Galas and Special Presentations
My prediction for hot tickets.
This year, the Toronto International Film Festival hits its 50th year. September 4th to the 14th in Toronto, ON.
Tiff.net for all the film info and how to get tickets.
To say it's going to be a massive year may be an understatement.
For the first time, I will be able to join the many throngs of media people attending this year's festival, which will offer a Media Pass for the first time. I have volunteered for the past 25 years, so I wasn't able to cover the festival in full for this Blog before. I will attempt to do some volunteer shifts because I get to see my friends that way, and then navigate the media frenzy too. I have covered other festivals like Hot Docs, Planet in Focus, and a few other festivals, but this is the first time I received media accreditation for TIFF.
Last year, I felt it was okay, but it lacked the usual buzz and excitement about many of the films. I think some films that got attention may have been overlooked in other years. Like Emilia Perez with Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Sofía Gascón, with a transgender lead and about drug dealing, and it was also a musical. This film was definitely out of the box and stirred a lot of controversy around awards season.
This year, Toronto will be excited to see the new Frankenstein movie, which was shot in Toronto in 2024 by Guillermo del Toro, a legendary Toronto filmmaker who just received a key to the City of Toronto. It stars the popular Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth.
This list was recently released by TIFF.
I have highlighted some films in Yellow for the ones that got my attention at first glance and in RED font for the ones that I think will get a lot of buzz because they either have a strong Toronto connection, a talented Director, or a topic of interest relating to World Events. This will also be a great year for celebrity spotting with Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, Aziz Ansari, Scarlett Johannsen, Colin Hanks, Colin Farrell, Daniel Craig, Angelina Jolie, Brian Cox, and a lot more who will most likely be here for their films.
Here's a list of this year's Gala and Special Presentation Films:
2025 Galas (in alphabetical order):
*A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | France
North American Premiere
Adulthood | Alex Winter | USA
World Premiere
Driver’s Ed | Bobby Farrelly | USA
World Premiere
Eleanor the Great | Scarlett Johansson | USA
North American Premiere
Eternity | David Freyne | USA
World Premiere
Fuze | David Mackenzie | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Glenrothan | Brian Cox | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Good Fortune | Aziz Ansari | USA
World Premiere
*Hamnet | Chloé Zhao | United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere
*Homebound | Neeraj Ghaywan | India
North American Premiere
*John Candy: I Like
Me |
Colin Hanks | USA
World Premiere
Lilith Fair:
Building a Mystery | Ally Pankiw | Canada
World Premiere
Nuremberg | James Vanderbilt | USA
World Premiere
Palestine 36 | Annemarie Jacir | Palestine/United
Kingdom/France/Denmark/Qatar/Saudi Arabia/Jordan
World Premiere
Peak Everything | Anne Émond | Canada | Closing Night Gala
Toronto Premiere
*Roofman | Derek Cianfrance | USA
World Premiere
*She Has No Name | Peter Ho-Sun Chan | Hong Kong/China
North American Premiere
Sholay | Ramesh Sippy | India | 50th Anniversary Restoration
North American Premiere
Swiped | Rachel Lee Goldenberg | USA
World Premiere
*The Choral | Nicholas Hytner | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Two Pianos | Arnaud Desplechin | France
World Premiere
2025 Special Presentations (in alphabetical order):
A Pale View of Hills | Kei Ishikawa | Japan/United
Kingdom/Poland
North American Premiere
A Poet | Simón Mesa Soto | Colombia/Germany/Sweden
North American Premiere
Bad Apples | Jonatan Etzler | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Ballad of a Small
Player |
Edward Berger | United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere
California Schemin’ | James McAvoy | United
Kingdom/USA
World Premiere
Calle Malaga | Maryam Touzani |
Morocco/France/Spain/Germany/Belgium
North American Premiere
Charlie Harper | Tom Dean, Mac Eldridge | USA
World Premiere
Christy | David Michôd | USA
World Premiere
Couture | Alice Winocour | USA/France
World Premiere
Dead Man’s Wire | Gus Van Sant | USA
North American Premiere
Degrassi: Whatever It Takes | Lisa Rideout | Canada
World Premiere
Easy’s Waltz | Nic Pizzolatto | USA
World Premiere
EPiC: Elvis Presley
in Concert |
Baz Luhrmann | Australia/USA
World Premiere
Eternal Return | Yaniv Raz | United Kingdom/USA
World Premiere
Frankenstein | Guillermo del Toro | USA
North American Premiere
*Franz | Agnieszka Holland | Czech Republic/Germany/Poland
World Premiere
*Good News | Byun Sung-hyun | South Korea
World Premiere
*Hedda | Nia DaCosta | USA
World Premiere
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You | Mary Bronstein | USA
Canadian Premiere
It Was Just an Accident | Jafar Panahi |
Iran/France/Luxembourg
Canadian Premiere
It Would Be Night in Caracas | Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás |
Mexico
World Premiere
Kokuho | Lee Sang-il | Japan
North American Premiere
Ky Nam Inn | Leon Le | Vietnam
World Premiere
Lovely Day | Philippe Falardeau | Canada
World Premiere
Meadowlarks | Tasha Hubbard | Canada
World Premiere
*Mile End Kicks | Chandler Levack | Canada
World Premiere
Monkey in a Cage | Anurag Kashyap | India
World Premiere
Nouvelle Vague | Richard Linklater |
France
Canadian Premiere
Poetic License | Maude Apatow | USA
World Premiere
Primavera | Damiano Michieletto | Italy/France
World Premiere
Project Y | Lee Hwan | South Korea
World Premiere
*Rental Family | HIKARI | USA/Japan
World Premiere
Rose of Nevada | Mark Jenkin | United Kingdom
North American Premiere
Sacrifice | Romain Gavras | United Kingdom/Greece
World Premiere
Scarlet | Mamoru Hosoda | Japan
North American Premiere
Sentimental Value | Joachim Trier |
Norway/France/Denmark/Germany/Sweden/United Kingdom
Canadian Premiere
Silent Friend | Ildikó Enyedi | Germany/Hungary/France
North American Premiere
Sirāt | Óliver Laxe | France/Spain
North American Premiere
Sound of Falling | Mascha Schilinski | Germany
North American Premiere
*Steal Away | Clement Virgo | Canada/Belgium
World Premiere
*The Captive | Alejandro Amenábar | Spain/Italy
World Premiere
*The Christophers | Steven Soderbergh |
United Kingdom
World Premiere
*The Lost Bus | Paul Greengrass | USA
World Premiere
The Secret Agent | Kleber Mendonça Filho |
Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany
Canadian Premiere
The Smashing Machine | Benny Safdie | USA
North American Premiere
The Testament of Ann Lee | Mona Fastvold | UK
North American Premiere | Presented in 70mm
The Ugly | Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea
World Premiere
Three Goodbyes | Isabel Coixet | Italy/Spain
World Premiere
Train Dreams | Clint Bentley | USA
International Premiere
Tuner | Daniel Roher | USA
Canadian Premiere
Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) | Zacharias Kunuk | Canada
North American Premiere
*Wake Up Dead Man: A
Knives Out Mystery | Rian Johnson | USA
World Premiere
You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy
Revolution... | Nick Davis | USA
World Premiere
I'm not as knowledgeable on World Cinema as my focus is generally on Big audience films unless there is someone who's work I really like.
These are my opinions, and who knows what will be the standout films this year, but these are my best guess until I start hearing more buzz about each film.
I will start providing more details later when I can choose select films to focus on.
