It's that time of year again: the Toronto International Film Festival is nearly upon us. Every September, TIFF brings forth a number of exciting movies, many of which end up becoming the centerpieces of awards season. Last year's festival featured major titles like The Wild Robot, Conclave, and The Life of Chuck.
This year's TIFF is doubly exciting because it's the festival's 50th year, and it's my very first time attending. It's always been a dream of mine to go, and every year I've gobbled up every review and scrap of news that came out of the event. This time, I'll get to experience it myself.
Taking place September 4-14, the TIFF 2025 lineup is full of exciting titles from incredible filmmakers and actors. Narrowing down a list of my most anticipated titles was no easy feat – believe me when I say there are several more on my radar beyond the 15 movies described below – but when factoring in the more universal buzz, we can pick out the biggest projects.
Motor City
Alan Ritchson standing in front of bars with a tense expression on his face in Motor City
Alan Ritchson has cemented himself as one of the strongest action stars working today thanks to his role on Prime Video's Reacher, and with Potsy Ponciroli's Motor City, he takes his skills to a whole new level. Here, he plays a man framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to prison. Years later, when he's released, he sets out on a path of revenge.
Motor City's supporting cast includes Shailene Woodley as Ritchson's love interest and Ben Foster as the gangster who frames him. Most interestingly, the movie is largely dialogue-free. For anyone who enjoys Ritchson's action chops, they'll love getting the chance to see him tackle a new kind of character in a unique format.
Saipan
A uniquely grounded and character-driven dramedy take on the sports genre, Saipan dramatizes the "Saipan incident" in 2002. When an argument between the Republic of Ireland national football team captain Roy Keane and the team manager Mick McCarthy escalates, Keane is removed from the team just before the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn keep the tension electric between the men, their conflicting wills leading to their falling out. Steve Coogan has always been a delight, but the real buzz surrounding the film has to do with newcomer Éanna Hardwicke, who plays Keane.
Reviews have been calling Hadwicke's performance a perfect contrast to the machinations of Steve Coogan's McCarthy. Hadwicke's perfectly blunt performance reportedly brings the famously contradictory but undeniably compelling athlete to life. Saipan is a must-see for fans of sports films that aren't afraid to leave the field for drama.
Eternity
Miles Teller, Callum Turner, and Elizabeth Olsen in Eternity
Elizabeth Olsen plays a recently deceased woman who finds herself in the afterlife and given one week to choose who to spend eternity with. She's caught between her partner of several decades, Larry (Miles Teller), and her first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who died tragically young.
The cast alone is great, but I'm especially excited to see where the thought-provoking concept goes. Plus, based on the trailer, it looks like Freyne has constructed a vibrant world that'll be amazing to see on the big screen.
Lost Bus
The Lost Bus looks like a thrilling return for Paul Greengrass. The director's first movie in five years, The Lost Bus is an intense survival drama set during the 2018 Camp Fire. Starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera as a bus driver and school teacher caught amid the chaos of the wildfire, the film quickly becomes a classic nail-biter.
The Christophers
Michaela Coel looks at Ian McKellen, who stands in a doorway, in The Christophers
Steven Soderbergh's Black Bag is one of my favorite movies of 2025 so far, so it's no surprise that I'm eagerly anticipating the director's next feature – with another Magneto actor, no less. The Christophers stars Ian McKellen as a renowned artist whose children (Jessica Gunning and James Corden) devise a scheme to have a forger (Michaela Coel) complete his unfinished works and earn a profit off their sale.
McKellen and Coel will go toe-to-toe in this comedy, promising an unexpectedly fascinating pairing. This year alone, Soderbergh has produced a ghostly horror film (Presence) and a slow-burn spy thriller (Black Bag), so to see him turn so suddenly to a comedy rife with familial intrigue and a touch of deception makes The Christophers a must-watch TIFF entry.
Ballad Of A Small Player
Colin Farrell lit in neon from behind in The Ballad of a Small Player
Starring Colin Farrell, the movie follows a traveling gambler falling more and more into debt, all while being chased by a detective (Tilda Swinton) who knows all too well what kind of person he is. With Conclave, Berger pulled a layered, compelling performance out of Ralph Fiennes and steered him to a Best Actor nomination, and the same could be true here for Farrell.
Fuze
Fuze looks like a great new thriller from David Mackenzie, and I can't wait to see how he unpacks a wild premise. Against the backdrop of Major Will Tranter trying to deal with an unearthed and deadly WWII-era bomb in the heart of London, the criminal Karalis and his crew use the chaos to pull off a bank heist.
While reviews suggest the twisty thriller works better when it's more straightforward, they've also agreed that the film is an absolute blast. Mackenzie has delivered plenty of great thrillers (including this year's Relay), so I'm on pins and needles to see what he can do with a stacked cast like Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and Sam Worthington.
Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine
Dwayne Johnson is known for his big, tough-guy roles in action franchises like Fast & Furious and in more divisive titles such as Red Notice. Now, though, he's showing off what he can truly do as an actor with Benny Safdie's The Smashing Machine. Playing real-life UFC fighter Mark Kerr, Johnson underwent a drastic physical transformation to chronicle the highs – and devastating lows – of his career.
I'm a strong defender of 2021's Jungle Cruise, which I believe is one of the rare Johnson outings where the actor plays a (fairly) new character, and here, he'll reunite with his love interest, Emily Blunt. Getting to see their chemistry in a more intense, hard-hitting drama is something I simply can't pass up.
Christy
Sydney Sweeney looking victorious in the boxing ring in Christy
The Smashing Machine isn't the only brutal take on the sports drama to pop off at TIFF, with Sydney Sweeney's boxing film Christy also getting some serious critical attention. Sweeney stars as Christy Martin, an icon in the world of boxing who helped break the gender barrier in popular culture surrounding female fighters.
Hamnet
Jessie Buckley as Agnes in Hamnet
With Nomadland, Chloé Zhao became the first woman of color to win Best Director at the Academy Awards, and now, after a brief trip to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the director returns to the quieter, heartfelt dramas she excels at. Hamnet is based on the novel by Maggie O'Farrell and explores the relationship between William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) and his wife, Agnes (Jessie Buckley), after an unimaginable tragedy.
The recently released trailer for Hamnet offers only a small glimpse of what Zhao has in store, but it's full of rich visuals and what could be award-worthy performances from Buckley and Mescal. Based on the premise, it seems this won't be an easy watch, but with Zhao's direction and a winning lead pair, it should be a very rewarding one.
No Other Choice
Lee Byung-hun is falling down in No Other Choice
Acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan-wook returns to TIFF three years after Decision to Leave with his latest movie, the satirical No Other Choice. It stars Squid Game's Lee Byung-hun as an employee at Solar Paper who, after years of dedicated service, is abruptly fired. Desperate for a new form of employment, he sets out to knock off the competition for an open position at a different company.
This is a timely story that has the opportunity to be twisted, hilarious, and devastatingly relatable. It could feature some of the year's most talked-about moments and secure Park the awards attention he missed out on when Decision to Leave was snubbed. Ahead of its debut at TIFF, it'll premiere at the Venice International Film Festival.
Good Fortune
Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) with the sky in the background in Good Fortune
Despite his recent fame as John Wick and enduring legacy from The Matrix, Keanu Reeves has always been far funnier than most audiences seem to give him credit for. Good Fortune looks like a great reminder of just how effective the actor can be when he's allowed to be silly.
Reeves plays Gabriel, a guardian angel whose efforts to prove himself end up flipping the lives of put-upon Arj and the wealthy Jeff. The film's wacky nature and whimsical touches (seriously, Keanu Reeves looks perfectly cast as a mopey but hopeful angel) hopefully pay off in this comedy about the struggles of life.
Hedda
Tessa Thompson in Hedda trailer
Easily one of the fall's buzziest titles, Hedda reunites Tessa Thompson with her Little Woods director Nia DaCosta for a fresh reimagining of the Henrik Ibsen play Hedda Gabler. Thompson plays the titular character, a bored housewife who, in the midst of an extravagant society party, decides to play some games with her guests. It also stars Imogen Poots, Tom Bateman, and Nina Hoss.
DaCosta earned rave reviews for her take on Candyman, and her reinvention of this classic play promises to be just as rich and compelling. Coupled with Thompson's lead performance and a new queer lens, Hedda is without a doubt one of the movies I'm most desperate to see at TIFF.
Frankenstein
Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein during a lecture.
Though it'll first screen for the world at Venice, Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein is one of the biggest titles receiving their North American premieres at TIFF. Del Toro has famously wanted to adapt the classic Mary Shelley story for years, and based on the teaser trailer and various images that have been revealed, he's bringing all of his best sensibilities to the project.
With Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi leading the starry cast as Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, respectively, this could be a standout movie in a year that's already produced some incredible horror titles. It's already so intensely anticipated, Netflix has agreed to let it play in select theaters ahead of its streaming debut in November.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
Daniel Craig Leaning Up Against a Tree in a Cemetery in Knives Out Wake Up Dead Man
At long last, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is returning for a new mystery. Following up on the runaway hit Knives Out and its 2022 sequel Glass Onion, Wake Up Dead Man will once again spotlight the eccentric detective as he embarks on a case that, so far, is steeped in religious and Gothic imagery.
Specific plot details are being kept tightly under wraps, but it's said the movie will find Blanc attempting to solve what appears to be an impossible crime. The latest A-list ensemble includes Andrew Scott, Josh O'Conner, Mila Kunis, Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Renner, and Glenn Close. Expectations are high for this one, and hopefully, writer-director Rian Johnson can deliver.
