TIFF 2024

In a post-apocalyptic future where food is scarce, the last descendants of a Black family of farmers who settled in Canada after the American Civil War must protect their homestead from an organized militia hell-bent on taking their land.

Writer-director R.T. Thorne infuses the dystopian narrative with contemporary relevance and an inescapable historical metaphor, placing Black and Indigenous characters at the center of a story about people defending their land from those who would kill them for it without a second thought. Learn more about 40 Acres and find screenings here.

An idyllic childhood with her mooshum and kookum, or grandparents, in her community of Peguis First Nation dissipates as Aberdeen’s hard-partying and absentee parents distances her from that haven. Now an adult, sleeping on public benches, Winnipeg-based Aberdeen is in survival mode. The last remaining stable parts of her life begin slipping away — her reliable brother Boyd (Ryan Black, Dance Me Outside, TIFF ’94) is ill and gives up Aberdeen’s grandkids to the foster care system. Then she loses her ID. Houseless, and without proper identification, she is rebuffed time and again as she seeks out services meant to help her. It’s only when she hitches a ride back to her home community that she’s treated like a valued person and can see the potential to stop generational trauma. Kelly Boutsalis Learn more about Aberdeen and find screenings here.

Numbers are everything to Grace Lisa Vandenburg (Teresa Palmer, Message from the King, TIFF ’16). The life of Grace, a Melbourne-based mathematician, is largely governed by her arithmomania, an obsessive-compulsive need to count (three times to ensure accuracy) everything from the poppy seeds on her cake to the bristles on her toothbrush. In a chaotic, sometimes tragic, and constantly changing world, Grace’s preoccupation gives her a sense of order and control. And she does her best to lead a “normal” life, spending time with her mother and sister, her beloved niece Larry… and a manifestation of the late inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla (Eamon Farren) who is Grace’s closest confidante. Grace’s structured life takes an unexpected but not altogether unwelcome turn when she meets Seamus (Joe Dempsie), a British immigrant captivated by Grace’s offbeat charm. As their relationship deepens, Grace grapples with revealing her compulsion. In an effort to change, she begins seeing a therapist and agrees to take medication, which dulls and upends her once-vibrant world. Adrift in this new reality, Grace must face the spectre of a long-buried childhood tragedy, forging a new path towards balance. Jason Ryle Learn more about Addition and find screenings here.

It’s a recognizable near-future, Simon (Brett Goldstein) accompanies his best friend, Laura (Imogen Poots), as she takes a new test guaranteeing to match anyone with their soulmate. As Laura hurtles towards milestones with her new man, Simon begins to understand how deeply he cares about her, even if he’s not ready to accept it. Despite their feelings, Simon and Laura must navigate the path destiny has laid out for them, before it all becomes too much and their love spills over into their complicated lives. All of You utilizes an innovative structure that presents a brief peek into the main characters’ lives before whisking us into the future, repeating this cycle to offer snapshots of a love that lasts a lifetime. Jane Schoettle Learn more about All of You and find screenings here.

The film begins in 2019, with filmmaker Xiaorui and his team discovering fascinating old footage from a project abandoned 10 years earlier. This unfinished work, reminiscent of Lou Ye’s critically acclaimed Spring Fever (TIFF ’09), brings back poetic images of past youth with sequences featuring a gay couple. Nostalgia and the desire to bring completion to a project dear to him prompts Xiaorui to reunite his original crew to complete it. Their efforts, however, are disrupted by the onset of COVID-19 in Wuhan, forcing the group into lockdown. Blending fiction with real footage from social media, Lou Ye creates a unique documentary-style narrative that conveys the early days of the pandemic. The film shows the characters’ lives in suspension: confined to their hotel rooms, they communicate through screens and experience the monotony, anxiety, and isolation that defined those months. It juxtaposes painful and dramatic moments with flashes of joy and culminates with the lifting of the lockdown and commemoration of the victims. This blend of personal narrative and broader societal impact stands as a unique testament of and tribute to a nation’s trauma. Lou Ye captures the essence of confinement and the struggle to maintain creativity amid chaos in a profound exploration of unfinished projects and the broader sense of unfinishedness imposed by the pandemic. GIOVANNA FULVI Learn more about An Unfinished Film and find screenings here.

Over the last 30 years, with a rare repertoire that encompasses pop, rock, and opera, Andrea Bocelli and his golden voice have touched the hearts of millions of listeners around the world. Using last year’s magisterial concert at the Baths of Caracalla as its anchor, Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe is an intimate portrait of one of the world’s greatest living singers. Bocelli grew up in the Tuscan village of La Sterza. Despite being born with congenital glaucoma and losing his sight completely at age 12, he frequently took long horseback rides alone, feeling, as he declares, “zero fear.” That same fearlessness helped him work his way up, going from dues-paying gigs singing Sinatra songs at piano bars to eventually having a worldwide smash with “Time to Say Goodbye,” his astonishing duet with Sarah Brightman. Earning plaudits from Pavarotti, Bocelli then went on to make his name with the gale-force power of his dazzling tenor. Decades later, he continues to move fluidly between genres, singing alongside peers as diverse as Cristina Pasaroiu, Jennifer Lopez, and Dua Lipa. Directed by Cosima Spender (Palio), this inspiring documentary tracks Bocelli’s path to success and ongoing dedication to his craft through interviews and archival performance footage, as well as informal gatherings, such as a diverting party where Bocelli’s friends and family reminisce over food and wine. When Bocelli sings, it is as though heaven has opened its gates, but watching Because I Believe reminds us that this remarkable artist is very much rooted in the earth. Learn more about Andrea Bocelli: Because I Believe and find screenings here.

Sean Baker’s latest casts Mikey Madison as a sex worker named Anora, or Ani as she prefers to be called. She may live in a shabby Brooklyn apartment above the rattle of the subway, but every night, Ani glams up and puts on a flirty smile for the men at a local club. Between myriad lap dances, Ani finds herself talking to Vanya, a young Russian boy who joyfully throws around his parents’ money. His innocence charms Ani, and the two fall into a comfortable rhythm. She shows him a good time, and he opens the door to a charmed life she could only have imagined. They begin a whirlwind romance that’s soon threatened by Vanya’s powerful family. Ani finds herself gripping onto a fantasy by her long pink fingernails. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Anora and find screenings here.

Issa (Ibrahima Sambou) is a young undocumented immigrant from Senegal living in Turin, Italy. He is doing his best to survive — and send money home — in a bustling city that in countless ways renders him invisible. Moreover, he’s living in a hostile landscape, in which people in his precarious position are at the whims of international politics and at the mercy of whomever they face. Fired by his previous employer, Issa finds work as a food-delivery rider, thanks to a kind friend (Moussa Dicko Diango). The arduous job requires the employee to provide their own means of transport, and soon Issa’s newly gained stability collapses when, during a drop-off, the bicycle he has just spent all his money on is stolen. Determined to overcome yet another challenge, Issa immediately embarks on an uphill odyssey through the city streets to recover his means of transport and survival. Luckily, moments of reprieve find tenderhearted Issa, as he moves through the city with distinguished grace, including an encounter with a fellow migrant (Success Edemakhiota) that brings glimmers of beauty and reminds the viewer of the best of humanity. Dorota Lech Learn more about Anywhere Anytime and find screenings here.

When Romy, the high-powered executive played by Nicole Kidman in Babygirl, starts cheating on her urbane theatre director husband (Antonio Banderas), it’s not because their sex life has dimished. As the opening scene explicitly demonstrates, there’s still significant heat between them. But when he goes to sleep, Romy sneaks out of the room to finish, alone, what she clearly couldn’t achieve with him. When Romy meets Samuel (Harris Dickinson), an impertinent intern at her company who can intuit more about her than she intends to share — and who’s happy to take control — it’s only a matter of time before they find themselves in a seedy hotel together. They wrestle, literally and figuratively, over a twisty power dynamic. Romy’s age and position give her an advantage, but as Samuel reminds her, he could ruin her life with one phone call. Anita Lee Learn more about Babygirl and find screenings here.

“Let me entertain you!” Robbie Williams famously sang. From boy band euphoria to solo stadium tours, the UK pop star has lived large, loud, and right on the edge. No mere music biopic could do his highs and lows justice. And so Michael Gracey hit on an audacious, dazzling approach. Gather round and witness the life of Robbie Williams unfold in a rather unorthodox way, to say the least. Gracey draws on his substantial background in visual effects and signature images for pop videos, weaving those skills through propulsive storytelling. All of this elevated his blockbuster debut, The Greatest Showman; here it results in a truly spectacular film. It helps that Williams is one of the most kinetic and deeply self-aware pop stars on the planet. Learn more about Better Man and find screenings here.

12-year-old Bailey (played by charismatic newcomer Nykiya Adams) lives with her father Bug (a devoted but emotionally chaotic Barry Keoghan) in a graffiti-strewn tenement. When Bug informs her that he’ll be marrying his new girlfriend soon, Bailey is furious and hurt, for what will become of her? Her mother lives with a violent, cruel man, and while Bug sports a ferocious love for his daughter, he can be oblivious to the needs of a fledgling teenage girl. As she often does, Bailey retreats to the open fields on the outskirts of her hometown to seek comfort. It is here she is most herself, with an uncanny ability to communicate with animals and experience nature in a profound way. It is on one of these walks that Bailey has a mysterious, yet deeply meaningful, encounter that helps her when she must force a confrontation with her mother’s vicious partner. This latest film from renowned English filmmaker Andrea Arnold is a compelling, ultimately joyous story that tackles themes of identity, sexism, loneliness, and class struggle. The director’s empathy and skill at showing us beauty despite dire circumstances elevates Bird beyond its roots. Add to that a crystalline thread of magic realism and the result is an ode to the wondrous transition from childhood to adolescence. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Bird and find screenings here.

At the height of summer holiday, 18-year-old Cécile (Lily McInerny), the apple of everyone’s eye, is languishing at the French seaside with her devilishly handsome father Raymond (Claes Bang) and his bohemian lover Elsa (Naïlia Harzoune), whose age is not far from Cécile’s. Other than tending to a budding romance with a local boy (Aliocha Schneider), Cécile has all the time in the world to float and daydream, giving her a front row seat to Apéro-laden adult conversations free of morality. Building her sandcastle just as the tide rolls in, her postcard-perfect world is threatened when a visit from her late mother’s friend Anne (Chloë Sevigny) — a celebrated American-born, Paris-based fashion designer who fits the scene like a glove — casts a shadow over Cécile’s quotidian belle vie, despite her longing to connect. As days turn into weeks and the sun’s power fades, Cécile uncovers as many uncouth truisms about the fabulous people around her — who are just human​ after all — as she does about herself. Stylish, meticulous, and devastating to the core, Bonjour Tristesse is a time-marked yet timeless tale of growing up. An adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s unforgettable coming-of-age novel of the same title (published when Sagan was only 18 years old), this sun-dappled and passion-soaked debut feature by Montreal-based writer-cum-director Durga Chew-Bose heralds a singular artist. Adorned with costuming by Miyako Bellizzi and a score by Lesley Barber, Bonjour Tristesse masterfully captures the complexity of relationships among women and how they can come to wield influence over one another’s fates.​ Dorota Lech Learn more about Bonjour Tristesse and find screenings here.

The characters in Christopher Andrews’ feature directorial debut live on a knife’s edge, eager to evade the dark shadows of the past and the myriad forms of ruin threatening their future. Chronicling a feud between neighbouring families in rural Ireland, Bring Them Down draws us to a world of desolate beauty and desperate men. Michael (Christopher Abbott, Sanctuary, TIFF ’22; The Forgiven, TIFF ’21) tends his family’s sheep business entirely on his own. His father (Colm Meaney) is disabled, and his mother died years ago in a car accident in which Michael was the driver. Michael has lived with guilt ever since — as well as a secret he hopes will never come to light. Michael’s ex, Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone), was also in that car accident and has the scars to prove it. She wound up marrying Gary (Paul Ready), another sheep farmer. Near the start of Bring Them Down, Caroline and Gary’s son, Jack (Barry Keoghan, also at the Festival with Bird), claims that two of Michael’s prize rams were found dead on his family’s property. Michael’s suspicions are aroused, old wounds are opened, and the two families, with neither willing to stand down, find themselves on a perilous collision course. Robyn Citizen Learn more about Bring Them Down and find screenings here.

