The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is quickly approaching, and as such, officials have released the full lineup of films being screened at this year’s event.
The festival, presented by Rogers, is slated to take over Toronto from Sept. 4-14, with a selection of 291 movies, including 209 feature films, six classics, 10 primetime and 66 shorts.
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From love stories to documentaries, Now Toronto picked three films in five different genres that you should check out at TIFF this year.
LOVE STORIES
Blood Lines
Gail Maurice’s second feature film, Blood Lines, is having its world premiere at this year’s TIFF. Described as a lesbian romance, the film is a celebration of Métis culture, telling the story of two young women who fall in love.
Blood Lines sees storyteller Beatrice, played by Dana Solomon, fall for a Chani (Derica Lafrance), a woman who has recently arrived in her community in search of her biological family. The movie also explores Beatrice’s relationship with her mother, who struggles with alcohol dependency.
Charlie Harper
Charlie Harper explores a complicated relationship between titular characters Charlie (Nick Robinson) and Harper (Emilia Jones) that checks in at various points throughout their lives, including when they met as teenagers, later on when they reconnect after high school, and when they leave their town to move to New Orleans.
The romantic film then asks an interesting question: What should we do with our happy memories when they’re inextricably linked to a relationship that has long since soured?
Mile End Kicks
Set in 2011 Montreal, Mile End Kicks is a coming-of-age story about 23-year-old writer Grace Pine (Barbie Ferreira) who works as a music critic for a male-centred small publication, and leaves her parents’ home to move into a shared apartment she found online to write a novel.
During the movie, which is having its world premiere at TIFF 2025, Pine meets two lovers, with drama ensuing as they are members of the same rock band. Mile End Kicks sees Pine find herself amid self-discovery, with drunken poetry readings, poor choices, and a twist that sees her becoming the band’s publicist. The festival calls the movie a new romantic comedy to fall in love with.
COMEDY
Follies
Follies is a frank and funny movie that follows a long-term couple, François (Eric Boulianne) and Julie (Catherine Chabot), as they explore new and exciting sexual adventures.
After spending many years together, having children and settling in Montreal, the duo decide that opening up their relationship could make them happier. But this leads to some complicated circumstances, with the couple navigating the realities of this new relationship structure.
As the debut feature film from director and star Eric K. Boulianne, TIFF boasts that Follies may just be the most hilarious movie of the year.
Poetic License
If you’re looking for a story of unlikely friendship, Poetic License might be the movie for you.
The film is a comedy about college life led by two best friends, unlikely duo Ari (Cooper Hoffman) and Sam (Andrew Barth Feldman). Ari is described as goofy and self-centred, while Sam is more conservative, pursuing a career in finance. The two are in a poetry class being audited by Liz (Leslie Mann), an older, married mother who recently moved to town. The trio soon become friends, but this becomes complicated when both boys fall in love with Liz.
This attraction causes issues in the boys’ friendship, but also within Liz’s family, which includes her husband (Cliff Smith) and teenage daughter (Nico Parker). The comedy, which is the directorial debut of actor Maude Apatow, is also having its world premiere at TIFF.
Dead Lover
A dark comedy that is part of TIFF’s Midnight Madness series, Dead Lover stars Grace Glowicki as a gravedigger who cannot find love because of how bad she smells. But she soon meets a man (Ben Petrie) who enjoys her smelly aura.
But when her lover is killed during a voyage, the gravedigger turns to unnatural science to try to bring him back from the dead.
Co-written and directed by stars Glowicki and Petrie, the film boasts a cast of just four actors, including Leah Doz and Lowen Morrow. The foursome play dozens of roles throughout the movie.
THRILLERS
A Private Life
A Private Life sees award-winning actress Jodie Foster star as Lilian, an American psychoanalyst living in Paris.
The slyly comic psychological thriller revolves around the suspicious death of Lilian’s client Paula, which leads to a series of twists and turns. While Lilian is first believed to have taken her own life, visits from Paula’s widower and daughter, and the discovery that files are missing from Lilian’s office, lead the psychoanalyst to believe her patient may have been met with foul play.
Obsession
Be careful what you wish for is the theme of Obsession, a psychological thriller making its world debut at TIFF this year.
