Toronto Film Festival braces for protests as Avi Nesher brings Oct. 7 drama

Toronto International Film Festival director Cameron Bailey went through a major upheaval last year, one that nearly cost him his job. After inviting Canadian Jewish filmmaker Barry Avrich to screen his documentary about retired Maj. Gen. Noam Tibon and his story of heroism on October 7, Bailey reversed course, citing a series of peculiar arguments, including that the use of video footage filmed by Hamas terrorists during the massacre could constitute a copyright violation. It later emerged that those explanations were little more than pretexts intended to cover up a revolt by several of the festival's programmers, who had threatened to resign in protest over the inclusion of the pro-Israel film. Bailey found himself at the center of an enormous media storm, caught between pressure from his curatorial team on the inside and the fierce response of the Jewish community on the outside. In the end, money and public support carried the day: Avrich was invited back for a major Toronto premiere, Bailey publicly apologized for his handling of the affair and, in doing so, saved his job at the world's largest film festival. A year later, a battle-scarred Bailey, now more cautious and polished when it comes to the Middle East conflict, is still standing. This year, too, Toronto will screen an Israeli-made film about October 7, one that will likely be branded propaganda by local anti-Israel activists: Avi Nesher's 'Our Loves,' which weaves together stories of heroism involving several characters on that horrific day. Shalom Michaelashvili, Magi Azarzar, Yaniv Biton, Evelin Hagoel, Lior Miller and Hadas Yaron are among those taking part in Nesher's ambitious production. Some are expected to attend the gala premiere, which is surely raising the stress level for Bailey, festival staff and local law enforcement as they prepare for demonstrations outside the theater and possible disruptions inside. Gallery From 'Our Loves' ( Photo: Michal Fattal ) The occasion will undoubtedly bring a strange sense of homecoming for Nesher as well. TIFF has always treated him warmly, and he launched five of his most recent films in Toronto. This time, however, things will feel different in an atmosphere that has become politically charged and, at times, hostile. It is therefore hardly surprising that the screenings will be held in a relatively small theater inside the festival's secured complex, an apparent effort to head off trouble before it begins. Whether it is an attempt to lower tensions, a genuine desire for balance or some combination of the two, the program also includes two Palestinian films. Hosam Abu Dan's 'Thirteen in Gaza' was filmed amid the devastation of Gaza, with the destruction surrounding its characters clearly visible. But while the war is ever-present in the background through repeated bombings, images of Israeli aircraft and the constant hum of drones, Israel itself is not part of the plot. The story centers on a struggling widower and his teenage daughter living in a tent camp and trying to survive from one day to the next until a cunning criminal demands to marry the beautiful girl. The amateurish drama is unusual as a narrative film production from Gaza, and that distinction alone likely helped secure its selection. From 'Thirteen in Gaza' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) The more experienced East Jerusalem filmmaker Muayad Alayan, meanwhile, follows a man played by Kamel El Basha in 'Conversation With the Sea' as he becomes entangled in a bureaucratic ordeal that leads him back to the mystery surrounding his son's death, amid good — and bad — Arabs and good — and bad — Jews. The film is a love letter to Jerusalem's Old City and features Palestinian citizens of Israel Amer Hlehel, Masha Seman, Bahira Ablassi, Ruba Blal, Maria Zreik and Haitham Omari. The politically correct system of checks and balances Bailey and his team have adopted in curating the overall program is also evident in the documentary section, dominated by Alex Gibney's bold, sprawling biography of Elon Musk. Alongside 'Musk,' the acclaimed filmmaker's four-hour portrait — Gibney was also the driving force behind the documentary 'The Bibi Files' — Toronto will screen two documentaries indirectly connected to the Middle East conflict. Maiken Baird's 'Edward Said: Between Worlds' is another potentially explosive biography, bringing Palestinian thinker Edward Said and his theory of Orientalism back into the spotlight. Said's work on cultural colonialism resonates strongly with today's anti-Zionist sentiment. From 'Conversations With the Sea' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) On the other side is Lucy Schwartz Delgado's 'Re/Pair,' produced as an attempt to repair relations between American Jews and the Black community through cultural ties discussed by figures including Matisyahu, David Schwimmer, Van Jones, W. Kamau Bell, rabbis Rachel Goldberg and Sharon Brous and many others. Our ambassadors in Hollywood It is impossible to ignore the reluctance of international festivals to