The Toronto Int’l Film Festival destroyed itself when it began to go wokey–wokey in ‘19 or thereabouts, and then it was further crippled by Covid. I for one was happy to see TIFF gradually slide down the slope…good!
For the last four or five years TIFF has been a shadow of its former self, and everyone kind of despises it for having become a festival of second–tier, sloppy–seconds, Venice–and–Telluride–rejected or leftover attractions.
Initial TIFF 2025 rundown:
Nicholas Hytner’s The Choral
Agnieszka Holland’s Franz
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet
Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound
Paul Greengrass’ The Lost Bus
Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life
HIKARI’s Rental Family
Derek Cianfrance’s Roofman
Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s She Has No Name
Clement Virgo’s Steal Away
Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Galas (in alphabetical order):
The Choral | Nicholas Hytner | UK
World Premiere | Gala Presentation: Homebound | Neeraj Ghaywan | India
North American Premiere | Gala Presentation: Hamlet | Chloé Zhao | UK
Canadian Premiere | Gala Presentation: A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | France
North American Premiere | Gala Presentation: Roofman | Derek Cianfrance | USA
World Premiere | Gala Presentation: She Has No Name | Peter Ho-Sun Chan | China
North American Premiere | Gala Presentation: Special Presentations (in alphabetical order):
Franz | Agnieszka Holland | Czech Republic/Germany/Poland
World Premiere | Special Presentation: The Lost Bus | Paul Greengrass | USA
World Premiere | Special Presentation: Rental Family | HIKARI | USA/Japan
World Premiere | Special Presentation: Steal Away | Clement Virgo | Canada/Belgium
World Premiere | Special Presentation: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Rian Johnson | USA
World Premiere | Special Presentation: The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 4–14, 2025.
The full Festival schedule will be released on tiff.net on Tuesday, August 12.
Upcoming announcements:
TIFF Takeover 1: July 21–24
• Mon., Jul. 21: Galas & Special Presentations
• Tue., Jul. 22: Platform & Jury
• Wed., Jul. 23: Discovery
• Thu., Jul. 24: Midnight Madness
Takeover 2: August 5–8
• Tue., Aug. 5: Centrepiece
• Wed., Aug. 6: TIFF Docs
• Thu., Aug. 7: Shortcuts & Primetime
• Fri., Aug. 8: Wavelengths & TIFF Classics