Bookending her days by contemplatively sitting by a stream, Jeonim (Kim Minhee) sketches in her notebook, where patterns inspired by nature serve her elaborate textile designs. An artist and lecturer at a woman’s university, she calls upon her uncle Chu Sieon (Kwon Haehyo), a once-famous actor-director to come direct her department’s production for the school’s annual skit festival as a scandal has caused literal drama among the group and the dismissal of the original director. While the visit stirs the latter’s memories from his experience directing a skit at that same university 40 years prior, Jeonim’s supervisor (Cho Yunhee) grants him a warm and flirty welcome, happy to be in the presence of greatness. During the course of the rehearsals, and as the moon grows fuller and energies collide, students and teachers alike reach deep within themselves to explore their fragile, fallible selves. By the Stream is the latest feature by wildly prolific Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo. It’s a bittersweet tale of loneliness, connection, and artistic creation as solace. Produced in his typically minimalist fashion and reuniting a troupe of regulars, Hong’s latest explores the ineffable and complex nature of human bonds against a beautiful autumnal landscape of changing leaves. Andréa Picard Learn more about By the Stream and find screenings here.

Eight years since her last feature, filmmaker, writer, and visual artist Ann Marie Fleming brings her gentle, introspective touch to the timely genre of environmental science fiction. Joined by past collaborator Sandra Oh — who voiced and co-produced Fleming’s Window Horses (TIFF ’16) — and elements of her trademark animation, Can I Get a Witness? tells the story of a mother and daughter in a near-future world where huge sacrifices are made to maintain life on Earth. With its resources swallowed by e-waste and overpopulation, the world is experiencing an anthropogenic collapse. To manage, technological advances are shunned. Nobody has electricity and only people with exceptions are permitted cars. Most importantly, there is also a collective agreement that nobody is allowed to live beyond the age of 50. Oh’s Ellie lives with her teenage daughter Kiah (Keira Jang), who is starting her first day as a Documenter, an important role in this new world order. She uses her artistic gifts — beautifully conjured in animations — to draw the dying ceremonies, since printing and photography have been banned. Kiah is paired with Daniel (Joel Oulette), the young man who performs the contractual elements of each person’s end-of-life ceremony. He matter-of-factly provides the packages a person can choose, sets them up when the time comes, and performs the burials. But his new coworker is having a hard time handling the emotional impacts of the job. Kelly Boutsalis Learn more about Can I Get a Witness and find screenings here.

A mesmerizing work that spans 20 years yet challenges the idea of time, Jia Zhang-Ke’s latest masterpiece is a reimagining of his cinema, the rewriting of his career, and a lucid portrait of China’s recent history. A countercurrent film that sweeps away the dust settling on the images of memory, Caught by the Tides is a love letter to actress Zhao Tao, the very embodiment of Jia’s cinema. She has shaped it, and continues to define and inspire his films, with the beautiful power of her performances.

In the first part of Caught by the Tides, Jia revisits footage filmed from the century’s start to today. He then unravels the thread of the relationship between Bin (Li Zhubin) and Qiaoqiao (Zhao), and follows the woman’s journey in search of her lost love, from Datong to the banks of the Yangtze River, where millions face relocation and where the Three Gorges Dam is about to submerge cities, memories, and histories.

Here, Jia retraces the leitmotifs of his cinema, from social changes and modernization, to memory and nostalgia, in a captivating cinematic experiment that recontextualizes familiar scenes and outtakes from his previous films.

Capturing the emotional and historical trajectories of his characters, the film serves as an active chronicle, leading, in the second part, into the pandemic era of 2022, where societal fractures could be seen most vividly. Giovanni Fulvi Learn more about A Missing Part and find screenings here.

This has been a prolific year for Kiyoshi Kurosawa, one of the great auteurs of Japanese cinema. After directing both a French-language remake of his 1998 film The Serpent’s Path and the mid-length mystery horror Chime, he has ventured into genre domain with the action-packed scenes, unexpected adventurous notes, and chilling suspense of his latest thriller, Cloud. Borrowing its title from the nebulous internet entity that has forcefully entered our daily lives in recent years, Cloud delves into the sinister undercurrents of modern society where digital anonymity fuels real-world malice. The story centres on Ryosuke Yoshii (Masaki Suda), a factory worker in Tokyo who makes extra money reselling goods online under a pseudonym. After a successful stint, he quits his job and relocates to the countryside with his girlfriend, hiring a local young man to help with his reselling business. However, Yoshii’s seemingly idyllic life is shattered by mysterious attacks from unknown assailants, dismantling his peace as he discovers multiple enemies targeting him. Giovanni Fulvi

Learn more about Cloud and find screenings here.

When the Pope unexpectedly dies, Cardinals from all over the world rush to the Vatican, where they immediately sequester themselves. Digital devices are stashed, doors are locked, and windows are shuttered as they prepare for the election of a new leader — one who will not only provide spiritual guidance for the world’s Catholics, but set the tone for the future. Director Edward Berger returns to the Festival, after his TIFF ’22 selection, the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front, with this high-stakes drama set within the stunning walls of the Vatican. Featuring scintillating performances from Oscar nominees Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, and John Lithgow, Conclave imagines a secret process that affects millions but is witnessed by few. Cardinal Lawrence (Fiennes) oversees the proceedings, assuming that the contest will come down to a battle between the reactionary, openly racist Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) and the liberal progressive Cardinal Bellini (Tucci). And matters soon turn complicated as rumours circulate, secrets emerge, and acts of sabotage are undertaken. Adapted by Peter Straughan (The Goldfinch, TIFF ’19) from the Robert Harris novel, and lensed by cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine (Revoir Paris, TIFF ’23), the film captures the potent gravity of this whole competition with one arresting composition after another. Conclave unfolds over a tension-riddled 72 hours, depicting a gripping confrontation between tradition, politics, and faith. Featuring brilliant supporting performances — most notably from Isabella Rossellini as the silent yet formidable Sister Agnes — it focuses on the all-too-human aspects of a hallowed procedure, one that speculates on the role of religion in a rapidly changing world. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Conclave and find screenings here.

For centuries, the Kingdom of Dahomey, within the borders of modern-day Benin, was a central cultural meeting point in West Africa, a site of European colonial conquest and the transatlantic slave trade. In 1892, the French invaded and looted hundreds of treasures from the royal palace, alongside thousands of other works. Following years of appeals and reports, in 2021 an agreement was made for several of these artworks to be returned from France to Benin. French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop (Atlantics, TIFF ’19), whose spectral, category-defying cinema has frequently focused on identity and exile, was granted access to the multipartite process. Tracing the historic repatriation of 26 royal treasures from the Musée du quai Branly in Paris, through their crating, overseas shipping to Cotonou, condition assessment, and eventual unveiling, Diop reveals not only the material and logistical process with elegance and precision, but also summons the ghosts of displacement. Carried by the surreal, disembodied voice and restless spirit of a bronze itself (speaking in Fon) — as well as evocative music by Dean Blunt and Wally Badarou — the film is at once lean and expansive, trimmed of any extraneous elements while provocatively gesturing towards unresolved histories of colonial expansion and exploitation (with which museums the world over are rife). As a galvanizing gathering of young, cross-disciplinary Beninese students and teachers at the Université d’Abomey-Calavi fervently debate the arrival of the treasures, their impassioned arguments and ideas echo the film’s timely, political reckoning. Winner of this year’s Golden Bear at the Berlinale, Dahomey further cements Diop as a leading voice in contemporary cinema. Andréa Picard Learn more about Dahomey and find screenings here.

Nacho Vigalondo’s (Colossal, TIFF ’16) signature blend of wit, whimsy, and darkly provocative allegory is in full effect in his latest film, which soulfully ruminates on love, grief, and the toxic ramifications of making all your dreams come true. We meet Nick (Henry Golding) in Madrid, adrift in a deep-seated malaise over the sudden death of his lover Daniela (Beatrice Grannò). A concerned friend enrolls him in a clinical trial for a drug that imbues its participants with totally lucid dreams — in an effort to sublimate his woe — and the experiment goes awry when Nick fails to adhere to the prescription. With his newfound ability to control his dreams, he sets out to rebuild his relationship with Daniela in an idealized fantasy of his own design. Articulating Nick’s fog of depression by shooting the “real world” in affectless digital video and a boxy ratio, Vigalondo delightfully distinguishes Nick’s dreams by expanding their frames to vibrant high-definition cinemascope, with their subjects surreally bathed in a warm glow of Mediterranean sunlight, no matter the time of day. But while these dreams are at first limited to the boundaries of Nick’s own memories, with Daniela appearing as a mere palimpsest of the woman Nick loved, the verisimilitude of this realm enriches with each slumber, and Daniela begins to exhibit a gradual, disquieting autonomy that raises thorny ethical implications. Peter Kuplowsky. Learn more about Daniela Forever and find screenings here.

In the spirit of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice, but set in a community of East Asian frighteners, Dead Talents Society invites you to peer beyond the veil into the secret netherworld of professional spectres as they compete in terrorizing the living to ensure their liminal lifestyle. You see, souls have a finite shelf life after death, and must regularly spook up the mortal realm as a curse or urban legend in order to secure a “haunter’s license,” a renewable reprieve from total oblivion. While such macabre machinations are no sweat for those who lived boldly in life, for the meeker variety of newly dead, it promises a second death sentence. Co-writer and director John Hsu, who dominated the Taiwanese box office with his 2019 survival horror videogame adaptation Detention, swaps that film’s provocative scares for this gleefully silly, supernatural satire as he stylishly hones in on the afterlife of a shy, recently deceased teen (Gingle Wang) who learns that she has only 30 days left to scare someone. At the behest of a starry-eyed “ghost” talent agent (Bo-Lin Chen) sympathetic to her desperation to be seen, the rookie falls in with a troupe of misfit haunters, led by a phantom diva (Sandrine Pinna) determined to revitalize her own fading career. Together, they scheme for screams, and with so much hysterical showmanship and winning sincerity, their blood-curdling feats will not only split an audience’s sides, but also inspire a happy tear or two. Peter Kuplowsky

Learn more about Dead Talents Society and find screenings here.

In Disclaimer, celebrated journalist Catherine Ravenscroft — played by two-time Academy Award winner and TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award recipient Cate Blanchett — has made a career out of exposing the transgressions of others. One day, she receives a mysterious book in the mail. Reading it, she soon realizes the novel’s protagonist is based on her younger self, and the plot reveals her deepest, darkest secret. Who sent it? What do they want? And how will Catherine protect her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen), her son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and her own reputation if others connect the novel to her past? These are the questions Alfonso Cuarón explores in his seven-part psychological thriller adapted from Renée Knight’s 2015 novel of the same name. In his first foray into serialized storytelling, Cuarón takes full advantage of the format, jumping from past to present, exploring how perceptions, even flawed ones, can be unwavering, and how love can obscure truth. Matching Blanchett’s brilliance is Kevin Kline, who plays Stephen Brigstocke, one of many characters wrestling with the implications of the mysterious book. Rounding out the incredible cast is Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George, and Hoyeon, all at their absolute best. The moral trajectory of their characters and the complexity of the narrative illustrate the best aspects of a 21st-century novel. Luckily, it’s also in the meticulous hands of one of cinema’s greatest filmmakers. Geoff Macnaughton Learn more about Disclaimer and find screenings here.

A committed couple finds their life slipping away, not because they’ve done anything in particular, but because their history is unwriting itself. Sort of. TIFF Presented by Rogers The debut feature from Fredericton filmmaker Arianna Martinez is easier to experience than describe. It’s a multiverse picture without a single visual effect, unless you count the actors. Several years after their meet-cute — at a wedding, of course — Olive (Caroline Bell) and Benny (Ian Ottis Goff) are spending an entirely ordinary day at their lake house. Until, that is, things start to shift, little by little. At first it’s just an apparently misplaced package or some scrambled letters on the fridge. Then, it’s more meaningful stuff. And then, almost casually, Olive finds Benny replaced by a woman named Ada (Mallory Amirault), who can’t understand why Olive doesn’t know her. They’ve been together for years, after all. Since they met at that wedding. Working from a script she co-wrote with producer Gordon Mihan, Martinez keeps the storytelling clear and coherent even when her characters don’t know what’s happening, using a slightly theatrical style and making the most of a very limited budget. And New Brunswick stage actor and playwright Bell is sensational in her first film role as Olive. She glows — sometimes literally — as a woman slowly realizing she might not have been living the life she wants, and grappling with everything that means. It’s slippery and strange, and sort of wonderful. You’ll want to hold this one close. Norma Wilner Learn more about Do I Know You From Somewhere and find screenings here.

