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Toronto International Film Festival · 2025

Toronto International Film Festival 2025

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23 films · 7 reviews

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100 Sunset

A young introverted thief spies on her Tibetan community in Parkdale, Toronto where she meets an unexpected confidant.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Kunsang Kyirong; Writer: Kunsang Kyirong; Stars: Tenzin Kunsel, Sonam Choekyi, Tsering Bawa, Tsering Gyatso, Lobsang Tenzin)

Amoeba

Review preview for Amoeba

Physical and metaphorical layers pile on top of one another.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
In a repressive city-state, a tomboy schoolgirl persuades three classmates at an all-girls school to rebel by forming a triad gang.

(Country: Netherlands, France, Spain, South Korea, Singapore; Year: 2025; Director: Siyou Tan; Writer: Siyou Tan; Stars: Janice Koh, Jack Kao, Doreen Toh, Genevieve Tan, Nicole Lee Wen, Lim Shi-An)

Full review See: Interview with Siyou Tan about Amoeba

As We Breathe (Aldigimiz Nefes)

When smoke from a chemical fire engulfs her village, Esma must help her father handle emerging and existing problems in a raw portrayal of a rural Anatolian family.

(Country: Turkey, Denmark; Year: 2025; Director: Seyhmus Altun; Writer: Seyhmus Altun; Stars: Hakan Karsak, Sacide Tasaner, Rüzgar Usta, Defne Zeynep Enci)

Babystar

Review preview for Babystar

With a past working for a management company used by YouTube stars, Bongard knows his subject matter well.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A family vlogger's teenage daughter discovers that her parents plan to have another child and begins to question the cost of her lifelong celebrity.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Joscha Bongard; Writer: Joscha Bongard, Nicole Rüthers; Stars: Maximilian Mundt, Matthias Matschke, Verena Altenberger, Maja Bons, Maria Matschke)

Full review

Bayaan

When a revered cult leader is anonymously accused of sexual abuse, rookie detective Roohi battles entrenched power, silenced victims, and rising danger in a tense, uncompromising fight for justice.

(Country: India; Year: 2025; Director: Bikas Ranjan Mishra; Writer: Bikas Ranjan Mishra; Stars: Huma Qureshi, Chandrachur Singh, Sachin Khedekar, Swati Das, Vibhore Mayank, Sampa Mandal)

Dinner With Friends

Eight friends struggle to hold on to their group as they reach their mid-thirties. Growing up is hard, staying close is harder.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Sasha Leigh Henry; Writer: Sasha Leigh Henry, Tania Thompson; Stars: Tattiawna Jones, Izaak Smith, Andrew Bushell, Rakhee Morzaria, Tymika Tafari, Alex Spencer, Michael Ayres, Leighton Alexander Williams)

Egghead Republic

An alternative reality where the Cold War did not end, and Soviet Kazakstan has been struck by an atomic bomb.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2025; Director: Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja; Writer: Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja, Arno Schmidt; Stars: Tyler Labine, Andrew Lowery, Arvin Kananian, Gina Dirawi, Ella Rae Rappaport)

Forastera

Review preview for Forastera

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

Nikola Jovic · 3 out of 5
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.

(Country: Italy, Sweden, Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias; Writer: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias; Stars: Lluís Homar, Núria Prims, Zoe Stein, Mata Angelat, Nonni Ardal Hammarström)

Full review

Ghost School

Review preview for Ghost School

Arsalan really does have something special.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Rabia, a ten-year-old Pakistani girl, sets out to find why her only school in the village is closed.

(Country: Pakistan; Year: 2025; Director: Seemab Gul; Writer: Seemab Gul; Stars: Adnan Shah Tipu, Tariq Raja, Adnan Shah, Nazualia Arsalan, Kehan Naqvi, Vajdaan Shah)

Full review See: Interview with Seemab Gul about Ghost School

Julian

Fleur and Julian fall madly in love and decide to get married in all countries where they, as two women, are allowed to do so. After only four marriages, their journey comes to a painful and unexpected halt.

(Country: Belgium, Netherlands; Year: 2025; Director: Cato Kusters; Writer: Cato Kusters, Fleur Pierets, Angelo Tijssens; Stars: Nina Meurisse, Laurence Roothooft)

Laundry

In apartheid South Africa, a young man's aspirations as a musician clash with preserving his family's laundry business amid intensifying racial discrimination against Black entrepreneurs.

