15 Films to Watch at TIFF 2025
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
The days are getting shorter. The heat isn’t quite as scorching as it once was this past July. The bulk of the season’s major films have been released. As August is underway, I always feel a sense of closure for all things summery, not just because autumn is around the corner, but because the countdown to the Toronto International Film Festival is officially underway. We are officially less than a month away from TIFF 2025, and we couldn’t be more excited. Firstly, this is the fiftieth TIFF, and the buzz in the air is bound to be stronger than it has been in the past few years as a result. For us here at Films Fatale, 2025 marks the first time that many of our contributing writers will be a part of our press team (meaning that I won’t be darting around by myself like a mad man), so you can expect tons of great TIFF coverage this year. We will try to get to as many films as we possibly can. In case you aren’t in the loop, TIFF showcases hundreds of premieres (including short films, documentaries, and even television series), and I doubt that we — or you — will get around to all of them over the course of eleven days; it just isn’t possible, but we will do our best to catch plenty of titles.
In case you need a crash course on some of the films that are coming to festival this year, we’ve got you covered. In honour of TIFF 50, I won’t be listing fifty films that you must watch (again, getting around to even this many during one festival is next to impossible); however, I’ll be using alliteration to prophecy fifteen films at TIFF 50 that I am keeping my eye out for. For the first time, we actually have Films Fatale related opinions on some of the features I am looking forward to because our very own critic Dilan Fernando came back from this year’s Cannes Film Festival after viewing some high profile screenings; I’ll be sure to include links to his reviews — where they apply — below. Of course, predicting what films will be good will always be a gamble, but I have a good feeling about the fifteen films below for various reasons. Here’s what I think you should watch at TIFF 2025.
You can find the entire TIFF 2025 lineup here.
Arco
After the success of last year’s Flow (and the sought after Robot Dreams from 2023), I am not taking international animated film selections for granted any longer. This year, I have noticed the slight rumblings of Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco: a French science fiction film which has already been picked up by Neon after it performed well at Cannes. There are hints of promise regarding how imaginative Arco will be, and I feel like it may continue to make waves in a year that is somewhat underwhelming for animation thus far.
Learn More About Arco
Blue Moon/Nouvelle Vague
I’m condensing two selections into one here, because TIFF 2025 is blessed with a pair of Richard Linklater titles! First is Blue Moon: a more traditional biopic about lyricist Lorenz Hart (played by Ethan Hawke, marking a return of the Linklater veteran) which performed well at the Berlin International Film Festival. Then there’s the film I am personally more excited for: Nouvelle Vague. Linklater has always been influenced by the French New Wave movement, but he proves it more than ever with this depiction of the production process of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (in French, no less), which proved to be a hit at Cannes this year. You can’t miss with either of these promising titles.
Learn More About Blue Moon
Learn More About Nouvelle Vague
The Christophers
While TIFF is only showing one of his films this year, Steven Soderbergh cannot be stopped in 2025 with his third (!) film, The Christophers, arriving at TIFF 50 (Presence from earlier this year did play TIFF 2024, and let’s not forget about Black Bag). He ditches the horror and thriller genres for the rest of the year and opts for a black comedy film about an art forger helping to finish the incomplete paintings of a master. One never knows what to expect with Soderbergh, and this peculiar title may be one of the more niche discussions of TIFF 2025 thanks to its unique premise and cast (including Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel who already seem like a fascinating duo together).
Learn More About The Christophers
Forastera
Sometimes, looking forward to TIFF isn’t about watching the films of the already established titans and stars. It’s about hoping to find the next big name or talent. I always try to search for what could be the surprise hit of any film festival, and this year I have a sneaking suspicion that Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’ film, Forastera, could be the currently unsung title that will take off. A film that blends a girl’s grief for her deceased grandmother with a Persona-esque blurring of perspectives, Forastera sounds like a sterling idea that I hope sticks its landing.
Learn More About Forastera
Frankenstein
At this point, Guillermo del Toro is an honourary Canadian, having shot many of his feature films in Ontario and premiered enough titles at TIFF (including the Best Picture winning The Shape of Water). Now, del Toro returns with his coveted take on Frankenstein: the master of finding humanity and warmth within horror has hopefully found an inspired angle of a highly adapted novel (one of the greatest in all of literature, mind you). If any version of this story is to be fresh, I’d imagine it would be the one told by del Toro.