Based on historical events, this scintillating thriller from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard stars Jude Law (Vox Lux, TIFF ʼ18; Dom Hemingway, TIFF ʼ13) and Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman, TIFF ʼ20) as high-minded Europeans seeking a new life on a previously uninhabited island in the Galápagos archipelago. They and those who follow them believe they’ve found paradise — only to discover that hell is other people. Dr. Friedrich Ritter (Law, also at the Festival in The Order) and his partner Dora Strauch (Kirby) flee their native Germany in 1929, repudiating the bourgeois values they believe are corroding mankind’s true nature. On the isle of Floreana, Friedrich can focus on writing his manifesto, while Dora resolves to cure her multiple sclerosis through meditation. Their hard-won solitude, however, is short lived. They are joined by Margaret (Sydney Sweeney) and Heinz Wittmer (Daniel Bruehl), who prove to be earnest, capable settlers. Next comes Eloise Bosquet de Wagner Wehrhorn (Ana de Armas) a self-described Baroness and the “embodiment of perfection,” who arrives with two devoted lovers, an Ecuadorian servant, a wardrobe full of evening gowns, and plans to erect a luxury hotel. Between inclement weather, unruly wildlife, and a total lack of amenities, all three groups find life on Floreana arduous. But nothing will test their mettle more than the challenge of coexisting with desperate neighbours capable of theft, deception, and worse.

Learn more about Eden and find screenings here.

Introverted and uncomfortable in his own skin, Anx (Matthieu Sampeur) does not consider himself an obvious partner for Cass (Édith Proust), the feisty whirlwind of confidence he finds himself waking up alongside after a presumed one night stand. And yet a romance begins to bloom. However, the nascent relationship is threatened when a strange disease begins to spread throughout the world, gradually causing the infected to merge with whatever they touch. Finding themselves quarantined to Anx’s claustrophobic apartment, the couple is soon besieged by their very surroundings, which have begun coalescing with their neighbours into a spongy new life form that seeks to add the lovers to its mass. Even before the body-horror emerges in Thibault Emin’s mesmerizing debut feature, the film envelopes its characters in an anxious haptic soundscape of sticky, squelchy friction as Anx and Cass navigate each other, be it through probing conversation or intimate consummation. And as an apocalypse encroaches upon them, genre thrills emerge with the appearance of grotesque creatures whose disturbingly fractured depiction is liable to raise the hairs on the arms of the audience — provided they haven’t already crawled out of their skin from the eerie foley. Further mutating towards a philosophical climax that blends existential dread with transcendental awe, Else recalls a rather literal interpretation of the Modern English lyric “I’ll stop the world and melt with you,” as it profoundly articulates a unique vision of the end of everything, and how it may, in fact, just be the start of something new. Peter Kuplowsky. Learn more about Else and find screenings here.

Exhilarating and piercingly resonant, the latest from director Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone, TIFF ’12; The Sisters Brothers, TIFF ’18) audaciously merges pop opera, narco thriller, and gender affirmation drama. Emilia Pérez is a rollercoaster in which crime, redemption, and karma collide, featuring fearless performances from Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and the amazing Karla Sofía Gascón, an ensemble that collectively received the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Rita Moro Castro (Saldaña) is a Mexico City defense attorney whose brilliant strategies have kept many murderous but wildly affluent clients out of jail. Her reputation draws the attention of Manitas Del Monte (Gascón), a notorious kingpin, who is secretly transitioning. He hires Rita to arrange an itinerary of under-the-table procedures with the world’s best surgeons, while making a plan for the wife (Gomez) and kids he’s leaving behind. The process is a success, Manitas’ murder is staged, and Emilia Pérez is born. This new identity affords Emilia the ability to create a whole new life for herself, but the past begins to creep back, threatening to undo everything she and Rita have worked so hard to achieve. Written by Audiard with Thomas Bidegain, Nicolas Livecchi, and Léa Mysius, with music by Camille and Clément Ducol, Emilia Pérez upends expectations with its ingenious plot twists, eye-popping spectacle, and inspired musical detours, which find the entire cast singing, rapping, and dancing as a means to express the dreams and anxieties of an entire culture struggling against corruption, fear, and harmful stereotypes. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Emilia Pérez and find screenings here.

Once upon the year 1999, on a planet very much like our own — only 3,000 light years away — three teenagers find themselves plunging into chemical waste that imbues them with a unique ability: when they sneeze their consciousness travels 20 years into the future. With their sinuses now propelling them to and fro in time, they are burdened with two precepts: the future sucks, and they have power to change it. From this punchy absurdist conceit embarks an imaginative adventure, which recalls the high-wire genre acrobatics of a Tsui Hark or Stephen Chow extravaganza, further cross pollinated with post-modern maximalist comedies like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Writer-director Yang Li maintains a breakneck momentum as he thrusts his three adolescent travellers into a disorienting manhood. The trio’s leader, Cheng Yong Wang (Yang Song), discovers he is subservient to a criminal empire; Zha Wang (Ruoyun Zhang) struggles as a journalist for a corrupt media company; and Pao Pao (Chenhao Li) threatens the integrity of their friendship upon learning that he is dating Yi Yang (Yanmanzi Zhu), the girl of Cheng Yong’s dreams. Featuring a dizzying array of special effects, and kinetic action that brilliantly integrates comic-book animation with magnificent martial art prowess from the scene stealing Chuxi Zhong and Xiaoliang Wu — not to mention sublime needle drops that hit like an aural dose of epinephrine — Escape from the 21st Century is a transcendent treatise on the power of friendship, the elasticity of fate, and the dream of building a better world. Peter Kuplowsky Learn more about Escape from the 21st Century and find screenings here.

In 2000, actress-director Liv Ullmann (Scenes from a Marriage) helmed her fourth feature, working from a previously unproduced screenplay by her frequent collaborator Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal). Faithless, Bergman’s piercing tale of lust, adultery, and the agony of desire, earned Ullman a Palme d’Or nomination and became essential to the marital drama canon. Adapted as a limited series, written by Sara Johnsen (July 22) and directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Faithless once again blends the best of Norwegian and Swedish cinematic talent. We are drawn back into the world of Marianne (Frida Gustavsson, Vikings: Valhalla), a young actress in a happy marriage to Markus (August Wittgenstein, The Crown). When Markus’ best friend David (Gustav Lindh, Queen of Hearts) spends a summer visiting, an attraction blooms between Marianne and David, triggering a decades-long emotional fallout. Given the breathing room of an episodic treatment, Faithless expands on the lifelong stakes of the affair. Forty years later, David and Marianne — still grappling with the consequences of their passion — reunite. Here, David is played by veteran Danish actor Jesper Christensen (Casino Royale) while Swedish actress Lena Endre plays Marianne as she did in the original film. Geoff Macnaughton Learn more about Faithless and find screenings here.

What if your country were evacuated? How would you function as a refugee, separated from your friends and family? These are the questions Oscar-nominated director Thomas Vinterberg and co-writer Bo Hr. Hansen pose in Families Like Ours, a sweeping series set in a near-future Denmark where the government evacuates all citizens in response to national flooding. At the centre of the series is Laura (Amaryllis August), a high school student in love with Elias (Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt), both in their graduating year. Laura and her supportive family — successful architect father Jacob (Nikolaj Lie Kaas), stepmother Amalie (Helene Reingaard Neumann), journalist mother Fanny (Paprika Steen), uncle Nikolaj (Esben Smed), and his husband Henrik (Magnus Millang) — must navigate the impacts of the evacuation. These include a housing market crash, widespread denial, and displacement. As the family is torn apart, Laura sets off on a harrowing journey, fuelled by the hope of reconnection. Families Like Ours is less about a disaster than community and our shared fears. It explores the best and worst of ourselves with authenticity. As in his previous work, Vinterberg continues to examine family dynamics, connection, and character, but with the advantage of having seven episodes at his disposal. Audiences are in luck as TIFF is screening the full series — fitting for the work of a director who has presented multiple films at the Festival over the last 25 years. Geoff Macnaughton Learn more about Families Like Ours and find screenings here.

Software developers Themba (Jesse Suntele) and Tayo (Mike Afolarin) have finally launched their latest venture, Easy Go — a new rideshare app to connect Lagos State’s busy commercial motorcyclists (“Okada riders”) with customers in their area. Riding high on capital investments and credible government assurances, the young South African and Nigerian duo can finally envision the fruits of their labour. But after a night of celebrating, the business partners confront a pernicious roadblock familiar to all Nigerian youth — the police. This routine extortion, however, will turn out to be the least of their concerns. While Easy Go’s developers are street-taxed out of their success, the app takes off. For Abiola (played by Mr. Macaroni, Adebowale Adedayo), a young father and rider, it has been a godsend. That is until the government announces a total ban on Okada, leaving Abiola without his livelihood and the developers feeling as though they’ve been used as political pawns. Making the leap from music videos to feature film, director Afolabi Olalekan — working with writer and producer Blessing Uzzi — delivers an astute critique and grounded perspective on the noxious political challenges ensnaring young Nigerians from all walks of life. Tying together the tangled drama and disparate characters is the outsized economic pressure driving a generation to look elsewhere for a future they can build. But this is also a narrative born out of love for a city like no other, because in Lagos, “everyone deh full ah hustle,” but corruption still paves the pathways to success. Nataleah Hunter-Young Learn more about Freedom Way and find screenings here.

When an errant delivery pulls suburban dad Craig Waterman (Tim Robinson) into the orbit of his mysterious and charismatic new neighbour Austin Carmichael (Paul Rudd), a sweet bromance seems to blossom over an innocent evening of urban exploration, punk rock, and a mutual appreciation for paleolithic antiquities. But what should have been the start of a beautiful friendship is soon waylaid as Craig’s obsessive personality begins to alienate his new pal, subsequently inducing a spiral that threatens to upend Craig’s entire life. With his cult hit sketch series I Think You Should Leave, Robinson has established himself as one of comedy’s most consummate conductors of cringe, skilfully exploring the quiet desperation of stubborn individuals who struggle to navigate society’s shifting social mores. In Friendship, this satirical brand of discomfort is set to simmer across a procession of awkward faux pas as writer-director Andrew DeYoung (whose comedy credentials include episodes of Our Flag Means Death and PEN15) judiciously crafts the conditions for Robinson to hysterically oscillate between his patented childlike vulnerability and uproariously pathetic rage. Rudd makes a beguiling foil to Robinson, effortlessly imbuing Austin with an alluring rugged machismo that is subtly punctured over prolonged exposure to Craig’s arrested development. Featuring an absurdist ensemble of eccentrics, including a terrifically deadpan Kate Mara as Tim’s increasingly disaffected wife Tami, Friendship will also offer Midnighters one of the funniest psychedelic trips to ever feature a fast food brand. Peter Kuplowsky Learn more about Friendship and find screenings here.

In November 2023, Gaza-born Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi (Falastine Stereo, TIFF ’13; Leila’s Birthday, TIFF ’08) founded the Masharawi Fund for films and filmmakers in Gaza. From Ground Zero, their first project, sought to provide internally displaced artists — survivors of Israel’s nearly year-long assault, which has resulted in apocalyptic humanitarian conditions, destruction, mass killing, starvation, disease, and irreparable trauma for the people of Gaza — with a “canvas for the expression of personal stories.” The resulting collection features 22 three- to six-minute short films. Genre and narrative approaches vary widely, including documentary, hybrid forms, narrative drama, stop-motion animation, essay, and experimental video art. However, what these remarkable works present when taken together is critically important context and a counterpoint to the gruesome livestream populating screens globally. Through striking authorial engagements with allegory and creative actuality, these filmmakers’ testimonies of confinement under relentless bombardment and imposed famine expose audiences to fragments of their daily struggle to survive — and to do so with dignity. Khamis Masharawi’s Soft Skin enters an animation workshop providing art therapy to children, many of whom are newly orphaned, as they reckon with their constant terror. In Nidal Damo’s Everything is Fine, a stand-up comedian prepares to perform at his favourite venue only to arrive at the aftermath of a recent massacre. Also deeply resonant is Ahmed Hassouna’s Sorry Cinema, in which the experienced filmmaker sifts through what remains of his relationship to the art form. These are only a snapshot of the stories shared. Chronicling the lives of people too often discussed in reference to numbers and refugee camps, From Ground Zero is an extraordinary time capsule, an urgent response to an ongoing catastrophe, and an artist’s call to bear witness. Nataleah Hunter-Young Learn more about From Ground Zero and find screenings here.

