Political statements, harrowing documentaries: Five hidden gems from this year’s TIFF

TORONTO — Hollywood superstars and awards buzz helped this year’s Toronto International Film Festival return to form after multiple years of industry turmoil, but simmering political tensions defined some of the best features.

Here are five hidden gems discovered at this year’s Toronto film festival, which wraps Sunday:

“No Other Land”

Basel Adra and his relatives have trained cameras on life in their small mountain village of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank for decades. It’s where fleeting moments of joy were often interrupted by terror as Israeli soldiers inflicted violence on villagers and bulldozers ripped through homes with terrifying regularity. Footage of those distressing assaults plays out in long sequences that capture the interactions between the villagers and authorities who dehumanize them at every turn. Filmed in the years before Oct. 7, 2023, at a time when global attention on the West Bank was less focused, this documentary compiled by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of filmmakers is one of the year’s most heartbreaking and urgent historical records, one so powerful it seems almost certain to land among the Oscar contenders. Release date to be determined.

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s clashes with the political leadership of his homeland have been widely documented throughout his career. Once imprisoned for challenging his country’s oppressive government, he’s remained defiant in his work, even shooting his latest film on the streets of Tehran shortly before he fled his homeland to avoid a new sentence. The political drama pulls inspiration from Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in the custody of Iran’s morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict headscarf law. It begins inside the home of a newly appointed investigating judge in the Revolutionary Court whose dedication to the law — and willingness to hand out death penalties to political activists — has afforded a comfortable life for his wife and two teenage daughters. Outside their window, authorities round up protesters en masse as the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement rages on. After his gun goes missing, he turns to his family with accusations that could destroy them. “Sacred Fig” begins with the simplicity of a chamber play that escalates into a tense thriller pulsing with social subtext. In theatres this fall.

“Universal Language”

Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin is fast establishing himself as one of his generation’s most perceptive and quirky Canadian storytellers. His 2019 feature debut “The Twentieth Century” nailed patriotism with a wry smile, while his latest film carries a similar absurd affection for our cultural identity — think Wes Anderson by way of Guy Maddin. Set in an alternate universe where Canada’s two official languages are Persian and French, Rankin tells the story of a community desperately seeking connection as they wander the mazes of Winnipeg’s beige and grey cityscape. Layered with tributes to classic Iranian cinema — Abbas Kiarostami’s “Close-Up” and Jafar Panahi’s “The White Balloon” are two of the clearest references — “Universal Language” is a charming journey that was recently named Canada’s official submission for best international feature film consideration at the  97th Academy Awards. It’s bound for various Canadian film festivals before a theatrical release in January 2025.

“Shepherds”

A young Montrealer frustrated with the emptiness of his marketing job sabotages his career and flees to the French Alps for a new life. But his idealism for the region quickly fades after he meets a group of aging shepherds, one of whom takes him in for an apprenticeship. Life isn’t so easy in the mountains, though he forms a romantic connection with a civil servant who agrees to abandon her career to chase a different sort of happiness. Quebec filmmaker Sophie Deraspe, best known for her complex 2019 yarn “Antigone,” finds a simpler joy in the sprawling green landscapes of the region which act as an antagonist of sorts to lead actor Félix-Antoine Duval’s many tribulations. Adapted from Québécois writer Mathyas Lefebure’s 2006 autobiography “Where Are You From, Shepherd?” Plays the Vancouver film festival before a theatrical release later this year.

“To a Land Unknown”

Two Palestinian refugees stranded in Athens, Greece, race to save enough money for fake passports so they can leave the region. But when their cash disappears, the best friends become immersed in an escalating series of desperate escape attempts from their purgatory. Director Mahdi Fleifel’s roots in documentary filmmaking give his first narrative feature an urgent tone as cinematographer Thodoros Mihopoulos winds through the bleak streets and dingy living arrangements of the film’s two main characters, played to devastating perfection by Mahmood Bakri and Aram Sabbah. Release date to be determined.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

David Friend, The Canadian Press