10 Highlights From TIFF 2025

The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has come and gone, and with it came the usual expected shake up of what the rest of the year will look like for awards season. While the festival contained a line-up of over 200 features from around the world, its People’s Choice Award (decided upon by the public audiences attending the festival) tends to be seen as a barometer of what will end up at the Oscars; since 2012, almost every winner has either ended up winning or receiving a nomination for Best Picture. This year’s top prizewinner was “Hamnet,” directed by Oscar winner Chloe Zhao (“Nomadland”), and with that win the film is now seen as the most likely to walk away with Best Picture next year.

While there’s an incentive for TIFF to position itself as an influencer on Hollywood’s biggest annual event, it would be a bit boring to attend this festival and only focus on the titles that are coming out anyway before the end of the year. There are plenty more films to check out, some of which screened for the first time and might not ever get a proper release in the future. These ten films, which only make up a small amount of strong works at this year’s TIFF, represent the various and diverse range of films the festival tends to offer each year. 

Sirāt

Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes this year, “Sirāt” blew audiences away when it premiered in May and it’s easy to see why. Set in the Moroccan desert, the film follows a father looking for his missing daughter at a rave. When he hears about a second party happening deeper into the desert from a group of ravers, he and his young son tag along with them in the hopes of finding his daughter there, all while radio broadcasts in the background suggest a third world war might break out at any moment. The title comes from an Arabic word that, in Islam, is a razor-thin bridge between our world and paradise, with damnation underneath it, and director Oliver Laxe realizes that concept in ways both exhilarating and terrifying. One of the best directed films of the year, and with an excellent soundtrack of thumping, bass-heavy techno, “Sirāt” is best watched knowing as little as possible about the unexpected directions it takes. Just let its  visceral power take over, but be warned: not everyone will be prepared for the journey.

“Sirāt” will release in theaters in January 2026 after a qualifying Oscars run in November.

The Christophers

Steven Soderbergh’s second film this year (third if you count “Presence,” which premiered in 2024 but came out in January) turned out to be one of TIFF’s more delightful surprises among its world premieres, with the director changing gears yet again to deliver a fun, engaging (mostly) talky two-hander. Ian McKellan plays Julian Sklar, a once famous gay painter who’s faded from relevance after a series of successful works called The Christophers. Without his knowledge, his kids hire art restorer Lori (Michaela Cole) to be his assistant with the ulterior motive of finding his unfinished Christophers paintings and finishing them herself, forgeries the kids hope they can sell off once their father kicks the bucket. Soderbergh mostly lets Cole and McKellan do their thing with Ed Solomon’s solid screenplay, which uses this unique pairing to explore ideas around art, commerce, and the inherently subjective ways that art’s value inflates and deflates when it intersects with commerce.

“The Christophers” is currently seeking distribution and has no release date.

Dust Bunny

Out writer and producer Bryan Fuller has made a name for himself over the years with cult hit series including “Dead Like Me,” “Pushing Daisies,” and “Hannibal,” all of them cancelled but with strong, dedicated fanbases who’ve come to love his distinctive vision and irreverant sense of humor. With “Dust Bunny,” Fuller transitions to film and sits in the director’s chair to tell a dark fairy tale about Aurora (Sophie Sloan), a 10-year-old girl who recruits her hitman neighbor (“Hannibal” star Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster under her bed that ate her parents. Taking clear inspiration from the film “Amelie” with its bright, colorful style, Fuller puts together a silly yet fun time with his directorial debut thanks to a strong cast, snappy dialogue, and a grim tone that doesn’t coddle to its younger target audience. Think of it as “Leon: The Professional” but with a giant, man-eating rabbit thrown in the mix and you’ll get an idea.

“Dust Bunny” will release in theaters on December 5.

Sound of Falling

The Jury Prize at Cannes this year was split between “Sirāt” and “Sound of Falling,” the latest film by German director Mascha Schilinski. While not a well-known name beforehand, having only made one feature beforehand in 2017, “Sound of Falling” quickly established her as a major new talent after it premiered earlier this year. Set at the same farmhouse location across four generations, from the early 20th century to today, Schilinski’s film jumps back and forth through time to examine the lives of four different women, ranging from a young girl terrified of death to a teenage girl figuring out her sense of self as she comes of age. Schilinski’s film is a slippery one, shifting through subjectivities via a staggering level of formal control while creating narrative and thematic elements that echo throughout each period of time. It’s one of the more ambitious films to come out in years, and more often than not it comes close to grabbing the lofty goals it sets for itself, with some of the best cinematography and sound work of the year.

“Sound of Falling” will release in theaters however no date has been announced yet. 

Miroirs No. 3

German filmmaker Christian Petzold’s latest film starts out as a dreamlike mystery of sorts, where music student Laura (Paula Beer) gets into a car crash with her boyfriend while driving in the countryside. Laura’s boyfriend dies in the accident while she survives without any injuries, and soon asks to move into the home of Betty (Barbara Auer), who lives up the street from the crash site and finds her. Surprisingly, Betty accepts Laura’s request without hesitation, and while the two live in harmony at first, past secrets come to light that provide insight into why the two women forge such a strong and immediate bond. Petzold is easily one of the best filmmakers working today, which shows itself throughout “Miroirs No. 3” in how he crafts such a compelling and beguiling tone, teasing out plot details and creating well-drawn portraits of his two lead characters within a brief, sub-90 minute runtime. Those familiar with Petzold’s prior films, like “Barbara” or “Phoenix” or “Yella,” will find plenty to enjoy here in how aspects of his prior work reappear here, a perfect tie-in to this film’s story of the past informing the present.    