The movie follows a young man named Bear (Michael Johnston), who has always had a thing for his childhood friend Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Unable to reveal his feelings, Bear wishes that she loved him back. However, he makes this wish while in possession of a trinket with supernatural properties, and his dream-come-true soon turns into a nightmare as his friend’s personality begins to change quite sinisterly.
Retreat
Described as the world’s first Deaf thriller, Retreat sees a young Deaf woman from Berlin (Anne Zander) arrive in the English countryside at an isolated retreat for people who are hard of hearing, looking to find a sense of belonging, support, and connection. But things soon take a turn, with the camp’s methods becoming questionable as this immersive, slow-burn psychological drama unfolds.
The principal cast of the film, as well as writer-director Ted Evans, are Deaf, bringing their own lived experience and insights to this project. Made using British Sign Language, the festival calls Retreat a rare, fully-immersive film centring Deaf subjectivity on its terms.
DRAMA
& Sons
& Sons stars Bill Nighy as Andrew Dyer, an aging literary superstar who hasn’t written anything or left his house in 20 years. In that time, he has, however, lost his wife, had a child with someone else, and become mostly estranged from his other children.
Following the death of a friend, he is inspired to gather all of his children together for the first and last time. But during this meeting, Dyer’s older children find out a secret about their half-brother that changes everything.
The movie is based on David Gilbert’s 2013 critically acclaimed novel of the same name, and co-written by Oscar-winning Toronto screenwriter Sarah Polley.
100 Sunset
An apartment complex in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood is the scene of intrigue, desire, and deceit in the mystery drama 100 Sunset. The film explores a growing connection between two young Tibetan women living in the west Toronto apartment complex.
Kunsel steals from and spies on her neighbours, while Passang is an enigmatic newcomer with a much older husband. The plot follows Kunsel after she is forced to leave her comfort zone as a voyeuristic outsider after meeting Passang, painting a detailed portrait of the wider network of intersecting lives among the people who live in the community.
Eternity
Eternity is a drama that follows the afterlife of Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) and Larry (Miles Teller), an elderly couple who die within a week of each other after decades of marriage. In this film, the dead first spend a week at a way station, deciding who they want to spend the rest of eternity with.
While it may seem like an easy choice for Joan and Larry, the introduction of Joan’s first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), throws a wrench into their happily ever after. Luke was killed in the Korean War and has now spent 67 years waiting to reconnect with Joan.
DOCUMENTARY
A Simple Soldier
A Simple Soldier is the latest documentary from cinematographer Artem Ryzhykov.
The film sees Ryzhykov take on the role of co-director, videographer and narrator, documenting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Following the invasion in 2022, Ryzhykov planned to document the war using his camera before realizing he needed to enlist as a soldier. Ever since, he has taken on both roles, fighting against Russia while creating a film to share with the world.
The film is co-directed by Colombia’s Juan Camilo, who first connected with Ryzhykov before the war began. The duo went on to co-create the piece without ever meeting in person. The documentary integrates several figures, following their story as they try to cope with the realities of war through humour, philosophy, camaraderie, and love.
True North
Set in Montreal, True North centres on the 1969 protests at Montréal’s Concordia University, where young Black academics stood up against the discrimination they faced as students.
During a time when many people in Haiti were driven into exile by then-president François Duvalier, many Haitians came to Canada seeking refuge. But here, they were met with hardships like discrimination, ghettoization, and double standards. This became an issue for Black university students, who were not given the rewards they had earned for academic excellence. The ongoing discrimination and accumulated injustices led to a protest where students took over the computer lab, calling for their grievances to be heard. Ninety-seven students were arrested during the protest, with many abused by police and deported from the country.
Combining archival footage and interviews with those who took part in the protest, the film is described as a tribute to the valiant young people who dared to stand up for their rights and forged an impactful contribution to the story of Black liberation. Highlighting a moment in history that sees Canada reckoning with its own racism, the documentary is the latest work from Michèle Stephenson.
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk is a documentary about life in Palestine, told through the eyes of Fatma Hassouna, a Palestinian photographer killed by an Israeli airstrike in April 2025.
During her life, Hassouna developed a friendship over video call with filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, with whom she had over 200 days of digital exchanges. Farsi utilized these conversations in the development of this film, which gives viewers insight into Palestine during the ongoing war.
You can find the full schedule for this year’s TIFF here.