Awash in romantic melancholia and feverish longing, Grand Tour is the latest feature by Portuguese auteur and TIFF favourite Miguel Gomes (Tabu, TIFF ’12; Arabian Nights, TIFF ’15; The Tsugua Diaries, with Maureen Fazendeiro, TIFF ’21). The film’s titular expedition begins in 1917 in the Burmese capital of Rangoon, where downbeat British diplomat Edward (Gonçalo Waddington) is due to meet his fiancée Molly (Crista Alfaiate), arriving after a protracted, long-distance betrothal. Instead, he panics and flees, hopping a ship to Singapore and setting off a series of Asian peregrinations, each increasingly laden with doubt, hangovers, and existential anguish. Meanwhile, the more sanguine Molly responds to her sudden abandonment with good faith, humour, and Katharine Hepburn–like brio, determined to track down and marry her bashful beau. Sending Edward missives along the way, Molly’s continental pursuit reveals both a burning ardour, and the sway of the lingering vestiges of certain colonial empires. Wedding contemporary documentary fragments with dazzling, painstakingly detailed sequences shot on a soundstage, the kaleidoscopic images toggle eras, cultures, and styles in a bifurcated, wildly ambitious travelogue. Situated between artifice and actuality, Grand Tour is a feat of visionary filmmaking whose sooty expressionism harkens back to the golden age of silent cinema and rightly garnered Gomes the Best Director award at Cannes. It’s a magnificent excursion that reminds us of cinema’s singular ability to interrogate and refine our positions in the world. Andréa Picard Learn more about Grand Tour and find screenings here.

This beautifully crafted fiction feature debut from director Neo Sora transports us to a near-future Tokyo, a city on high alert for cataclysmic earthquakes and moving dangerously close to applying total surveillance to its public spaces. Focusing on a handful of rebellious adolescents struggling to find their path in a corrupt modern world, Happyend is an ode to youth’s stubborn insistence of dreaming of a better future. Headphones permanently curled around their necks, Yuta and Kou are highschoolers who love to DJ. The film begins with the friends participating in a secret party that gets busted by police. The party is just one of the ways that Yuta and Kou try to escape the cameras proliferating throughout the city, especially at school, where a new system monitors and instantly scrutinizes student behaviour, reporting demerits in its live feed for all to see. Adults insist the system ensures student safety, but the kids feel they’re being treated like prisoners. They wonder whether there’s any point in seeking change, asking age-old questions about the efficacy of protests. Some resort to spectacular pranks, such as standing the principal’s sportscar on its boot, while others stage a sit-in. Hot on the heels of Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus, Sora’s moving document of his late father’s final performance, Happyend, with its stunning vistas of eerily empty urban landscapes, announces Sora as a bold new visionary. Imagining Tokyo in a time of cultural and geological upheaval, Happyend is both speculative and urgent. Though these characters speak to us from the future, we are urged to consider their pleas in the here and now. Giovanni Fulvi Learn more about Happyend and find screenings here.

This gripping historical thriller from director Woo Min-ho (Inside Men) dramatizes pivotal events in the arduous struggle for Korean sovereignty. Starring Hyun Bin, Jeon Yeo-been, and Park Jeong-min (TIFF ’22’s Decision to Leave), Harbin depicts the complexities of heroism in a time of merciless subjugation. In 1905, Japan forced Korea to sign the Eulsa Treaty, stripping the nation of its diplomatic rights and reducing the entire peninsula to a Japanese colony. By 1909, when Harbin begins, Korea’s small but tenacious Righteous Army militia is deep into a campaign of armed resistance against the Japanese. After emerging as the sole survivor of an especially bloody skirmish, Ahn Jung-geun (Hyun) heads an operation to assassinate Itō Hirobumi, the first Japanese Resident-General of Korea and a key symbol of violent colonial oppression. The operation will require Ahn and his cohort to travel clandestinely into Russia, gathering resources and allies while concocting elaborate decoys. With terrifying risks at every turn, murderous security forces on their tail, and the entire plan under constant threat of collapse, the question arises: how many Koreans must die for the sake of their country’s independence? Learn more about Harbin and find screenings here.

Reuniting with Oscar-nominated Secrets & Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste and returning to contemporary London for a story inverse to his 2008 Festival favourite Happy-Go-Lucky, the latest from seven-time Oscar-nominated auteur Mike Leigh is bracingly tough, darkly funny, and pierced with insight. Shifting between various members of an extended Black family in London, Hard Truths is a psychologically rich ensemble film as only Leigh can cultivate. Hypersensitive to the slightest possible offence and ever ready to fly off the handle, Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) does not ingratiate. She criticizes her husband Curtley (David Webber) and their adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) so relentlessly that neither bother to argue with her. She picks fights with strangers and sales clerks and enumerates the world’s countless flaws to anyone who will listen, most especially her cheerful sister Chantal (Michele Austin), who might be the only person still capable of sympathizing with her. As the film peels back Pansy’s pain and the daily fallout left in its wake, we wonder if a breaking point will come for the family. Robyn Citizen Learn more about Hard Truths and find screenings here.

Deliciously dark and frequently hilarious, this chamber horror from writer-director duo Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (the celebrated scenarists behind A Quiet Place) considers how an innocent chat about theology can go terribly awry. Starring Hugh Grant in a brilliantly against-type performance, Heretic is a fiendishly irreverent tale of battling convictions. Sister Paxton (Chloe East, TIFF ’22’s The Fabelmans) and Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher (Prospect) are cheerfully going about their mission to spread good news about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Working down a list of doors to knock on, they arrive at the quiet suburban house of Mr. Reed (Grant), who seems not only polite and hospitable but also genuinely fascinated by the history and teachings of Mormonism. In fact, Mr. Reed is quite knowledgeable about all the world’s major religions and is eager to discuss them with the women. Perhaps too eager. With the rain coming down outside and Mr. Reed’s wife making pie in the next room, the setting is utterly cozy. The only thing that could spoil it would be if Sister Paxton and Sister Barnes wanted to leave. Robyn Citizen Learn more about Heretic and find screenings here.

Sarah Paulson won a Tony Award this year for her lead performance in Appropriate, and has done memorable work in such award-winning art-house dramas as Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave (TIFF ’13) and Todd Haynes’ Carol. But many will know her best for her work in chilling genre fare such as American Gothic and American Horror Story. While Hold Your Breath is more ghost story than horror, it benefits from Paulson’s particular talent for the unsettling. In dust bowl Oklahoma of the 1930s, a mother (Paulson) nears the breaking point as she tries to protect her daughters from deadly windstorms and the impact of her own harrowing past. When the older girl tells the legend of the Grey Man to the younger one, the story slips under the skin of the whole family. The Grey Man is a spirit carried like dust in the wind, breathed in, and never to be shaken. Written by Karrie Crouse and directed by Crouse and Will Joines, Hold Your Breath perches between the supernatural and the psychological, building suspense through Paulson’s layered performance and an enigmatic turn by Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as a mysterious, threatening character. Transplanting gothic horror to the story’s parched, midwest landscapes gives the film a deliciously disorienting feel, as if its spookiest elements could be dream or faded memory, or all too frighteningly real. Cameron Bailey Learn more about Hold Your Breath and find screenings here.

Acclaimed action-film genius Ryoo Seung-wan, fresh off the success of his aquatic-crime epic Smugglers (TIFF ʼ23), brings us the highly anticipated sequel to his blockbuster, Veteran (TIFF ʼ15). A gripping, entertaining detective thriller, I, The Executioner balances high-octane fight scenes and chases with a nuanced exploration of the corrosive impact of “fake news” and populist violence on society. It marks a departure from the original’s often comedic narrative and much lighter tone. Returning detective Seo Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) now faces the challenges of fatherhood while grappling with the impact of his brutal job on his family. Joining him is rookie officer Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in), an ambitious young agent enamoured with the dark side of police work and the intoxicating power it has lent him. They team up to hunt a serial killer targeting criminals who have managed to escape justice. The film’s critique of vigilantism and the abuse of social media and its reflection on societal disillusionment with the legal system are timely and deeply rooted in a collective global consciousness. Spectacular action sets and carefully orchestrated editing — enhanced by chilling sound design — offer a high level of suspense and excitement within an emotionally charged narrative, a testament to Ryoo’s great skill in creating visually stunning, highly dramatic cinematic experiences. Giovanni Fulvi Learn more about I, the Executioner and find screenings here.

Joseph Kahn (Bodied, TIFF ’17) returns to Midnight Madness with a berserkly sardonic creature feature that riffs on classic science-fiction horror films from The Blob to The Faculty, but with a crucial subversion: what if an invading alien entity was met not with panic and fear, but cavalier indifference? In the small American town of Eastbrook, nearly two decades after a viscous vine-like growth — colloquially referred to as “the Ick” — began encroaching on every nook and cranny, a nonplussed populus have found their lives seemingly unaffected by the creeping anomaly. The exceptions to this oblivious conformity are Hank Wallace (Brandon Routh), a former high-school football prospect turned hapless science teacher, and his perceptive student Grace (Malina Weissman), who both regard the Ick with a suspicious scrutiny that is soon violently validated. Bursts of bloody bedlam and blasé attitudes ensue, cannily satirizing how a society can grow accustomed to living in a perpetual state of emergency. Peter Kuplowsky Learn more about Ick and find screenings here.

Nick Toti and Rachel Kempf live and breathe horror movies. So when the couple begin to observe that the dilapidated duplex they just bought exhibits all the telltale signs of having a haunted history, they can barely believe their luck. While most new homeowners would blanch at the sight of walls strewn with satanic graffiti, a basement littered with seemingly cursed objects, and more doors torn from their hinges than there are door frames, Nick and Rachel are gleefully inspired to conduct and document a seance within their abnormal abode. Even eerier, their Missouri manor begins to attract enigmatic, entranced strangers who creepily convene on the front lawn in increasing numbers with every passing day. Things only get weirder and scarier from there. What sets this found-footage horror apart from other indies of its ilk is its remarkable verisimilitude. Utilizing two decades of archival footage that detail Nick and Rachel’s real-life relationship, the divide between documentary and nightmare blurs throughout as the encroaching supernatural phenomena is contrasted with the genuine vulnerability of its subjects. Peter Kuplowsky Learn more about It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This and find screenings here.

Anderson .Paak is best known for his brilliant music career, but this first feature film opens up a vibrant new avenue for him as an artist. In K-Pops, .Paak directs and acts opposite his real-life son Soul Rasheed for a family project inspired by his own personal history and parental connection to Korea. BJ (.Paak) is a washed-up drummer with a love for music that’s both naive and obsessive. When his friend pushes him to travel to South Korea and work on a pop idol show, he meets Tae Young (Rasheed), a young performer in competition to be the nation’s next music star. Soon, BJ is introduced to Tae Young’s mother, Yeji (Jee Young Han), a woman he had a brief relationship with more than a decade ago. Tae Young is the son he never knew existed. BJ makes up for lost time, showing a sincere interest in getting to know Tae Young while helping his troupe bring something special to their music and choreography. But in the background, BJ’s desire for stardom persists, tempting him to choose between fame or family once again. K-Pops thrives on the charisma of .Paak and Rasheed as the two become a dynamic duo, riffing off each other in a story that captures the layered identities of their real family. It’s a charming coming-of-age comedy where the parent has as much growing up to do as the child. Jane Schoettle Learn more about K-Pops and find screenings here.

Jae-hee (Kim Go-eun) was never like the others and, in a collective, uniform culture like South Korea’s, embracing her individuality has triggered endless gossip. One day, she meets Heung-soo (Steve Sanghyun Noh), another misfit lost in the big city. But unlike Jae-hee, Heung-soo hopes to hide his true identity. When Jae-hee finds out his secret by chance, the two form an unlikely relationship. Misunderstood by many, the young adults navigate growing pains in search of love and self in Seoul. Based on the novel of the same name by Park Sang-young — longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022 — the cinematic version by filmmaker E.oni is easily approachable and speaks to a wide audience, exploring more than just the hardships Heung-soo faces as a young, gay man. Watching Jae-hee and Heung-soo is like looking at snippets of our own lives, reflecting the turbulence and chaos of youth regardless of their backgrounds. Giovanni Fulvi

Learn more about Love in the Big City and find screenings here.

