Films from Deepa Mehta and Louise Archambault are among the latest additions to the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

In an announcement released on Thursday (Aug. 10), festival organizers unveiled the 47-title Centrepiece programme — which was previously titled Contemporary World Cinema, and focuses on Canadian and international cinema — as well as new additions to its Gala, Special Presentations and TIFF Docs lineups.

Making its world premiere in the Centrepiece programme, Archambault’s Canada-Poland copro Irena’s Vow is written by Dan Gordon and is based on the real-life story of Irena Gut, a Polish woman who aided a number of Jewish people during the Second World War. The film is produced by Montreal’s Entract Studios, Toronto’s Darius Films, and Poland’s K&K film selekt, with Entract Films distributing the title in Canada.

Also making its world premiere in Centrepiece, writer-director Henri Pardo’s Kanaval (produced by Montreal’s Yzanakio and Luxembourg’s Wady Films) follows a Haitian boy and his mother as they move to a small community in Quebec in the 1970s.

A number of other Canadian films have also been selected for Centrepiece. Making their North American premieres in the programme are Ariane Louis-Seize’s Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant (Art et essai), Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames (CityLights Media, Other Memory Media), and Monia Chokri’s The Nature of Love (Simple comme Sylvain) (Metafilms).

Molly McGylnn’s Fitting In (formerly Bloody Hell), produced by Nice Picture, will have its Canadian premiere in the programme as part of the Sloan Science on Film Showcase, which was announced earlier this year. Also making its Canadian premiere in Centrepiece is Cody Lightning’s Hey, Viktor! (North Country Cinema).

TIFF has also unveiled two additional Canadian titles that will be making their world premieres in this year’s festival lineup. Debuting in the TIFF Docs programme, I Am Sirat is a collaboration between director Deepa Mehta and the film’s subject, Sirat Taneja, who provides self-documented footage of her life shot on her smartphone. According to a news release, the doc will air on CBC in 2024, and is currently seeking U.S. and international sales.

Making its bow in the Special Presentations section, meanwhile, is Charles-Olivier Michaud’s Ru, an adaptation of the Governor General’s Award–winning novel by Kim Thúy that follows a wealthy refugee family that flees Vietnam for Quebec. The feature is produced by André Dupuy and Marie-Alexandra Forget, with Immina Films handling Canadian distribution.

TIFF 2023 will run from Sept. 7 to 17.

Image of Irena’s Vow courtesy of TIFF