15 of the buzziest films set to play at TIFF 2025

Every year, there are dozens upon dozens of films to navigate as part of TIFF's massive slate, and our selection of Festival Faves and the picks from the programmers may help you select what to see.

However, certain titles making their debut during the fall festival season, shared with Venice and Telluride, bring plenty to choose from, with several premiering right here in Toronto.

From Oscar winners to newcomers, industry veterans and exciting new voices, the excitement is already building for many of these titles days before the fest even starts.

Here are 15 of the buzziest films set to play the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

Ballad of a Small Player

In 2022, director Edward Berger brought his adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front to TIFF and took home an Oscar for his efforts. In 2024, his Conclave was not only one of the best of the fest, but it also earned him another naked gold man trophy.

In 2025, he returns with another English-language film, this one starring Colin Farrell as a gambler being hunted by Tilda Swinton's detective character. Place your bets on this being magnificent!

The Christophers

Snagging a world premiere of a Steven Soderbergh film is a pretty big get for the TIFF programmers, and this so-called "chamber comedy" may prove to be one of the delightful treats of the slate.

Fingers are crossed that we'll be able to see the film's star, Ian McKellen, gracing our town with his towering presence. Along with co-star Michaela Coel (last seen on the big screen in the Black Panther sequel), there's much to hope for from this artful film about a grumpy artist.

Christy

Oscar loves a transformation, and from the still alone Sydney Sweeney's turn as pugilist Christy Martin looks to make awards watchers salivate at the possibilities. Given that the film is helmed by Aussie director David Michôd, whose sublime 2010 crime drama Animal Kingdom continues to resonate, it makes one hope this boxing biopic holds no punches.

Frankenstein

The film that Guillermo Del Toro was born to make, combined with the fact that he was destined to make it in the studios on Toronto's waterfront.

Shot in Scotland and on the recently christened stages that bear the maestro's name, this epic retelling of Shelley's tale stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, with many artisans and technicians both from Toronto and around the world who gathered here to birth this monstrous, majestic creation.

Franz

Legendary director Agnieszka Holland, the Polish-born filmmaker behind the likes of 2023's Green Border and many of the best episodes of The Wire, returns yet again to TIFF with her latest, a film that mixes biopic elements of the famed writer Kafka with contemporary adaptations of watered-down elements of his literature. 

Sure to be both cerebral and compelling, another challenging yet rewarding work from this most esteemed of talents.

Good Fortune

After all this seriousness, why not revel in a comedy to lighten the mood? Aziz Ansari makes his directorial debut in this mildly blasphemous look at heavenly intervention. With a cast that includes Canuck legends like Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, and Sandra Oh, this angels-in-Los Angeles film looks like a welcome, somewhat zany riff on what Wings of Desire brought to a more dour Berlin.

Hamnet

No, that's not a spelling mistake, for indeed that's the moniker for Chloé Zhao's latest film that stars Paul Mescal as some guy named Shakespeare grieving over the loss of a son whose name the title shares. 

Seen through the perspective of his spouse Agnes (Jessie Buckley), and helmed by the Oscar winner of 2020's Nomadland, there is no question that many will queue to take in this tale of heartache and a thousand natural shocks.

No Other Choice

Park Chan-wook, one of the grand masters of contemporary Korean cinema, returns with his adaptation of Donald E. Westlake's satirical novel. Set in Korea and starring Lee Byung Hun, the film is co-written by Toronto's own Don McKellar, meaning we're going to be treated to more than a dash of homespun black comedy in this genre-twisting tale.

Nuremberg

Russell Crowe and Rami Malek both already have Oscars with their names engraved, but pairing them with the likes of Richard E. Grant and Michael Shannon in this story of the creation of the post-Nazi tribunals looks to be particularly captivating.

Written and directed by James Vanderbilt, the scribe behind such masterpieces as David Fincher's Zodiac, this timely, sweeping look at the border between justice and retribution promises to be exemplary.

Poetic License

In her directorial debut, Maude Apatow helms this college comedy about two students who befriend a fellow, older classmate who is auditing one of their courses. Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman and Leslie Mann star, alongside Cliff Smith (known often as Method Man), and this awkward tale of romance and academia looks to garner good grades.

Retreat

Ted Evans premieres his thriller set in a countryside retreat, where a group of Deaf individuals gather to learn coping mechanisms to navigate the hearing world. Starring Anne Zander and James Joseph Boyle, and told using British Sign Language, this debut by Evans, himself also part of the Deaf community, looks to be as groundbreaking as it is chilling.  

Roofman

Colorado native Derek Cianfrance clambers up to Toronto with his latest film, which stars Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst in this stranger-than-fiction crime thriller. Alongside Peter Dinklage, LaKeith Stanfield and Ben Mendelsohn, this world premiere looks to scale some pretty stunning heights.

Sacrifice

Romain Gavras premieres in Toronto his tale of an environmental conference in Greece that's initially overrun by celebrities, and soon by a slew of eco-terrorists.

With an ace cast including Salma Hayek Pinault, John Malkovich, Vincent Cassel, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charli xcx, and Chris Evans, this wild satire is sure to spark as much post-screening conversation as the laughter throughout the screening.

The Smashing Machine

Not sure who had Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson working with a Safdie brother on their TIFF 2025 bingo card, but this biopic of MMA and UFC fighter Mark Kerr seems to have been genetically engineered for the two to team up.

Tag-teaming with the likes of Emily Blunt, expect the film to wrestle with big ideas and emotions between the mayhem inside the ropes.

Wake Up Dead Mean: A Knives Out Mystery

If there's one premiere that TIFF had to secure, it was the latest chapter of Rian Johnson's gloriously realized murder mysteries.

The latest chapter features Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) in a spooky story that channels Edgar Allan Poe's "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," teasing a tantalizing, star-studded romp with the likes of Josh Brolin, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Kerry Washington, Jeremy Renner, and Glen Close serving as the ensemble.

There's no mystery to figure out here – this film looks to be a blast.