(Country: Switzerland, South Africa; Year: 2025; Director: Zamo Mkhwanazi; Writer: Zamo Mkhwanazi; Stars: Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe, Ntobeko Sishi, Bukamina Cebekhulu, Zekheteholo Zondi, Tracy September)

Little Lorraine

Little Lorraine, a North Atlantic seaside town with a population of 60, becomes embroiled in an international cocaine smuggling operation under the noses of multiple governments, distributed in coffins through a network of funeral homes.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Andy Hines; Writer: Adam Baldwin, Andy Hines; Stars: Stephen Amell, Sean Astin, J Balvin, Matt Walsh, Rhys Darby, Stephen McHattie, Steve Lund, Sugar Lyn Beard)

Maddie's Secret

Review preview for Maddie's Secret

Maddie’s Secret is indeed a three-course meal, but it’s being served all at once on one plate

Alex Petrescu · 3 out of 5
A food influencer secretly struggles with bulimia as she navigates online fame, close friendships, and a painful past.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: John Early; Writer: John Early; Stars: Kristen Johnston, Vanessa Bayer, Kate Berlant, Conner O'Malley)

Full review

The Man In My Basement

Charles Blakey, an African American man living in Sag Harbor, is stuck in a rut, out of luck and about to lose his ancestral home when a peculiar white businessman with a European accent offers to rent his basement for the summer.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2025; Director: Nadia Latif; Writer: Nadia Latif, Walter Mosley; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Corey Hawkins, Anna Diop, Brian Bovell, Mark Arnold, Jonathan Ajayi)

Marama

Review preview for Marama

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

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
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.

(Country: New Zealand/Aotearoa; Year: 2025; Director: Taratoa Stappard; Writer: Taratoa Stappard; Stars: Ariana Osborne, Toby Stephens, Umi Myers, Evelyn Towersey, Errol Shand)

Full review See: Interview with Taratoa Stappard about Marama, part 2 , Interview with Taratoa Stappard about Marama

Nika & Madison

Fearing they won't be believed, two young Indigenous women go on the run after one's defense of the other results in a violent attack against a police officer.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Eva Thomas; Writer: Michael McGowan, Eva Thomas; Stars: Ellyn Jade, Star Slade, Shawn Doyle, Amanda Brugel, Isaac Kragton, David Reale)

Noviembre

A dramatised account of Colombia's 1985 Palace of Justice siege.

(Country: Mexico, Brazil, Norway, Colombia; Year: 2025; Director: Tomás Corredor; Writer: Tomás Corredor, Jorge Goldenberg, Iana Cossoy Paro; Stars: Santiago Alarcón, Natalia Reyes, Max Duran, Juan Morales, Jagdy López, Pacho Rueda)

Oca

A nun embarks on a spiritual journey to rescue her fading congregation, meeting people whose struggles with faith and wealth reflect her quest for sacred purpose in a broken world.

(Country: Mexico, Argentina; Year: 2025; Director: Karla Badillo; Writer: Karla Badillo; Stars: Cecilia Suárez, Enrique Arreola, Natalia Solián, Raúl Briones, Gerardo Trejaluna, Leonardo Ortizgris)

Our Father (Oce Nas)

When Dejan, a drug addict, arrives at a remote monastery commune, he falls under Father Branko's harsh guidance. As Dejan becomes Branko's right-hand man, their bond is tested when the priest's violent methods spiral out of control.

(Country: Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro; Year: 2025; Director: Goran Stankovic; Writer: Goran Stankovic, Ognjen Svilicic, Dejan Prcic; Stars: Vucic Perovic, Boris Isakovic, Goran Markovic, Toni Mihajlovski, Lazar Tasic)

Out Standing

Review preview for Out Standing

It’s the mass of minor incidents along the way which give it power, and it’s Charbonneau’s commitment to presenting them in this way that makes this an important work.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Officer Sandra Perron resigns from the Canadian military after a controversial photo surfaces. Adapting to civilian life amidst an investigation, she denies abuse allegations despite evidence suggesting mistreatment within her unit.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Mélanie Charbonneau; Writer: Mélanie Charbonneau, Martine Pagé; Stars: Nina Kiri, Vincent Leclerc, Antoine Pilon, Adrian Walters, Stephen Kalyn)

Full review

Retreat

In an isolated deaf community, Matt's idyllic world cracks when Eva arrives, making him question his identity and the costs of maintaining his supposedly utopian society.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Ted Evans; Writer: Ted Evans; Stars: Sophie Stone, Anne Zander, Ace Mahbaz, David Kukadia)

Sink

A mother refuses to accept her suspended high school senior son's deteriorating mental health, clinging to belief he only needs direction as warning signs multiply and crisis looms.

(Country: Jordan, Estonia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, France; Year: 2025; Director: Zain Duraie; Writer: Zain Duraie; Stars: Clara Khoury, Mohammad Nizar, Wissam Tobaileh, Tara Al Rifai, Anton Qasir)

The Son And The Sea

When Jonah and his best mate Lee take a trip to the Northeast coast of Scotland, they meet Charlie and learn that connection goes beyond words, and joy can be found despite loss.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Stroma Cairns; Writer: Stroma Cairns, Imogen West; Stars: Jonah West, Stanley Brock, Connor Tompkins, Grant Lindsay, Lewis Tompkins, Billie Tompkins)