Learn More About Frankenstein
Franz
It’s a crying shame that Agnieszka Holland’s harrowing epic, Green Border, was essentially scrubbed out of existence; it was certainly a film I never forgot about when I caught it at TIFF 2023. Holland returns with what is sure to be a far less “taboo” film in the form of Franz: a biographical picture that will detail the life of the literary master, Franz Kafka. Seeing as Holland isn’t a director to pull punches, I can only hope for a raw and honest take on one of the greatest authors.
Learn More About Franz
Hamnet
Don’t get confused, here. TIFF is also showing a new version of Hamlet, but Hamnet is not that film; it is Chloé Zhao’s highly anticipated return (after her TIFF hit — and Best Picture winner — Nomadland, and her first film since the polarizing Marvel release, Eternals). Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley play William and Agnes Shakespeare, respectively, which is reason enough for me to crave watching this film as soon as I can. The film follows the couple’s traumatic period following the death of their child, the titular Hamnet. This film is bound to be challenging, but I am hoping for a return to form from Zhao: a filmmaker I greatly respect.
Learn More About Hamnet
If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You
I am a sucker for when actors are cast against type, especially if such an exercise yields great results. There has been enough noise surrounding If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You that I am buying into the hype. This bleak film is led by a career-defining performance by Rose Byrne, whose name has already been championed before the awards season has officially begun; toss in Conan O’Brien as an explosive therapist, and you’ve got a film I couldn’t have dreamed of conjuring up (but I am ever so glad that this dramedy exists, now).
Learn More About If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You
It was Just an Accident
In the same way that it has become a yearly tradition for a Neon film to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes (I do admit that Neon’s purchase of almost any film that was liked to any degree at this year’s festival was amusing), it is customary for Neon to bring said film to TIFF later that year. Such is the case for Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, otherwise known as Un simple accident. The Iranian auteur’s latest film is already considered one of the best films of the year; it’s about time that the Toronto crowd finds this out for themselves.
Learn More About It Was Just an Accident
Orphan
It saddens me that the Hungarian director László Nemes has all but fallen off the map, especially after his punishing, phenomenal debut film, Son of Saul. He now returns with just his third feature film, Orphan, ten years after his holocaust drama dominated festivals and the awards season. Orphan will bring things back to the second World War, evoking the difficulties stemming from the Budapestian Communist regime. I’m hoping for great things from this film considering the potential of its filmmaker.
Learn More About Orphan
Sentimental Value
After Joachim Trier reached new heights with The Worst Person in the World, he has returned with Sentimental Value, which has already started to garner the same kind of acclaim its predecessor bathed in. Reuniting with the talented Renate Reinsve — and working with other great talents like Elle Fanning — Trier has apparently not squandered his continuous rise in the international scene. This, clearly, is a film you won’t want to miss (it may wind up being one of the hottest titles at TIFF, so best of luck).
Learn More About Sentimental Value
Silent Friend
ldikó Enyedi is a name I have missed: I’ll never forget her stirring Golden Bear winner, On Body and Soul. Her latest film, Silent Friend, is led by two of the most consistent actors of our lifetime: Tony Leung and Léa Seydoux. The perspective of the film is — allegedly — from a lone tree who “meets” many passersby (a premise that feels an awful lot like David Lowery’s A Ghost Story and the art of stoic, minimalist points of view). I can only be patient and find out how Silent Friend pulls off such a difficultly-simplistic concept.
Learn More About Silent Friend
The Smashing Machine
Never did I think I would care about a TIFF premiere involving The Rock, but here we are. Sadly the official mark of the separation between the brothers Safdie, Benny’s film, The Smashing Machine, is almost here (TIFF won’t be getting Josh Safdie’s rebuttal, Marty Supreme, since it is due to be released far later this year). Matching the raw, upfront look at combative sports like The Wrestler, Foxcatcher, or The Fighter, The Smashing Machine is clearly The Rock’s vehicle to prove that the wrestling superstar can act beyond what we have seen so far; perhaps he can, in the right hands (and with Emily Blunt on his side). The promotional looks at this film have already shown that The Rock is next to unrecognizable here; let’s hope the illusion remains throughout the film.
Learn More About The Smashing Machine
Sound of Falling
It takes audacious experiments to get my attention sometimes, and I cannot help but be highly invested in the major praise that has surrounded the Cannes release of Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling: an art film that follows four separate girls from different moments in history (all stemming from the Altmark region of Germany). I cannot fathom how this quadrant of narratives will be linked, but I just feel like the end result of Sound of Falling will take my breath away.
Learn More About Sound of Falling
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.