastic sorter, and Holappa, a sandblaster, an alcoholic, later an ex-alcoholic, whose paths have accidentally crossed and who, despite adversity and misunderstandings, try to build some kind of relationship on the harsher side of the welfare state.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Je’vida

Katja Gauriloff / Finland / 2023 / 99 min / Canadian Premiere

An aunt and her niece who have never met before drive to Lapland to empty a house they’ve inherited. Turns out the withdrawn and distrusting aunt had been a victim of the assimilation policies and the niece has to make a big decision. By taking interest in each other they find value in themselves and their roots.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Primetime

Estonia

Måns Månson, Juuso Syrjä / Finland / 2023 / 85 min / World Premiere

8-episode series focusing on the tragic sinking of MS Estonia in 1994 and the investigation that ensued.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Shortcuts

FÁR

Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter / Iceland / 2023 / 5 min

A bird hits a café window, disrupting the customers. A woman faces a decision on whether to ignore nature or euthanize the bird.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Nun or Never!

Heta Jäälinoja / Finland / 2023 / 11 min

The nuns are living melted together in happy harmony. When one nun finds a man in the garden, the harmony breaks and she loses the rhythm with others. When her dreams do not come true, she finds out that everyone in the community has their own hidden universe.

More info & Screening Scheduele

Discover

Explore the coolest new Nordic productions from the film catalogues and get to know the Nordic co-production programmes from the brochure by Nordisk Film and TV Fund.