TIFF 50 is here and it’s bigger and better than ever.

TIFF 50

tiff-toronto-international-film 2025 poster

This year’s lineup is on fire. Outside the hotly anticipated Colin Hank’s doc, John Candy: I Like Me, and Rian Johnson’s latest, Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, here are 5 films we’re keeping our eyes on in the festival’s 50th year!

 

  • Honorary Chair and Award Winners: Actor Brendan Fraser is this year’s Honorary Chair. Other award winners include Idris Elba, Jodie Foster, Guillermo del Toro, and Channing Tatum.
  • The 50th Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, will run September 4–14, 2025. Celebrate with the best of Canadian and global cinema, special events and talks with stars, plus TIFF’s Industry Conference. TIFF 50

DUST BUNNY

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SYNOPSIS: In visionary creator Bryan Fuller’s (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies) fantastical and wickedly inventive feature directorial debut DUST BUNNY, a 10 year-old girl who joins forces with her hitman neighbor to confront each other’s monsters.

Ten year-old Aurora has a mysterious neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) who kills real-life monsters; he’s a hitman for hire. So when Aurora needs help killing the monster that she believes ate her entire family, she procures his services. Suspecting that Aurora’s parents may have fallen victim to assassins gunning for him, the neighbor guiltily takes the job. To protect her, he’ll need to battle an onslaught of assassins and accept that some monsters are real.



IN THEATERS: December 5, 2025

DIRECTOR: Bryan Fuller

WRITER: Bryan Fuller

CAST: Mads Mikkelsen, Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian, Sophie Slone

RUN TIME: 106 minutes TIFF 50


CAROLINA CAROLINE

Carolina-Caroline

In his latest slice of anarchic Americana, writer-director Adam Carter Rehmeier first introduces us to the always effervescent Samara Weaving (Guns Akimbo, TIFF ’19) as Caroline. Listless and living a small life in a small town, she dutifully cares for her single father (Jon Gries) though she longs to break from her dusty and dull world. But when she observes a handsome drifter (Kyle Gallner) pull a sly con for a few bucks, her curiosity sparks an introduction that ignites an apprenticeship. Before long, their lucrative, if untenable, criminal enterprise dovetails into a passionate romance.

DIRECTOR:  Adam Carter Rehmeier
 
WRITER: Tom Dean
 
CAST: Samara Weaving, Kyle Gallner, Kyra Sedgwick, Jon Gries
 
RUNTIME: 105m TIFF 50
 

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’
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Actor James McAvoy makes his directorial debut with this irresistible, feel-good underdog tale about two Scottish men pretending to be Americans to achieve their dreams of hip-hop stardom. It’s based on a true story that’s stranger than fiction.
 
DIRECTOR:  James McAvoy
 
CAST: Séamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley, Lucy Halliday, Rebekah Murrell, James McAvoy
 
WRITERS: Archie Thomson, Elaine Gracie
 
RUNTIME: 107m TIFF 50

 


LILITH FAIR: Building a Mystery
Lilith Fair_ Building a Mystery - [tiff.net]

This galvanizing documentary from director Ally Pankiw (I Used To Be Funny) takes us behind the scenes of Sarah McLachlan’s legendary all-women music festival and features interviews with performers including Bonnie Raitt, Erykah Badu, Olivia Rodrigo, and Emmylou Harris.

DIRECTOR:  Ally Pankiw
 
FEATURING: Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow, Erykah Badu, Paula Cole, Jewel, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Merchant, Indigo Girls, Emmylou Harris, Brandi Carlile, Olivia Rodrigo
 
RUNTIME: 99 Mins TIFF 50

 


TUNER

Tuner (2025)

A talented piano tuner’s meticulous skills for tuning pianos lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes, turning his life upside down.

DIRECTOR: Daniel Roher
 
WRITERS: Robert Ramsey, Daniel Roher
 
CAST: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno TIFF 50
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For TIFF coverage from years past, click here!

TIFF 50

 

 

About Liz Whittemore

Liz grew up in northern Connecticut and was memorizing movie dialogue from Shirley Temple to A Nightmare on Elm Street at a very early age. She will watch just about any film all the way through (no matter how bad) just to prove a point. A loyal New Englander, a lover of Hollywood, and true inhabitant of The Big Apple.

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