5 Films to Look Out for at the Toronto International Film Festival

The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival takes place from September 4 to 12, showcasing nearly 300 films on screens across the city. From buzzy world premieres to titles fresh off the international festival circuit, TIFF 2025 offers a rich slate of global cinema. It’s a feast for cinephiles and casual viewers alike, and with so much to choose from, here are five standout films that promise to leave a mark.

Sentimental Value directed by Joachim Trier (Norway, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom)

This drama led by Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård took home the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it played to enraptured audiences. It marks Trier’s return four years after The Worst Person in the World, which also premiered at the French festival and earned Reinsve the Best Actress prize. Sentimental Value follows Reinsve’s Nora and her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) as they reunite with their estranged father, Gustav (Skarsgård), a once-renowned director trying to reignite his career by casting a Hollywood star (Elle Fanning) in a deeply personal role. As old wounds resurface, the three navigate the frictions of art, ambition, and family. During the Cannes press conference, Trier declared, “Tenderness is the new punk.” Judging by the emotional response, it seems he’s right.

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Frankenstein directed by Guillermo del Toro (United States of America)

Guillermo del Toro has built his career at the intersection of gothic horror and dark fairy tales, so it’s no surprise that his latest film, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, feels like a natural culmination. James Whale’s 1931 version of the story has long been one of del Toro’s favourite films, and his own interpretation has been in the works since 2008. The movie, which stars Oscar Isaac as the eponymous doctor and Jacob Elordi as his creation, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to critical acclaim. Considering del Toro’s long-standing empathy for tragic outsiders and monsters with heart, Frankenstein may be the story he was always meant to tell.

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It Was Just an Accident directed by Jafar Panahi (Iran, France, Luxembourg)

In the wake of his latest incarceration, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi channelled his rage into this year’s Palme d’Or winner, It Was Just an Accident, a morally complex thriller that blends dark humour with sharp political commentary. The film begins with a deceptively simple premise: Eghbal (Ebrahim Azizi) and his family fall victim to a roadside accident and seek help from an Azerbaijani auto mechanic, Vahid (Vahid Mobasseri). The catch? Vahid suspects he’s heard Eghbal’s voice before—during his time in prison. An undeniably personal work from Panahi, It Was Just an Accident is a must-watch that asks how we carry pain and seek justice in the aftermath of unspoken horrors.

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The Fence directed by Claire Denis (France)

Three years after releasing both Stars at Noon and Both Sides of the Blade, legendary French filmmaker Claire Denis returns with The Fence, making its world premiere at TIFF. Adapted from Bernard-Marie Koltès’s play Black Battles With Dogs, the film unfolds over a single night at a British-owned construction site in Senegal. Site supervisor Horn (Matt Dillon) awaits the arrival of his wife, played by Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex), when he’s confronted by the brother of a worker killed earlier that day. The man, Alboury (Isaach De Bankolé), has come seeking justice, transforming the workplace into a pressure cooker. A tense, confined drama, The Fence revisits themes central to Denis’s work: colonialism, masculinity, and racial inequality.

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A Poet directed by Simón Mesa Soto (Colombia, Germany, Sweden)

Simón Mesa Soto’s sophomore feature, A Poet, relishes and writhes in the discomfort of the tortured artist. Oscar (Ubeimar Rios), once a poetry prodigy in Medellín, has fallen victim to the passage of time—and Gabriel García Márquez he is not. After taking a job as a teacher, he crosses paths with a gifted young student, Yurlady (Rebeca Andrade), and sets out to make her his protege. But as Oscar quickly learns, pushing his dreams onto someone with their own isn’t the answer to his creative despair. In an official Cannes interview, Soto explained that the idea for the film came to him while imagining the worst version of himself. This sharp, satirical character study, which won the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize, may leave artists of all kinds both giggling and cringing at the all-too-familiar ache of the ego.

Photos courtesy of TIFF.

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