embrace Israeli film productions, but it is difficult to make the case for discrimination or a boycott against Israeli filmmakers as individuals — at least in Toronto. In addition to Nesher, TIFF will feature Noah Segan's wonderful drama 'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,' which was warmly received at Sundance this year, starring the excellent John Turturro and produced by Ram Bergman. The star-studded thriller 'The Housewife,' produced by Lee Broda, is based on a 1964 investigation by New York Times journalist Joseph Lelyveld that sought to expose a Nazi in hiding through his wife. Tye Sheridan, Naomi Watts, Luke Evans, Michael Imperioli, Lena Olin and Debi Mazar make up the cast assembled by director Ben Shirinian. Jan Holoubek's 'Wild Wild East' is a Polish period thriller set in a small village under Nazi rule, where greed and hatred of Jews mingle in the European mud. The story is led by a German bureaucrat who arrives to investigate mysterious propaganda, played by none other than Israeli actor Itay Tiran. Most prominent of all is director Guy Nattiv, who has lived and worked in Los Angeles since winning an Oscar for his short film 'Skin.' His fourth American feature, 'The Liberation,' formerly titled 'Harmony,' is his most ambitious project and certainly his most personal. It is based on the story of his grandmother, Holocaust survivor Rita Cooper, who left her family in the 1980s to join a mysterious women's cult in Virginia, where she spent the rest of her life. Guy Nattiv ( Photo: Joel C. Ryan/AP ) After a lengthy casting process involving some of Hollywood's biggest actresses, Carrie Coon took on the challenging lead role of a woman in the midst of a devastating existential crisis. She gives herself over completely to the part in an honest, exposed performance. She is supported by Tracy Letts, her real-life husband who also plays her husband in the film, as well as young actresses Bella Ramsey and Odessa Young as her daughters, who try to persuade her to come home, and Lily James as the seductive cult leader. The somber period drama, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, was produced by New York-based Israeli filmmaker Oren Moverman. Given that TIFF is the world's largest film festival, perhaps it should not be all that surprising to find, among the 293 works being screened, an LGBTQ drama from Mexico made by a relative of David Ben-Gurion. As bizarre as that may sound, Mexican filmmaker Sharon Kleinberg's directorial debut will screen in Toronto. One can assume that members of her Tiktin family — Jaime, Ilan, Yonatan and Orly, who took part in the production — will be there, along with Beni and Moshe Hami de Leon. All were involved in the sensitive and surprising film, which follows a transgender taxi driver who, shortly before undergoing gender-affirming surgery, becomes pregnant after a casual sexual encounter with a co-worker and is forced to reconsider the possibility of becoming a father through his changing female body. Sharon Kleinberg ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) The story may sound implausible, but the result is an original work that is certain to make waves among the director's relatives in Mexico and Israel, including musician Adam Kleinberg, winner of a Jewish-world version of Israel's 'A Star Is Born.' And one can imagine that Ben-Gurion himself, famously nicknamed 'the Old Man,' might have been pleased as well. On a clear day, you can see the Oscars Israeli parochialism aside, the Toronto Film Festival is considered one of the leading predictors of the Oscars. There is nothing mystical about it: The U.S. awards season effectively begins across the northern border in Canada, even as relations between the two countries are at a low point. Among the films lining up at the starting gate with big dreams of a golden statuette and premieres in Toronto is 'Being Heumann,' which will open the festival. Sian Heder, whose 'CODA,' about a deaf family, won an Oscar, recreates the 1973 disability rights protest led by Judith Heumann in the spirit of the civil rights movement, confronting a government official portrayed as indifferent to their suffering and played by none other than Mark Ruffalo. From 'Being Heumann' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) Director Peter Farrelly's 'I Play Rocky' — Farrelly is also an Oscar winner for 'Green Book' — revisits young Sylvester Stallone's relentless fight to get his screenplay about the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa made. Relative unknown Anthony Ippolito plays Stallone on the road to the release of 'Rocky,' starring Stallone himself, exactly 50 years ago. From 'I Play Rocky' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) Jennifer Peedom's 'Tenzing' recounts the 1953 conquest of Mount Everest from the perspective of Nepalese mountaineer Tenzing Norgay, who shared the glory of the achievement with Edmund Hillary, played by Tom Hiddleston. Chris Rock's 'Misty Green' leaves center stage to Rosalind Eleazar, who plays an actress facing a personal and professional crisis in Hollywood, though she