“Miroirs No. 3” will release in theaters however no date has been announced yet.

With Hasan in Gaza

In 1989, Palestinian director Kamal Aljafari was imprisoned by Israeli forces and met an inmate named Abdel who made a strong impression on him. In 2001, Aljafari went back to Gaza with a tour guide named Hasan in the hopes of finding Abdel, even though he had little information as to his whereabouts. “With Hasan in Gaza” is the raw footage of Aljafari's trip over two decades ago, footage he forgot about until he recently discovered it while going through his personal archives. What’s shown is a portrait of Gaza and its people that, while still under violent occupation at the time, is all the more devastating given the recent destruction caused by the ongoing war in the area. Aljafari’s film is a personal diary, a reckoning with his memories, and a moving tribute to the people of his home country.

“With Hasan in Gaza” is currently seeking distribution and has no release date. 

Sentimental Value

While it didn’t take home the top prize at Cannes, Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” was a clear favorite at the festival, receiving rave reviews and a lengthy standing ovation that the media kept reporting on . Having now made its way to North America, where distributor Neon hopes to score a Best Picture win like it did last year with “Anora,” the hype around “Sentimental Value” makes sense given how accomplished it is as an ensemble drama. Set after their mother dies, sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) reunite with their estranged father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a filmmaker about to start filming a new movie inspired by his childhood. He offers the role based on his mother to Nora who refuses outright, so Gustav decides to cast Hollywood star Rachel (Elle Fanning) instead. Trier navigates through this messy dynamic in ways both refreshing and relatable in their lack of contrivance and plot, and what comes out of it is a look at a father and daughter trying to find a common ground of communication through their artistic expressions.

“Sentimental Value” will release in theaters on November 7.

Powwow People

Simple but effective in its structure, Sky Hopinka’s “Powwow People” is a documentary set at a powwow in Seattle over three days, with participants across America and Canada. An event co-organized by the director himself, the majority of the film has Hopinka’s camera viewing the event from a distance, panning across the crowd while he observes both the singing and dancing as well as various attendees. At the same time, testimonies from various people involved with the event play over the footage, which includes one of the event coordinators and a queer, gender non-conforming dancer who talks about being accepted into the powwow. It’s a relaxed and inviting glimpse at this particular event and experience, one that Hopinka doesn’t try to translate for viewers. That lack of context may not work for everyone, but invest in the film and it pays off in spades with its final section where Hopinka takes his camera into the powwow circle, filming a dance with the camera whirling around as it watches the performances up close. It’s a thrilling transition from the observational to the experiential, all shown as a welcoming gesture for audiences to embrace the strong senses of community and expression on display.

“Powwow People” is currently seeking distribution and has no release date.

Magellan

In “Magellan,” Gael Garcia Bernal stars as the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, following him in the early 1500s as he explores and colonizes parts of Malaysia and the Philippines before his murder in the Battle of Mactan. Director Lav Diaz tells a mostly straightforward story of Magellan and his exploits, only from a perspective that paints him as a tyrannical and arrogant man who created a path of death and destruction for egotistical gains. Perspective is one of the most important parts of “Magellan,” as Diaz’s film is a historical drama that subverts the expectations around this particular genre. Working in color for the first time in years (people aware of Diaz’s filmography of ultra-long, slow-paced black and white films will be in for a shock here), Diaz and cinematographer Artur Tort film in grand, ravishing compositions, ones that put nature and the elements in the foreground. It’s a choice with a cumulative impact, as over time Magellan’s hubris is all the more abhorrent as it’s put in proper context.

Wake Up Dead Man

Rian Johnson’s mystery franchise chugs along with its third entry, where once again an ensemble of famous actors participate in a whodunit being investigated by Daniel Craig’s detective Benoit Blanc. This time, Blanc winds up in a small town in upstate New York where the town priest (Josh Brolin) and his devoted parish clash against a young priest (Josh O’Connor) recently assigned to work at the church. As expected, a murder occurs, Blanc shows up, and everyone’s a suspect (cast members include Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Andrew Scott, among others). Johnson splits the difference between the grounded yet silly tone of “Knives Out” and the absurd and silly tone of sequel “Glass Onion,” using the Catholic imagery to go gothic while teasing out a mystery that’s seemingly impossible to solve. It’s the usual light entertainment expected of this series by now, although this time it benefits from the presence of O’Connor, who takes on a much bigger role than prior co-leads Ana De Armas and Janelle Monae and walks away with the film. If “Challengers” or “The Crown” didn’t confirm it, “Wake Up Dead Man” should cement his status as a new A-lister in Hollywood. 

“Wake Up Dead Man” will release in theaters on November 26 before streaming on Netflix on December 12.