Under the shadow of the recent rise of right-wing, populist governments and authoritarian leaders, acclaimed director Joe Wright (Atonement, TIFF ’07; The Darkest Hour, TIFF ’17) has adapted Antonio Scurati’s novel M. Son of the Century into a series of the same name, which, like the original work, draws a clear line between today’s political climate and the fascist strongman who started it all — Benito Mussolini. Wright’s Mussolini, played brilliantly by an unrecognizable Luca Marinelli (Martin Eden, TIFF ’19), narrates his own story, often breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the audience. At the end of the First World War, his newspaper Il Popolo d’Italia established, Mussolini is now looking to fuel his political agenda by capitalizing on disillusioned veterans, who expected to come home as heroes, but were instead treated as outsiders. These men, desperate to be heard and understood, turned to Mussolini, together forming the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, a dangerous group of ultranationalists, which would become the National Fascist Party. Geoff Macnaughton Learn more about M – Son of the Century and find screenings here.

Paimpont sits nestled in Brittany, content with its centuries-old heritage, its crêpes, and its flattering self-image. The town council is delighted they’ll soon be welcoming refugees from Ukraine. But it turns out that too many in France have already taken in Ukrainian refugees, so the van that pulls into Paimpont one day delivers a refugee family from Syria instead. Awkward. As the extended Fayad family finds its footing in a village very much set in its ways, both townspeople and newcomers must rethink their preconceptions. Will the local businessman (Laurent Lafitte) hold onto his xenophobic views? Can the Fayads bridge the gulf between their lives in wartorn Syria and their current disappointments in Paimpont? Will the town’s crusading progressive (Delpy) herself descend into petty barbarism? Meet the Barbarians strikes just the right balance of humour, ideas, and heart. Powered by sharp writing and deft performances — Rita Hayek and Sandrine Kiberlain are standouts— this is a classic comedy of integration. Learn more about Meet the Barbarians and find screenings here.

This long-gestating passion project from legendary Oscar-winning writer-director Francis Ford Coppola features Oscar nominee Adam Driver as a visionary architect whose utopian ambitions clash with the more earthbound demands of a modern city. Pivoting between political drama, philosophical science fiction, and star-crossed romance, Megalopolis considers the limits of genius and the fragility of empires. Wracked with grief over the death of his wife, Cesar Catilina (Driver) pours all his energy into his startling new invention, megalon, a building material that is infinitely malleable and miraculously strong — and may just imbue its creator with the power to control time and space. The federal government grants Catilina permission to demolish large parts of New Rome to make way for his colossal building project, Megalopolis, outraging the city’s mayor, Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito), who clings to the status quo. Adding insult to injury, Cicero’s daughter Julia (Nathalie Emmanuel) falls in love with Catilina, positioning herself at the centre of a grand conflict between cynicism and lofty ideals. Cameron Bailey Learn more about Megalopolis and find screenings here.

Writer-director-actor Edward Burns’ follow-up to TIFF ’19’s Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies surveys the thorny emotional lives of three siblings adrift in middle age. An ensemble drama with a stunning cast and a bold approach to storytelling, Millers in Marriage takes a sobering look at the vagaries of long-term love while championing the possibilities for personal change. Eve (Gretchen Mol) was a rocker in her early twenties but gave it up to be a full-time mom, while her husband, Scott (Patrick Wilson), poured his energy into his own music… while frequently pouring himself too many drinks. Now an empty-nester, Eve wonders if it’s possible to return to her art. She’s certainly encouraged by a hunky music critic (Benjamin Bratt) whose interest seems more than professional. Eve’s sister, Maggie (Julianna Margulies), is losing patience with her husband, Nick (Campbell Scott). Both are novelists, but while Maggie feels productive, Nick seems resigned to perpetual writer’s block. Meanwhile, Eve and Maggie’s brother, Andy (Burns), is starting a new relationship with Renee (Oscar nominee Minnie Driver), though he might not be finished with Tina (Morena Baccarin), who left him after 15 years only to come back after hearing of his new romance. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Millers in Marriage and find screenings here.

An immediate and uncanny paranoia attends the return of Jérémie (a suitably inscrutable Félix Kysyl) to his rural hometown of Saint-Martial in southwestern France. The visit is precipitated by the death of his former boss, the town’s master baker, with whom he was presumably in love. As with other films by the acclaimed French writer-director Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake, TIFF ’13), presumably remains the operative term, guiding a twisted tale in which pervasive desire is often commingled with surprise, humour, uncertainty, and foreboding. Appealing yet mysterious, Jérémie’s sensual presence is immediately and progressively destabilizing to all around him, as he prolongs his stay with the widow Martine (Catherine Frot), who also happens to be the mother of his childhood friend, the brutish Vincent (filmmaker and actor Jean-Baptiste Durand). The duo’s interactions are terse and laden with resentment, but clearly erotically charged. When a tussle goes awry, Misericordia swerves into noir territory with absurdist undertones, and an ensuing investigation spirals around a loner neighbour, ineffectual gendarmes, and a nosy country priest — seemingly the only inhabitants in this dewy, mountainous village perpetually bathed in twilight. Andréa Picard

Learn more about Misericordia and find screenings here.

Even though the title character of Mr. K lacks a full surname, it’s easy to imagine what it could be. Inventive and surreal, this second feature by Amsterdam-based director Tallulah H Schwab playfully evokes Franz Kafka’s tales of hapless characters finding themselves in increasingly strange, bewildering, and sinister circumstances. And, as is the case in those literary counterparts, the predicament unfolding on screen serves as a potent allegory about conditions facing people living in less outlandish scenarios. The ordeal for Mr. K’s misfortunate protagonist — a travelling magician played by Crispin Glover in one of the richest performances in his long and continually surprising career — begins when he checks into a once-stately hotel. The following morning, Mr. K is understandably confused by his inability to find the exit. Then again, the magician doesn’t have much time to search for it due to the demands imposed on him by the hotel’s other inhabitants, a colourful gallery that includes a rather intimidating troupe of musicians, a bustling crew of kitchen workers, and a very classy elderly guest played by the great Fionnula Flanagan. Jason Anderson Learn more about Mr. K and find screenings here.

Raised by her single mother in the coastal Sámi village of Unjárga in the far north of Norway, Elvira has never known her father. Misled to believe she was conceived in Copenhagen, the teenager holds on to a childhood fantasy that her father is the Danish acting legend Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the star of the hit series Game of Thrones. When her mother, Beate (Ingá Elisá Påve Idivuoma), announces that her new girlfriend is moving in, a frustrated Elvira holds firm to her belief that her half-Danish ancestry will soon mean an escape from small-town life and all its trappings. For Elvira, this means the daily trials of being a teenager, including a frenemy/local influencer who becomes temporarily enamoured with Elivra’s personal circumstances. Then life, as it’s wont to do, throws a new curveball in Elvira’s way when she unceremoniously meets Terje (Aslat Mahtte Gaup), who’s recently been released from a long prison sentence. Much to her shock — and to her mother’s horror — Terje reveals that he’s her biological father. Devastated to learn a big part of her life was truly based on a flight of fancy, Elvira struggles to accept that she’s “just Sámi” as she’s sent into a tailspin of emotions. Jason Ryle Learn more about My Father’s Daughter and find screenings here.

Based on the bestselling 2021 novel of the same name, director Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me, TIFF ’21) has created a profoundly original exploration of motherhood and identity, destined to be one of the most talked-about films of the year. Amy Adams plays Mother, a former city-dwelling artist and curator who chooses to stay home (now a suburban home) with her toddler son as her husband travels frequently for business. She loves her son deeply, but that does not prevent her from feeling isolated and exhausted. How did her life become a numbing grind of diaper changes and cutting bananas into little pieces? Still unstrung from an extremely unsuccessful attempt to connect with other mothers at the library’s Baby Book Time, and unable to keep her emotions bottled up inside any longer, Mother begins to see and hear things in the night that beckon to her. Soon, something primal and feral rises up within her, allowing her to unleash — and return to — her inner power and identity. Scoot McNairy plays Mother’s Husband, a relatable, sensitive man struggling with his own challenges around parenthood. But make no mistake, this is Adams’ film. It is her fearless, unselfconscious, and fiercely intelligent performance that makes Nightbitch such a memorable experience. Heller weaves drama, comedy, and significant elements of magic realism into an audacious and important film, examining those aspects of motherhood — both dark and darkly humorous — of which we rarely speak. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Nightbitch and find screenings here.

Basel Adra has been documenting the expulsion and decimation of his community in the small mountain village of Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank since childhood. Adra’s early memories as a child are plagued with images of Israeli soldiers raiding his home, witnessing his father Nasser, a Palestinian activist, being arrested, and the ongoing Israeli military occupation and settler aggression. By picking up his camera, Adra continually speaks truth to power as he tirelessly documents his reality: impending forced removals, bulldozers destroying homes, and the violence that inevitably follows. The film takes place prior to October 7, 2023, when attention to the region was in shorter supply. During Adra’s fight to preserve his mountain village community, he forms an unexpected friendship and alliance with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who joins his resistance efforts. It is clear this bond is not one grounded in equity, with Adra living under occupation and Abraham’s freedom of movement. Yet the relationship that develops between the two — showing deep care, humanity, and above all how solidarity can break down barriers, even during occupation — is at the heart of this piece. Made under extreme duress and unimaginable production hardships, this film comes from a Palestinian-Israeli activist collective formed of Adra, Abraham, Rachel Szor, and Hamdan Ballal. For its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, No Other Land earned the top documentary jury and audience prizes in the prestigious Panorama section. This film would stand out in any year, but now it feels even more urgent. Thom Powers Learn more about No Other Land and find screenings here.

Over a singular, decades-long career, Ben Stiller has shown himself comfortable in everything from farcical comedies like Zoolander to brainy Wes Anderson classics. His Nutcrackers director David Gordon Green has displayed similar range, from his acclaimed indie debut George Washington to stoner comedy Pineapple Express to the Halloween horror reboot. What both have in common is a taste for genuine dramatic emotion. In Nutcrackers, they let it all out. Hotshot Chicago real estate developer Michael (Stiller) never had time for family. His sister once said he was incapable of love. But when Michael’s sister and her husband have a terrible accident, their house, farm, and four boys become Michael’s responsibility. He drives out to his sister’s small Ohio town thinking all he needs to do is sign some papers and get back to the city, but it’s not nearly that simple. With the parents gone, the boys are practically feral. Until the family services worker (Linda Cardellini) can find them a home, their only guardian is Uncle Mike. Before he knows it, Michael is chasing chickens and providing improvised “health” classes. Desperate to free himself from inherited fatherhood, he’s both surprised and thrilled to learn his sister trained her boys in ballet. Can that make them cute enough to foster? Learn more about Nutcrackers and find screenings here.

A fascinating, unintended counterpoint to David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds, which is also the Festival, Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada likewise sees its protagonist confronting mortality through radical, wilfully Canadian acts of self-definition. Schrader’s hero makes a documentary. Richard Gere, reuniting with Schrader 44 years after American Gigolo, plays Leonard Fife, who left the US for Canada as a young man during the Vietnam war draft. Fife became an acclaimed documentary filmmaker in Montreal. Now, riddled with illness and palliative medicine, he allows former film students, led by Malcolm (Michael Imperioli), to interview him. Uma Thurman, playing Fife’s watchful wife Emma, stands guard to protect her husband’s legacy. But as Fife’s memories pour out to the camera and come to life in flashbacks, the great man’s official story fractures. In a casting masterstroke, Jacob Elordi (also at the Festival in On Swift Horses) plays the young Fife, unleashing the same enigmatic charisma Gere brought to American Gigolo. Seduction came easily to young Fife; as his older self recounts and immerses himself in those memories, he’s finally ready to admit where selfishness and cowardice led him. In adapting Russell Banks’ 2021 novel Foregone, Schrader brings uniquely cinematic tools to the story. His play with aspect ratios, colour palettes, and the shifting certainties of flashbacks give Oh, Canada an interior perspective that only movies can offer. There is artifice here, but also devastating truth. Learn more about Oh, Canada and find screenings here.

