The Toronto International Film Festival runs from 5-15 September and features a number of Irish films in its programme.
Henry Glassie: Field Work
DIR: Pat Collins
A magisterial portrait of the most renowned American folklorist and ethnologist Henry Glassie, now in his seventies. The film is a beautifully intricate exposition of Glassie’s life’s work, displaying Collin’s trademark deft touch and remarkable eye for details of the deepest significance.
Ordinary Love
DIR: Lisa Barros-d’Sa and Glenn Leyburn
WRI: Owen McCafferty
Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville star in this Northern Ireland Screen-funded film as a long-standing couple facing a potentially life-changing cancer diagnosis, in this drama scripted by Northern Irish playwright Owen McCafferty.
CAST: Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville, Amit Shah
The Other Lamb
DIR: Małgorzata Szumowska
WRI: C.S. McMullen
A girl (Raffey Cassidy) born into an all-female cult led by a man in their compound (Michiel Huisman) begins to question his teachings and her own reality, in this haunting, English-language debut from acclaimed Polish director Malgorzata Szumowska (The Body, Mug). An Irish-Belgian co-production.
CAST: Michiel Huisman, Raffey Cassidy, Denise Gough
A Bump Along the Way
DIR: Shelly Love
WRI: Tess McGowan
When a fun-loving, middle-aged single mom accidentally gets pregnant, her prim teenage daughter is scandalized. But mother and daughter slowly reverse roles as the pregnancy progresses, in this delightful, insightful Northern Irish dramedy.
CAST: Bronagh Gallagher, Lola Petticrew, Mary Moulds
Calm With Horses
DIR: Nick Rowland
WRI: Joe Murtagh
When a former boxer is offered a gig as an enforcer with the local drug mafia, life seems on the uptick — but the demands weigh heavily as he makes inroads with his young son, in Nick Rowland’s brooding yet tender crime film.
CAST: Barry Keoghan, Ned Dennehy, Niamh Algar
Sea Fever
DIR/WRI: Neasa Hardiman
A bizarre creature hitches a ride on a departing trawler, in this masterful genre film from Irish filmmaker Neasa Hardiman that leverages the mysteries of the sea to amplify the potential horrors of the unknown.
CAST: Connie Nielsen, Hermione Corfield, Dougray Scott
Sweetness in the Belly
DIR: Zeresenay Berhane Mehari
WRI: Laura Phillips
Dakota Fanning stars in this Irish-Canadian adaptation of Camilla Gibb’s bestseller, set in England and Ethiopia, about an altruistic and devout young woman with a nomadic past seeking to reconnect with the man she loves.
CAST: Dakota Fanning, Kunal Nayyar, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
