TORONTO, TIFF 2025 comes packed with headline‑making premieres. The festival will open with Colin Hanks’s documentary John Candy: I Like Me and close with Anne Émond’s Peak Everything. Highlights include world premieres of Aziz Ansari’s Good Fortune (with Keanu Reeves), Rian Johnson’s new Knives Out sequel, Wake Up Dead Man, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and Sydney Sweeney in Christy, among many others.
This year also marks a significant expansion of programming strands. Short Cuts, TIFF’s acclaimed short film program, now includes a new Best Animated Short Film Award, judged by a distinguished jury including cinematographer Ashley Iris Gill, Annecy’s Marcel Jean, and filmmaker Connor Jessup. Meanwhile, the Centrepiece series highlights global storytelling with 55 films from nearly 50 countries — and Primetime celebrates a decade of boundary‑pushing serialized storytelling.
TIFF’s Classics lineup brings legendary titles back to the big screen in dazzling 4K form, including rare and restored works like Aniki‑Bóbó and a 35mm screening of Jaws for the anniversary Next Best Picture.
Programmers’ picks
Less than a week until the Festival starts! Tickets are still available for some of the most exciting movies heading to this year’s Festival, including movies recommended directly from TIFF programmers:
True North, Michèle Stephenson’s moving documentary centres on the 1969 student protests against racism at Montreal’s Concordia University and their contribution to the story of Black liberation. WORLD PREMIERE SAT SEP 6
Meadowlarks, Based on her 2017 documentary Birth of a Family, Tasha Hubbard’s Meadowlarks is an emotional drama that follows four siblings, separated by the Sixties Scoop, as they come together over a week. WORLD PREMIERE SUN SEP 7
Eternal Return, Visually innovative and intoxicatingly romantic, this fantasy drama from writer-director Yaniv Raz (Dr. Bird’s Advice For Sad Poets) stars Naomi Scott, Kit Harington, and Simon Callow as an adventurous trio journeying back through time in search of the power to love again. WORLD PREMIERE MON SEP 8
The Story of the Basketball Africa League, An in-depth look at the transformative power of sport, as told through the creation, launch, and impact of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). WORLD PREMIERE MON SEP 8
Tuner, Documentarian Daniel Roher dazzles with his narrative debut, a whip-smart thriller about an unusual safecracker (Leo Woodall). The cast’s screen veterans, with Hoffman, Tovah Feldshuh, and Jean Reno all helping ensure Roher’s thriller maintains its perfect pitch. CANADIAN PREMIERE MON SEP 8
Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband), A strange death, village upheavals, and swarming suitors lead to a love story gone awry in acclaimed Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s latest enthralling imagining of ancient Inuit stories. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE MON SEP 8
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, will run from September 4 to 14, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. This milestone edition promises an unforgettable celebration of cinematic artistry, featuring an incredible blend of Canadian and international films and special events that honour TIFF’s legacy and future TIFF.
(LJI by Yuhong)
