Toronto International Film Festival

Latest reviews

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  Winter Of The Crow

  Review preview for Winter Of The Crow

  As a director Adamik is good when it is close up and claustrophobic.

  A psychiatry professor gets caught up in Poland's instigation of martial law during a trip to Warsaw and ends up in a cat-and-mouse chase to escape.
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  Forastera

  Review preview for Forastera

  Aleñar Iglesias... presents the ordinary world as loaded with meaning.

  During her Mallorca summer, Antonia recognises similarities with her late grandma. She develops an influence over her mourning grandpa through dress-up, blurring who inhabits who.
• 
  & Sons

  Review preview for & Sons

  There are no weak links in the top-notch cast.

  A writer tries to reconnect with his sons.
• 
  Ghost School

  Review preview for Ghost School

  Arsalan really does have something special.

  Rabia, a ten-year-old Pakistani girl, sets out to find why her only school in the village is closed.
• 
  Meadowlarks

  Review preview for Meadowlarks

  It is all very gently done.

  Four siblings, torn apart by the Sixties Scoop, reunite for one week.
• 
  Hen

  Review preview for Hen

  You’re unlikely to see anything quite like it any time soon.

  A hen seeks refuge, where she becomes an innocent observer of a human trafficking gang.
• 
  Obsession

  Review preview for Obsession

  Obsession is not just a real indicator of talent but an absolute treat.

  A desperate wish for love goes terribly wrong.
• 
  Rose Of Nevada

  Review preview for Rose Of Nevada

  Jenkin’s style, impressionistic when it comes to places, is particular in regard to objects, the real anchors of our lives.

  A mysterious boat returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.
• 
  Marama

  Review preview for Marama

  One of the most impressive films of the year to date.

  A young Māori woman travels to Victorian England after receiving a letter promising information about her birth parents. As she peels back the layers of colonial deceit, she is driven to avenge her shattered ancestry.
• 
  All The Empty Rooms

  Review preview for All The Empty Rooms

  For the most part...the rooms speak for themselves.

  A short documentary following correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they embark on a seven-year-long project to document the empty bedrooms of children killed in school shootings.

A–Z of Toronto International Film Festival 2025 reviews →

Features

• Spirited animals
  Meriem Bennani and Orian Barki on making animation Bouchra
• From the withered tree
  Taratoa Stappard on colonial hierarchies, Ariana Osborne and Marama
• Behind the tsar
  Olivier Assayas on humanising history in The Wizard Of The Kremlin
• The dying house
  Taratoa Stappard on colonial horrors and inventing the Maori Gothic with Marama
• The mighty Amazon
  Gabriel Mascaro on balancing beauty and identification in The Blue Trail
• Looking back
  Kei Ishikawa on memory, ambiguity and A Pale View Of Hills
• 'Children can understand a lot more than we think..'
  The makers of Little Amélie on why perceptions about animation are changing
• 'I like putting incompatible stuff together and seeing how it works'
  Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke on mixing fantasy and reality in A Useful Ghost
• 'The important thing is to make films you believe in'
  Ben Rivers on myth adaptation and world creation in Mare's Nest
• Song of the desert
  Kangding Ray on changing attitudes to music in cinema, and scoring Sirât
• 'I think it completely changed my life'
  Aleksandre Koberidze on his love for the Sony Ericsson and using it to shoot Dry Leaf
• It’s about re-enchantment
  Christian Petzold on cinema history, lullabies, Laura, Rebecca and Miroirs No. 3
• Contested stories
  Siyou Tan on teenage friendships, ghosts and the search of truth in Amoeba
• 'I didn't make this film myself. The Islamic Republic made it by putting me in prison'
  Jafar Panahi on the inspiration for It Was Just An Accident
• 'Simple is actually the hardest to do'
  Eric San - aka Kid Koala - on minimalism and cherishing the moment in Space Cadet
• Dual identity
  Or Sinai on exploring the life of a migrant worker who returns home in Mama
• 'I admit it was crazy idea, but then film people are crazy'
  Richard Linklater on chronicling the creation of Godard's Breathless in Nouvelle Vague
• Slice of life... and fable
  The President's Cake director Hasan Hadi on the challenges and craft behind his debut
• A test of love
  Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer on Honey Bunch
• Tales from the tundra
  Zacharias Kunuk on telling traditional stories in Wrong Husband

News

• Hamnet wins Toronto audience award
  Forastera takes FIPRECI prize