has an impressive supporting cast that includes Adam Driver, Anna Kendrick, Daniel Kaluuya and Rock himself. Jesse Eisenberg also devotes 'The Debut,' the musical drama he wrote and directed, to a middle-aged amateur actress played by Julianne Moore who rediscovers herself on the theater stage with the encouragement of a supportive director played by Paul Giamatti. Mike Leigh's 'Tender Loving Care' is a modest drama with a strong social conscience, focusing on the personal lives of social workers. It has plenty of charming moments as well as a dose of melancholy because of its subject matter, but especially because it may prove to be an epilogue to the illustrious British director's career. From 'The Debut' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) Danny Boyle is another celebrated British filmmaker, and he does not appear to be going anywhere. After opening the Venice Film Festival with his new film, 'Ink,' he will try to strengthen its promising Oscar campaign with Netflix behind it. The story returns to the late 1960s and the transformation led by journalist Larry Lamb as editor of the British newspaper The Sun. Branded a tabloid, it nevertheless went on to reshape the media landscape in Britain and beyond. Jack O'Connell stars opposite Claire Foy, along with another outspoken Israel critic, Australian actor Guy Pearce, who plays the newspaper's much-maligned owner Rupert Murdoch. Surprisingly, Murdoch is portrayed in a relatively human light. Niki Byrne's 'The Julia Set' could also emerge as an Oscar surprise, and not only because of rising star Chase Infiniti, who plays a high school student preparing for the most prestigious mathematics competition in the United States. Along the way, she does the math with her tutor and finds herself in a relationship, if only for a moment. Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson are on hand for the grown-up side of the story. Slightly less polished diamonds Beyond the films chasing Oscars, there are also several that would be perfectly happy simply to land distribution deals during the festival and, with luck, succeed at the box office afterward. One is 'Evil Genius,' a crime drama directed by 'Friends' star Courteney Cox. With some help from friends and relatives — including former sister-in-law Patricia Arquette — she recreates the exploits of the notorious 'pizza bomber,' who died in what amounted to a workplace accident during a 2003 bank robbery. David Harbour stars. He may not be an 'Israel-hater,' but his public image is hardly spotless these days. From 'Evil Genius' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) Lauren Miller Rogen likewise drew on friends and family for her comedy 'Babies,' which stars her husband, Seth Rogen, alongside Anna Kendrick, Issa Rae and Sharon Stone. They all come together to have some fun with a stable relationship that is shaken by the experiences of parenthood unfolding around the couple. Margaret Qualley, who only recently separated from her musician husband Jack Antonoff, gets a chance to recover onscreen, at least, through a journey of romantic self-discovery in 'Love of Your Life,' directed by acclaimed cinematographer Rachel Morrison as she tries her hand at directing. On the festival's more commercial and unruly side, brothers David and Nathan Zellner bring their new science-fiction comedy 'Alpha Gang,' featuring Cate Blanchett, Dave Bautista, Chris Pine, Riley Keough, Lily-Rose Depp and Léa Seydoux. All play members of a gang from outer space, and they seem to be having a very good time doing it. Jonathan Schey's comedy thriller with the pretentious title 'Everybody Wants to F*ck Me' uses Taron Egerton and Jessica Henwick to play with casual sexual encounters and the sly possibility of true love on London's dating scene. Bassam Tariq's 'Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother' has an equally pretentious title, but there is no messing around in this unusual action thriller. Mahershala Ali plays a Muslim version of John Wick. A recently widowed father of three, the hired assassin is drawn into a conflict between a Christian extremist organization and an Arab crime gang. Armed with his sword, he sets out in search of revenge and redemption in the name of his children's future — and in the name of Allah. A far less violent and bloody vision of Islam's place in the West, with the Jewish community woven into that fabric as well, can be found in French filmmaker Hanaël El Yousfi's 'Daughters of Abraham.' The film follows two friends, one Muslim and one Jewish, who reunite in their hometown of Marseille and bridge cultural and religious divides through intimate conversations and songs in French, Arabic and Hebrew, as well as through parties and casual sexual encounters. From 'Daughters of Abraham' ( Photo: Courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival ) Their families are torn between tradition, customs and a long list of dos and don'ts on one side and the heroines' freewheeling, pleasure-seeking lifestyles on the other. The two women lean on each other as they confront challenges in their personal lives.