Here lies Shula’s uncle Fred — dead in the middle of an empty road. It’s late, but Shula knows her family will expect her to wait with his body, no matter how much she might resent it. Bemba funerals are for the living, and the family will have questions. With the days-long ceremony beginning immediately, the blithe and unperturbed Shula — played by Susan Chardy in her debut film role — attempts to opt out of the haunted proceedings. But in this household, mourning is not optional. Tradition dictates that visitors will soon gather while relatives fill the family home with wails of grief. And what will they say about the dry-eyed and resolutely emotionless Shula? Surely the dead can’t take all their secrets to the grave, and Fred, in particular, had many. Attempting to escape the inquisition of her heartbroken aunts, Shula is drawn to her cousins. Layered somewhere within the flurry of caring for each other, the whispered memories of this middle-class Zambian family will find a new frequency. In misery’s company, Shula will find a new voice. In the long-awaited follow-up to her widely acclaimed debut I Am Not a Witch (TIFF ’17), visionary Zambian Welsh auteur Rungano Nyoni returns to the Festival with a fearless parable about the toll family secrets take on their keepers and the complicated costs of speaking up. Moulding her darkly comedic surrealist signature through the reverent cinematography of David Gallego (TIFF ’15’s Embrace of the Serpent, I Am Not a Witch), Nyoni’s hypnotically fresh perspective will leave audiences unsure whether to laugh, shout, or cry. Nataleah Hunter-Young Learn more about On Becoming a Guinea Fowl and find screenings here.

Life pushes some to seek security, others to surrender to chance. This gorgeous adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s 2019 novel from director Daniel Minahan and screenwriter Bryce Kass extends sympathy to both sensibilities, even when the former can be stifling and the latter can break your heart. It’s the 1950s. Newlyweds Muriel (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Lee (Will Poulter) leave their Kansas home for a new life in San Diego, with steady jobs and a house they can start a family in. Lee’s brother Julius (Jacob Elordi, also at the Festival in Oh, Canada), meanwhile, returns from the Korean War without any long-term plans. A deft hand at poker, he winds up in Las Vegas, where he does pit surveillance at a casino and befriends Henry (Diego Calva, TIFF ’15’s Te prometo anarquía), a handsome Chicano who, like Julius, loves a good gamble. All this time, Muriel and Julius correspond, though neither realize how much they have in common. Bored with waiting tables, Muriel secretly begins playing the horses — and winning. What’s more, Muriel and Julius find themselves on parallel journeys involving clandestine transgressions that could place them in greater danger than either bargained for. Shot by Canadian maestro Luc Montpellier (TIFF ’22’s Women Talking), On Swift Horses finds rapturous beauty in the décor and accoutrements of the era. Yet what lingers most is the power of its characters’ yearnings, whether secret or boldly declared. This is a story about risking everything for love, only to gain self-knowledge along the way. Robyn Citizen Learn more about On Swift Horses and find screenings here.

When setting out to make a documentary about Canadian-born singer-songwriter Paul Anka, award-winning director John Maggio had a Herculean task. How to properly capture a remarkable career spanning eight decades and filled with unprecedented global success that is still going strong? Born in Ottawa, the son of Syrian/Lebanese immigrants, Anka exhibited musical talent early on. In an act of bravado and ambition, he borrowed money at 16 to head to New York City, and soon after exploded onto the charts with his first hit “Diana,” which was followed by more record-breaking titles. What set Anka apart from other teen idols of the day was his ability to write his own songs. While he toured the world and performed for millions, he simultaneously wrote for such luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly, Michael Jackson, Céline Dion, and, later, even Toronto’s own Drake. Anka’s ability to create across decades and genres has meant a catalogue of instantly recognizable music has been embedded in the hearts of several generations. Besides its remarkable volume of archival footage, the singular feature here is Anka’s candour. The singer freely reveals previously unheard stories about everything from his business success to his mistakes (although he clearly never made the same one twice), the pressures of fame on his first marriage, and numerous ribald recollections around his working relationships with other musical icons. Paul Anka: His Way holds fresh insight for longtime fans as well as newcomers ready to learn just how far-reaching this artist’s words have been through the years. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Paul Anka: His Way and find screenings here.

Charting Pharrell Williams’ vibrant career with a conventional documentary would have never been satisfying enough. Fittingly, Piece by Piece tells his story entirely with LEGO, for a bright, bouncy, and energetic treatment that captures the multi-hyphenate musician’s unyielding creative spirit. The film takes us through Pharrell’s spirited upbringing in Virginia, his first job at a record label, the start of production duo the Neptunes with Chad Hugo, the formation of the band N.E.R.D., and beyond. When nobody wants to give him a shot as a singer and performer, Pharrell pivots to producing, giving him new fuel that blasts him into orbit, working with artists like Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg, all also presented in LEGO form and who talk about Pharrell’s unique vision and golden touch. But, as the film also shows, being in the stratosphere doesn’t come without a cost. With Piece by Piece, Oscar-winning documentarian Morgan Neville adds another feather to an already prolific directing career. Here, he represents Pharrell’s signature beats as little LEGO sculptures. They pop and come to life as his songs develop before exploding into hits familiar as Pharrell tracks as well as some not necessarily attributed to him. Brimming with charm and visual panache, Piece by Piece is a sensory delight. Cameron Bailey Learn more about Piece by Piece and find screenings here.

Set in the early 2010s, this gripping thriller by director Andrés Baiz — who has helmed shows including Griselda and Narcos — takes place in the treacherous desert bordering Colombia and Venezuela, where gasoline smugglers known as pimpineros risk their lives transporting illegal fuel from one country to another. Colombian music icon Juanes plays Moisés, the eldest of three brothers plying this perilous trade and the linchpin of the operation, while Alberto Guerra delivers a compelling performance as Ulises, a man paralyzed by conflicting decisions and haunted by fear and grief. When Juan (Alejandro Speitzer) — the youngest of the brothers — is coerced into working for a more powerful, rival criminal organization, the shocking underbelly of the business is laid bare and there are tragic consequences. Corruption, betrayal, and greed rule the day. Still, Juan’s girlfriend, the charismatic Diana (Laura Osma, El Chapo, This Time Tomorrow, in a star turn) — who wanted to be a pimpinera herself — embarks on a dangerous quest for the truth, putting herself in the crosshairs while remaining determined to uncover the dark secrets that shroud this unforgiving no man’s land. Diana Cadavid Learn more about Pimpinero: Blood and Oil and find screenings here.

Steven Soderbergh approaches every category of movie with playful rigour and an encyclopedic knowledge of film, but the prolific Academy Award–winning director’s take on horror may be his most wondrous feat of genre reinvention yet. Written by superstar screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park), Presence shakes the ghost story to life by embracing death. Told from the point of view of a housebound spirit, the film makes a spectre of the spectator, granting us singular access to a family passing through troubled times. Following a hypnotic prologue in which the camera glides weightlessly through an unfurnished house, we are introduced to a realtor (Julia Fox) showing the premises to married couple Rebekah (Lucy Liu) and Chris (Chris Sullivan) and their kids, Tyler (Eddy Maday) and Chloe (Callina Liang). The family moves in, but their occupancy fails to infuse the home with warmth. Rather, a litany of problems are revealed: Rebekah is in trouble at work, Chloe is grieving a friend who recently died of an overdose, and Tyler’s buddy Ryan (West Mulholland) becomes a fixture in the household, though his influence on Chloe proves fraught. All the while, the ghost bears witness and strategizes methods of hair-raising intervention, prompting Chris to summon a spiritualist. An air of melancholy permeates Presence, while its innovative narrative style generates a steady thrum of anxiety and tension. With its floating, voyeuristic viewpoint recalling such classics as Robert Wise’s The Haunting, the film pivots between the familiar and the startlingly new, mirroring the feeling of living in the present while the past comes back to haunt you. Robyn Citizen Learn more about Presence and find screenings here.

Brilliant, audacious author, meet brilliant, audacious director: it takes risk to translate the work of William S. Burroughs for the screen, but Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino’s (Call Me by Your Name, TIFF ’17) spin on the Beat legend’s autobiographical novel matches its source material in vulnerability and taboo-smashing adventurousness. Starring Daniel Craig (Knives Out, TIFF ’19) and featuring supporting turns from Jason Schwartzman (Quiz Lady, TIFF ’23) and Oscar nominee Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Queer is a hallucinogenic odyssey bathed in desire. Lee (Craig) mingles with the expatriate set in postwar Mexico City, wandering its streets, frequenting its gay bars, and ingesting whatever illicit substances are available. He is a consummate raconteur who has no trouble finding an audience, but he is also a desperately lonely, middle-aged addict with an alarming fondness for guns. Early in Queer, Lee sets his sights on a journey to the Amazon in search of the potentially telepathic ayahuasca — and he wants handsome young bi-curious Oklahoman Allerton (Drew Starkey, The Hate U Give, TIFF ’18) to accompany him. Their travels will yield a string of unexpected encounters and provide Lee with sobering lessons in what Burroughs dubbed “the algebra of need.” Adapted by Justin Kuritzkes (who wrote Guadagnino’s Challengers), Queer is both faithful to the book and a radical re-imagining. Anita Lee Learn more about Queer and find screenings here.

This clever, high-concept thriller stars Oscar winner Riz Ahmed as a rigorously reclusive middleman for would-be whistleblowers seeking to settle with corporate malefactors. Deftly helmed by David Mackenzie (Outlaw King, TIFF ’18), Relay is a cat-and-mouse game for an age of hyper-surveillance when it’s never been harder to leave no trace. Ash (Ahmed) brokers deals between parties who never learn what he looks like, sounds like, or where he’s located. A brilliant manipulator of technologies old and new, Ash’s primary method of communication is a telephone relay service where operators are legally bound to withhold the identities of their users. Ash’s latest client is Sarah Grant (Lily James, TIFF ’17’s Darkest Hour), a former bio-tech company staffer who’s been on the run since stealing documents that, if made public, would be scandalous for her employer. Sarah now wants to return the documents in exchange for whatever remuneration she can get. The case should be business as usual for Ash, but the henchmen hired to follow Sarah are ruthless and dogged. What’s more, Ash begins to connect with Sarah on a personal level, potentially compromising the private existence he’s worked so arduously to construct. Written by Justin Piasecki, Relay is riddled with ingenious feats of misdirection, novel set pieces, and jaw-dropping twists that would have made Hitchcock proud. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Relay and find screenings here.

With an all-star ensemble cast that includes Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Jennifer Coolidge, and Bill Murray, the latest from director Dito Montiel (TIFF ’15’s Man Down) is a pitch-black comedy about all the silly little things we do for family. Such as, you know, murder. One-time criminal Vince (Harris) turned his life around when he fell in love with Sandy (Union). Nearly 20 years later, the still-happy couple are looking forward to spending a quiet New Year’s Eve in their country home with their good-natured son, DJ (Miles J. Harvey). Then Vince’s other son, Rocco (Lewis Pullman), shows up unannounced with his pregnant girlfriend, Marina (Emanuela Postacchini), and Vince’s first wife, Ruth (Coolidge), in tow. It is not a happy reunion. Ruth is rude, lewd, and randy, while Rocco — who never divested himself of the family business — is clearly hiding something sinister. Hot on Rocco’s tail is Lefty (Bill Murray), an aging mafioso with a score to settle regarding his own son. When Lefty catches up with Vince’s teeming clan, it seems likely that blood ties will yield blood spilled. Written by John Pollono (TIFF ’17’s Stronger), Riff Raff is gloriously irreverent, taking a deadpan approach to both humour and violence, while inserting some hilarious surprises along the way. Every member of the film’s dream cast has fun with even the most grotesque moments, but special mention goes to Murray, who should be on everyone’s A-list for heavies, and Coolidge, whose singular way with words makes beautiful music of Ruth’s filthiest dialogue. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Riff Raff and find screenings here.

In this wildly entertaining satire from co-directors Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, and Galen Johnson, the leaders of the G7 nations — the US, Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy, France, and the UK — stumble into a surreal scene and are left to their own (inept) devices to get themselves out. Rumours is ribald, playful, and an expansion of the Maddin-Johnson-Johnson oeuvre. The trademark oddities, like a glowing brain and bog people, are there; there’s a brief foray into black and white; and it was partly filmed in Winnipeg. Co-produced by Ari Aster among others, it was also filmed in Hungary, with a stand-out international cast. Cate Blanchett is German chancellor Hilda, the host of the gathering; Roy Dupuis is the passionate Canadian prime minister; UK Prime Minister Cardosa Dewindt (Nikki Amuka-Bird) doggedly tries to keep this ragtag group on task, and, inexplicably, English actor Charles Dance keeps his accent as the president of the United States. The G7 leaders are so lost in working on a provisional statement filled with platitudes and nonsense and addressing an unnamed crisis, that they don’t realize they’ve been abandoned by their servers. It’s only then, when the cameras and aides have left, that things really go off the rails and each of their shortcomings comes glaringly into focus. Kelly Boutsalis Learn more about Rumours and find screenings here.

