The countdown to the Toronto International Film Festival is on and this years 50th anniversary edition promises to be one of the most hyped in recent memory. This seasons most buzzed-about premieres include Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut with Eleanor the Great, Paul Greengrass’ The Lost Bus, and Aziz Ansari’s star studded freaky friday-esque comedy Good Fortune. Several high-profile films premiering including Killing Castro and Saipan, are part of TIFF’s Industry Selects available for acquisition that will not be accessible to the general public, but provide industry insiders a first look at potential award contenders and international sales titles.
This years festival balances celebrity spectacle with intimacy, offering films that explore memory, legacy, identity, and human connection. From supernatural comedies and historical dramas to intimate family stories, the line up demonstrates why it remains a cornerstone of the cinematic calendar.
We’ve rounded up our top picks not to miss at this years festival below so don’t forget to get your tickets today!
Spectral Whimsy & Otherworldly Threads
A USEFUL GHOST
Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke turns grief and class into otherworldly satire in this hilarious deadpan comedy where a ghost inhabits a vacuum cleaner.
ETERNITY
Elizabeth Olsen, Miles Teller, and Callum Turner star in this fantasy dramedy about a metaphysical love triangle about the afterlife.
GOOD FORTUNE
Keanu Reeves plays a mischievous angel disrupting mortal lives in Aziz Ansari’s new freaky friday-esque comedy which he also stars along side Seth Rogan and Sandra Oh.
DUST BUNNY
Mads Mikkelsen leads a domestic thriller where household clutter hides sinister memories. The ordinary becomes uncanny in a film that blurs horror and family drama.
BLUE MOON
Richard Linklater directs Ethan Hawke who plays famed broadway songwriter Lorenz Hart, on the night of the Oklahoma! premier at Sardi’s in 1943. Hart reckons with lost fame, old collaborators, and the cost of brilliance alongside Andrew Scott, Margaret Qualley, and Bobby Cannavale.
Women Who Rewrite the Rules
POETIC LICENSE
Maude Apatow makes her directorial debut with this witty college comedy about two best friends whose bond is tested when they both sign up for the same poetry class.
LILITH FAIR: BUILDING A MYSTERY
Feminist rock doc bursting with archival backstage access, captures the iconic festival that shook industry conventions. Feature interviews with performers including Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu, Olivia Rodrigo, and Emmylou Harris make this doc a must see.
HEDDA
Tessa Thompson and Nina Hoss star in this daring queer reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s renowned stage drama from 1891, blending rage, repression, and desire in a fresh, provocative take on the classic play.
COUTURE
Angelina Jolie leads a globe-spanning drama that threads together women from Ukraine, France, and Sudan in the tense lead up to a runway show at Paris Fashion Week. Grit, glamour, and solidarity collide in a film that’s both stylish and stirring.
ELEANOR THE GREAT
Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with the story of a 90-year-old woman who flees Florida for Manhattan, chasing memory, autonomy, and late-life reinvention.
CHRISTY
Sydney Sweeney delivers a career-defining performance as Christy Martin packing on 30 pounds of muscle to embodying the raw grit and resilience of the former professional boxer. Her physical commitment and emotional depth promise to make this film one of TIFF 2025’s most electrifying world premieres.
Inheritance, Return & Spiritual Journeys
GLENROTHAN
Brian Cox makes his directorial debut with this brooding Scottish drama, which lures Alan Cumming into a world of haunted distilleries and fractured brotherhood. Secrets, legacy, and family tension steep every frame in dark, cinematic whisky-soaked intensity.
HOLY DAYS
A snowy pilgrimage turns quietly magical as three eccentric nuns, a young boy, and a ghostly mother navigate faith, grief, and the unexpected moments that stitch a family together. Gentle, strange, and full of heart, it’s giving small festival gem.
MY FATHER’S SHADOW
This semi-autobiographical film unearths a transformative day in 1993 Lagos, where two brothers reconnect with their estranged father amid political upheaval. A tender, evocative journey through memory, masculinity, and a nation on the brink of change.
Masks of Legacy, Art & Deception
THE CHRISTOPHERS
Steven Soderbergh returns with this darkly comic chamber piece starring Michaela Coel as a skilled art forger hired by the estranged children of a once-renowned painter, played by Ian McKellen.
BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER
Colin Farrell stars as a high-stakes gambler in Macau, with Tilda Swinton and Fala Chen adding intrigue in this sleek, psychological thriller.
DRIVER’S ED
Sam Nivola from White Lotus stars in this chaotic teen road-trip comedy, packed with promise, panic, and principal pursuits. It’s the mix of irreverent humor and heartfelt coming-of-age chaos that make this a standout comedy of the festival.
NOUVELLE VAGUE
A layered homage and critique of French cinema’s past, where fiction, memory, and history collapse into one another on screen.
Icons Reimagined & National Reckonings
KILLING CASTRO
Al Pacino and Malcolm X (portrayed in archival-inspired dramatization) navigate political paranoia in 1960s Harlem in this tense historical thriller. While public audiences will have to wait for another chance to see this one, it’s must-see for industry insiders at TIFF.
SAIPAN
Steve Coogan channels rivalry and national pride in this gripping sports drama set around the 2002 World Cup, where tension and legacy collide. Public audiences will have to wait for another chance to see this high-stakes competition unfold as this film is for industry only.
JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME
Opening TIFF’s 50th anniversary gala, this heartfelt documentary celebrates the legendary Canadian comedian, blending nostalgia, family pride, and rare archival footage. A must-see kickoff that sets the tone for the festival’s blend of intimacy and spectacle.
FRANKENSTEIN
Guillermo del Toro reanimates Mary Shelley’s gothic fable with Andrew Garfield and Oscar Isaac—an operatic vision of obsession, grief, and creation, stitched together with empathy and dread.
THE LOST BUS
Paul Greengrass dramatizes the harrowing true story of children stranded in a blizzard, where endurance and hope collide with nature’s fury.
Surrogates, Becoming & Quiet Epiphanies
RENTAL FAMILY
Brendan Fraser stars as an American actor turned professional surrogate in Tokyo in this soul searching dramedy. But roles slip into belonging, and he’s not sure where the acting ends and truth begins—until he becomes himself. It’s giving equal parts Lost in Translation and The Holdovers.
CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’
James McAvoy makes his directorial debut with this feel-good underdog tale about two Scottish men pretending to be Americans to achieve their dreams of hip-hop stardom. Based on a true story, the film explores themes of identity and ambition.
IF I HAD LEGS I’D KICK YOU
Rose Byrne takes on the role of a lifetime in this anxiety inducing A24 film. Byrne plays a therapist and mother whose life unravels under the weight of a failing marriage, a sick child, and her own fraying control alongside co-stars Conan O’Brien, A$AP Rocky, Danielle Macdonald, and Christian Slater.