It’s the mid-1970s, and a flipbook of Watergate, Vietnam, and rising counterculture make everything old in America feel broken, and everything new feel scary as hell. And now, yet another certainty is about to crack. Because in 90 minutes’ time, live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night. SATURDAY NIGHT dives headfirst into the frenzied hour-and-a-half before a clutch of unknown, untrained, unruly young comedians took over network television and transformed the culture. Saturday Night Live would go on to become the late-night institution that brought John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, and later Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and others to our screens. But tonight, it’s barely contained madness backstage, with Canadian Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans, TIFF ’22) desperately trying to channel the chaos towards a vision even he’s not sure of. On the eve of SNL’s 50th anniversary, it’s a particular pleasure to watch how unlikely it all was at the beginning. Chevy Chase honing the frat boy charm that would make him a movie star. Garrett Morris saying America’s racial quiet part out loud. Belushi a bundle of Id in the corner. Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner holding their own against a tide of comedy testosterone. Director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) has made certified classics, but he’s never made a film like this. Fuelled by the same anarchic energy that drove the show to air, he orchestrates this tour de force as a glorious circus of talent, ambition, and appetite for risk, with the clock ticking down to showtime. Cameron Bailey Learn more about Saturday Night and find screenings here.

Imparting lessons of Kanienʼkehá:ka food sovereignty within a campy revenge thriller, Kaniehtiio Horn’s feature directorial debut takes viewers on a ride unlike any other. In Seeds, Horn (Alice, Darling) plays Ziggy, a Toronto-based bike courier and budding influencer. Just as she lands a new client, a seed and fertilizer company called Nature’s Oath, and starts making content for them, she’s called back to her community to house sit for her aunt. Ziggy’s cousin, played by Dallas Goldtooth (Reservation Dogs), imparts a few nuggets of wisdom: to be wary of the seed company, and that creepy things happen around their aunt’s house. As a shadowy figure follows her, Ziggy must protect herself, and her aunt’s cache of seeds. Already known as a talented film and television actor and producer, Horn flexes her writing and directing skills in this bloody and intelligent thriller that ties together connections to the land and to reproduction. In Ziggy, she has created a layered Indigenous female lead character, motivated by her people’s history, relying on her strengths, and not afraid to get violent. In addition to seeing Horn lead a film for the first time, we also get Goldtooth in a great comic performance, and legendary actor Graham Greene pulling double duty as a crime show host and an uncle figure to Ziggy who comes alive in her dreams. Kelly Boutsalis Learn more about Seeds and find screenings here.

On the night they move from the city into a sprawling suburban home, parents Josh (Ben Foster, Finestkind, TIFF ’23) and Rachel (Cobie Smulders, High School, TIFF ’22) are jolted by a car crashing into the tree on their front lawn, killing the driver and injuring his passengers. And once Josh discovers the accidents are a regular occurrence due to the design of the road, he becomes obsessed with being ready to save the next victims… to the exclusion of everything else. Foster holds us in a state of queasy apprehension as Josh’s impulsive, sanctimonious dedication to learning CPR and policing the street start to form a pattern of privileged overconfidence — or maybe it’s deluded competence. Foster has played tightly wound characters before, but Buxton finds him a higher, unsettling gear. Smulders brings a strength and sensibility to Rachel, along with an understated exasperation that tells us whatever’s wrong with Josh has been wrong for a very long time. Is he genuinely trying to be a good citizen, or is something darker motivating him? As Sharp Corner creeps towards its unnerving climax, that question seems less and less important. The real question is: What happens next? Norm Wilner Learn more about Sharp Corner and find screenings here.

If you could restore youthful beauty and guarantee longevity by committing to a few days of mysterious treatments, would you? Would you trust your life and health to science and technology that might be more hype than healthy? Samantha (Elisabeth Moss) is thinking it over. She’s a slightly unkempt, earnest, talented actress who can’t seem to nail the jobs she wants, and both her confidence and bank account are shrinking. She also looks slightly older than her competition, so at the prompting of her agent and the numerous neon billboards touting its miraculous outcomes, Samantha commits to a treatment from Shell. It’s a success and the result is a glowing, more invigorated Samantha with a new lease on life. Enter Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson) the glamorous CEO of Shell, the living embodiment of her products. Zoe offers to take Samantha on as a protégé and soon the actress’s star starts to rise. But Samantha also starts to get suspicious about missing friend Chloe (Kaia Gerber), some unusual symptoms she started exhibiting, and what might truly be going on in the laboratories of Shell. Samantha’s suspicions and Zoe’s paranoia escalate into a frantic cat-and-mouse game that climaxes in a high-stakes confrontation with surprising results. Weaving together genre elements and significant social commentary, director Max Minghella (Teen Spirit, TIFF ’18) finds a way to vividly entertain while inviting us to think about the outsized value we put on physical beauty and how twisted we may find ourselves becoming in the efforts to pursue it. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Shell and find screenings here.

Sometimes we need to purge our darkest dreams to reach the light. In writer-director Seth Worley’s big-hearted, audaciously entertaining feature debut, a young girl’s active imagination and unprocessed grief collide, unleashing a horde of goofy, made-up monsters on an unsuspecting neighbourhood. But if a child’s rich inner world can manifest such pandemonium, maybe that same inner world possesses the power to quash it. Since the death of their beloved matriarch, each member of the Wyatt family has sought their own coping mechanisms. Determined to keep painful memories at bay, dad Taylor (Tony Hale) tries to remain upbeat and open to change. He puts the family house on the market, hoping that new surroundings will help his kids move forward. Son Jack (Kue Lawrence), however, secretly harbours fantasies of resurrecting his mom, while daughter Amber (Bianca Belle) fills a private sketchbook with bizarre, twisted imagery. When that sketchbook is accidentally plunged into a magical pond, its creatures come to life, ready to wreak havoc, leaving plumes of crayon dust in their wake. Fighting off giant eyeballs with spider legs will require courage and some creative thinking, but the real solution to quelling all this chaos lies in Amber’s mind. Her drawings got them into this mess — and her drawings will have to get them out. Reminiscent of family classics like Gremlins, Jumanji, and The Goonies, Sketch combines an eye-popping rollercoaster ride with a tender understanding of loss, the resources required to heal, and just how deeply children feel about a world that changes around them. Jane Schoettle Learn more about Sketch and find screenings here.

In the future depicted in The Assessment, everyone gets to live a calm life but the government maintains a strict control of resources. As part of that, and to ensure the world doesn’t become overpopulated, it decides who can and can’t have children. Mia (Elizabeth Olsen) and Aaryan (Himesh Patel) are nervous about their application to become parents, but they have everything going for them. They live in a peaceful, secluded home where Aaryan has a studio for his genetic research and Mia maintains a greenhouse as part of her work as a botanical scientist. The two are assigned an assessor named Virginia (Alicia Vikander), who comes to evaluate them in their home over seven days. Virginia asks them invasive and awkward questions about everything from how they first met to how often they have sex. But this is just the beginning as Virginia puts Mia and Aaryan through simulations of the potential horrors children can inflict on their parents. As the tests become increasingly abstract and confounding, the right answers seem less obvious and the assessment foments a rift between the couple. This debut from director Fleur Fortuné is striking for its precise control of story, performance, and production design. Olsen and Patel capture the psychological turmoil of two people having their lives forensically examined, while Vikander gives an exceptional performance that’s surprising all the way to the end. Robyn Citizen Learn more about The Assessment and find screenings here.

The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire

Following a number of captivating shorts that have variously explored questions of history, the creative process, and the inner worlds of Black women, The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is the sumptuous, beguiling feature debut from American artist and filmmaker Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich. Born in Martinique, Suzanne Césaire was an anti-colonialist activist and writer who contributed — alongside her husband Aimé Césaire — to the Négritude movement, and whose limited but forceful writings resonate to the present day. Less biopic than critical deconstruction and inviting reverie, Hunt-Ehrlich’s evocations of the words and life of Suzanne Césaire provoke rich and fragmentary reflections on art, love, politics, and even the nature of filmmaking. As a group of actors gather to embody the roles of Suzanne (Zita Hanrot), Aimé (Motell Foster), and their famed Surrealist friend André Breton (Josué Gutierrez) who was inspired by her work, vintage-tinged staged sequences bleed into reflexive considerations about the essence of Suzanne’s writing, her reputation, her desires, and her intersectional identity. That there are several interpretations of Suzanne is indicative of her prismatic and elusive legacy. Shot on lush 16mm, with equally hypnotic sound and music, The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is part of a multifaceted project that has been presented in gallery contexts — including, most recently, the 2024 Whitney Biennial — offering at once a tropical romance, a political treatise, a work of literary analysis and recuperation, and a manifesto. Learn more about The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire and find screenings here.

For the past eight years, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has been under investigation by Israeli authorities for corruption charges. His efforts to avoid a legal reckoning have rocked the stability of his country and shaken global affairs. The Bibi Files is an urgent journalistic exposé, based on never-before-seen leaked footage and new interviews with key Israeli figures, including former prime minister Ehud Olmert, Netanyahu’s former spokesman Nir Hefetz, former Shin Bet leader Ami Ayalon, and investigative journalist Raviv Drucker. The film details the corruption cases that resulted in Netanyahu being indicted for charges of breach of trust, bribery, and fraud in 2019. The cases also implicate his wife Sara and son Yair. Those cases have dragged through the court system without resolution. In the past, Israeli leaders indicted for corruption have resigned, but Netanyahu retained power by forging alliances with staunch right-wingers who now serve as cabinet ministers. Netanyahu attempted to take greater control of the Supreme Court of Israel, which led to large-scale street protests from January to October 2023. Many Israelis believed that Netanyahu’s attempts to delay his own trial are key to understanding recent events: his tacit approval of expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank, his controversial handling of hostage negotiations, and military decisions that created a situation the UN Secretary-General called “a moral stain on us all.” Filmmaker Alexis Bloom has previously delved into politically complex territory as the director of Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes and the producer of We Steal Secrets on WikiLeaks. She has experience reporting in both the West Bank and Israel. Alex Gibney serves as a producer, bringing his investigative expertise from a career that’s won him both an Oscar and an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. After months of editing, even up until days before the Festival, they bring the film to TIFF as a work-in-progress in search of distribution. Even with elements of post-production still to come, it’s an unforgettable viewing experience. Thom Powers Learn more about The Bibi Files and find screenings here.

Director Brady Corbet (Vox Lux, TIFF ’18) returns to the Festival with another bold vision — an American epic, starring Adrien Brody as a Jewish Hungarian architect who flees Europe at the end of the Second World War to rebuild his life in an unfamiliar land. László Toth (Brody) arrives in America with barely anything to his name, eagerly hoping to soon be joined by his wife Erzsébet (Felicity Jones). Settling in Philadelphia, he has a not-so-gracious run-in with Harrison Lee Van Buren (Guy Pearce), a wealthy businessman, after he becomes an unwitting client for a home renovation scheme. This serendipitous encounter leads to a more complex undertaking, as Van Buren and his son (Joe Alwyn) enlist László’s brilliance for a monumental new project. It’s a dream that he never thought he could relive, but it comes with a dark cost, as László sacrifices more and more of himself to complete his exacting vision. Presented in 70mm at the Festival, this is the most ambitious project of Corbet — working again with frequent co-writer Mona Fastvold — to date. Brody gives a potent performance as a man trying to reconstruct his life, his love, and his home, all as part of the same process. The Brutalist takes us on a journey that asks some stark questions about how the march of time impacts us, how certain events give shape to our lives, and how much of ourselves we put in our work. Jane Schoettle Learn more about The Brutalist and find screenings here.

It looks like a sports movie, but this intensely visceral drama from director Sean Ellis (Metro Manila; Cashback, TIFF ’06) digs deep into the ways we punish the body to relieve a soul in torment. Featuring powerful performances from Orlando Bloom, John Turturro, and Caitríona Balfe (TIFF ’21 People’s Choice Award winner for Belfast), The Cut follows a retired fighter obsessed with getting back in the ring, even if it costs him his life. The protagonist (Bloom) is known only as The Boxer. And boxing is virtually all he lives for. Ten years ago, a nasty cut took The Boxer out of commission. Ever since, he and his wife and trainer Caitlin (Balfe) have run a successful gym. It should be enough, but when another boxer unexpectedly dies before a title fight, The Boxer puts himself forward as a replacement and the event’s shady promotor decides to make him the new contender — everyone loves a comeback. The only problem is that, to qualify, The Boxer needs to drop a precipitous number of pounds in just six days. Enter Boz (Turturro), a brash trainer infamous for using every possible technique, legal or not. Many scenes are brutal, yet you cannot look away. Written by Justin Bull and Mark Lane, The Cut is about wounds that will not heal. The harder The Boxer trains, the more painful childhood memories come surging back to haunt him. At the centre of the maelstrom is Bloom, whose dedication to embodying his character’s desperate, ultimately hallucinatory campaign is simply staggering. Jane Schoettle Learn more about The Cut and find screenings here.

In a moment where war seems to permeate every element of our lives, celebrated Italian-born, American-based filmmaker Roberto Minervini upends both the historical war genre and the western with a quiet and spare approach, at once philosophical and radically humane. Informed by his previous films made in the American South, where he lived for a decade — in which dramatized and observational elements are compellingly entangled — The Damned embeds itself within a troupe of volunteer Union soldiers dispatched by the US Army to the western territories during the winter of 1862. A pivotal year for the gold rush as well as the ongoing Civil War, these uncharted borderlands were rife with historical significance, promise, and unseen menace. Shot in the wilds of Montana with a small ensemble of non-professional actors — many cast from within the vicinity — whose extemporized dialogue largely stems from personal experience, The Damned portrays war as a profoundly intimate and disorienting journey. Stripping conflict to its essence, with lonely, anxiety-inducing stretches of waiting to kill or be killed set against great, gorgeous expanses, Minervini captures with stunning immediacy an intense sense of physicality and the attendant psychological strain. From their largely marginal positions, these intergenerational mercenaries enter into deep reflection about their mission, raising questions about religion, masculinity, individual hopes, and governance with disarming candour and bracing contemporaneity. While The Damned’s narrative framework is rooted in a major turning point in American history, its meditation on nation-building and human agency, as well as its uncanny and ruptured sense of time, speak to our loaded present. Andréa Picard Learn more about The Damned and find screenings here.

Best known for his groundbreaking documentary, The Act of Killing (TIFF ’12), Joshua Oppenheimer makes his fiction feature debut with The End. It’s a story about what seems to be the last remaining human family on earth, as they hide in an ornate bunker built deep inside a salt mine after environmental collapse has destroyed society. Oh, and it’s also a sombre musical. George MacKay plays the naive young man who was born in this bunker. In his 20 years of life, he has only heard stories of the outside world. He spends his days working on a dubious book with his father (Michael Shannon), a former energy tycoon, while his mother (Tilda Swinton, also at this year’s Festival in The Room Next Doorfrets over the upkeep of the many priceless paintings and artworks adorning their walls. It’s the semblance of a normal (albeit affluent) life. But when a woman (Moses Ingram) from the outside arrives at their doorstep seeking refuge, the family’s delicate dynamic begins to crumble. The End is markedly different from other end-of-days stories. Not only does it offer characters who are haunted by the guilt of their role in it, but it also shows how easy it is to become part of a cloistered family if we’re too afraid to confront the real world. In between their weighty conversations, the mother, father, son, and woman all sing. And much like in Oppenheimer’s previous work, music is used here as a way to ward off the horror of these characters’ pasts while perpetuating the denial they continue to live in. Jane Schoettle Learn more about The End and find screenings here.

Bill Murray and Naomi Watts get top billing, but it’s impossible to deny the star power of Bing, the Great Dane who nearly steals the show in The Friend. Adapting the National Book Award–winning novel by Sigrid Nunez, Scott McGehee and David Siegel deliver another wise, insightful character drama, this time leavened both by delightful comedic scenes and by the ever-calming presence of one giant, soulful dog. Iris (Watts) has had a long, complex friendship with Walter (Murray, also at this year’s Festival with Riff Raff). Walter is an irresistible charmer, a brilliant author, a lover of many women, and a master at letting down loved ones. When he dies suddenly, Iris is left to deal with all he left behind — three ex-wives with unfinished business, his interrupted literary legacy, and his beloved beast Apollo (Bing). It’s not that Iris doesn’t like dogs, but this is Manhattan, and she’ll get kicked out of her building if they find out she’s pretty much trying to house a horse. Watts delivers a career-best performance here, weaving New York confidence through the anxieties of a struggling writer, through her principled offence at how Walter treated his wives, and through encounters with the women themselves. Life is complicated, and McGehee and Siegel (Montana StoryTIFF ’21, What Maisie Knew, TIFF ’12, The Deep End) reflect that in their writing and in how they direct Watts. They also cast supporting actors of the calibre of Constance Wu, Ann Dowd, Noma Dumezweni, and Carla Gugino, who help create a film of both depth and lightness. Learn more about The Friend and find screenings here.

Most films set in Las Vegas centre on the high-wattage neon glow of The Strip. But the latest from Gia Coppola (Palo Alto, TIFF ’13) turns that tradition around, showing us a story from behind the lights, with a captivating and affecting lead performance by Pamela Anderson. Shelley (Anderson) has been a Las Vegas showgirl for over 30 years, the feather and crystal–adorned centrepiece of Sin City’s last remaining traditional floor show. The stage and the women she shares it with are her loving, bickering, sequin-clad family. When the stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista, an island of masculinity in a sea of women) announces the show will close permanently in two weeks, Shelley and her co-workers must make decisions for their future. But the future looks different when you are 50 rather than 20, and your sole job skill is dancing. Emotionally floundering, Shelley tries to reconnect with a daughter she hardly knows, which proves just as difficult as losing the only job she has ever had. Bolstered by her best friend Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), a brash cocktail waitress who laughs a little too loud and too often, Shelley must find her place in a world that she shut the (stage) door on years before. Coppola’s camera slyly but gently goes everywhere with her characters, capturing the childlike bewilderment on Shelley’s face as she absorbs news, and the heartbreaking compassion emanating from Eddie’s eyes as he delivers it. The director’s capable hand with a superb company of actors highlights the all-too-human sensitivities behind the harsh glare of those famous neon signs and stage lights. Jane Schoettle Learn more about The Last Showgirl and find screenings here.

With The Life of Chuck, Mike Flanagan takes a detour from the macabre to explore one of Stephen King’s alternate sensibilities in an adaptation that carries the spirit of his most optimistic work. The world feels like it’s ending and everybody’s saying goodbye to Chuck. Wherever Marty (Chiwetel Ejiofor) goes, he can’t get away from Charles Krantz (Tom Hiddleston). His face is showing up on billboards, window signs — even TV commercials. What’s so special about this seemingly ordinary accountant and why does he warrant such a sendoff? Their connection includes Marty’s ex-wife (Karen Gillan), her co-worker, his neighbour, and just about everyone else they know. Chuck’s life story soon begins to unravel in front of us, going back to a childhood with grandfather Albie (Mark Hamill), who teaches him about accounting and passes on a love for dancing, all the while keeping him from a prophetic secret in the attic. The Life of Chuck starts grand and ends intimate, like a setting sun. It’s a Stand By Me for the multiple lives within each of us, pulled between our dreams and down-to-earth pragmatism. Fans of Flanagan’s skillful storytelling in The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and Doctor Sleep will easily see why he gravitated towards the unorthodox structure of this King novella. Coupled with his impressive knack for elevating simple conversations and interactions into memorable set pieces, Flanagan manages a rare feat: finding warmth in melancholy. Jane Schoettle Learn more about The Life of Chuck and find screenings here.

Claire (Rebecca Hall, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, TIFF ’17) is perfectly contented, if sometimes slightly underwhelmed, by the tranquil life she leads. As an English teacher with a loving husband (Prasanna Puwanarajah, The Crown, Patrick Melrose) and daughter, Claire’s life holds few surprises. When she suddenly begins hearing a low, persistent humming sound — which, it appears, no one else around her can hear or account for — Claire begins to withdraw into herself, suddenly knocked off-balance by the bizarre shift in her life. In her search for answers, Claire comes to learn that her student Kyle (Ollie West, The Sparrow) can also hear the sound. They embark on a tentative, faltering journey together, leading them towards a neighbourhood support group led by a mysterious but compelling couple, and away from their own respective families. As Claire and Kyle each navigate their own experiences of the sound, and its impact on their lives, they begin to unravel its meaning — is it a hoax? A curse? A gift? Director Janicza Bravo (Zola, Poker Face, Mrs. America) deftly manages the complexities and doubts that come with Claire and Kyle’s explorations. Canadian author and playwright Jordan Tannahill adapts his own bestselling novel, and brings to vivid life this haunting story of isolation, faith, mysticism, and longing. The effects of this heady mixture stay with you long after the screen has gone dark — like a persistent, low hum that you can’t quite get out of your head. Geoff Macnaughton Learn more about The Listeners and find screenings here.

This stranger-than-fiction drama resurrects a hugely popular 1980s game show and the “luckiest man in America” who broke it. Directed by Samir Oliveros (Bad Lucky Goat) and featuring performances from Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell), Walton Goggins, and David Strathairn, The Luckiest Man in America illuminates a forgotten turning point in television history, when a network executive took a gamble and inadvertently made an obsessive eccentric into a folk hero. Michael Larson (Hauser) shouldn’t even be there. An unemployed ice cream truck driver from Lebanon, Ohio, Michael only made it into auditions for Press Your Luck because he stole someone else’s appointment. The show’s casting director (an excellent Shamier Anderson) thinks Michael is a creep, but co-creator Bill Carruthers (Strathairn) likes Michael’s chutzpah and sees him as a Middle-American everyman the audience can cheer for — the dark horse is in. Michael fumbles through the first several minutes of play, but once host Peter Tomarken (Goggins) moves onto the second “spin” section of Press Your Luck, where contestants try to get a randomly lit electronic game board to stop on a winning tile, Michael suddenly can’t lose. In fact, he quickly breaks the show’s record — before breaking its savings account. Is Michael cheating? Or does he understand something about Press Your Luck that no one has seen before? Written by Oliveros and Maggie Briggs (TIFF ’22’s Joyland), the film ushers us behind the scenes of Press Your Luck’s most infamous episode and speculates on Larson’s motives. With his unruly mane and beard, and his thrift-store blazer and khaki shorts, Hauser’s Michael is the embodiment of nerdy desperation, a man who’s banked everything on the chance to win the American Dream as millions watch. Robyn Citizen Learn more about The Luckiest Man in America and find screenings here.

Featuring startling performances from Jude Law (Vox Lux, TIFF ʼ18; Dom Hemingway, TIFF ʼ13) , Tye Sheridan (The Forger, TIFF ’14), and Nicholas Hoult (TIFF ’22’s The Menu), this riveting historical thriller from director Justin Kurzel (Nitram) and screenwriter Zach Baylin (King Richard) recreates one of the largest manhunts in FBI history. Based on Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s nonfiction bestseller The Silent Brotherhood, The Order depicts a domestic terrorist group determined to promote their racist ideology — and the lawmen who will go to any lengths to stop them. The year is 1983. A series of bank robberies and car heists plague the Pacific Northwest. Believing these crimes to be connected to a white supremacist organization, FBI Agent Husk (Law) undertakes an investigation with the aid of an eager young small-town deputy (Sheridan). Their search leads them to Robert Jay Mathews (Hoult), a charismatic cult leader recruiting a small army to raise funds for an armed revolution. As their paths bring them into ever-closer proximity, Husk and Mathews’ powerful convictions will ensure only one of them will emerge from their inevitable confrontation. Distinguished by gorgeous pastoral landscapes and a brooding score, The Order cultivates an atmosphere of dread and intrigue. But the film’s greatest asset lies in its main character, a veteran agent whose obsessiveness is fuelled by alcohol and estrangement from his family. Law (also at the Festival with Eden) has never been more unnervingly compelling. At the heart of his performance lies a fascination with a persistent darkness hiding in our culture — one that threatens to consume those dedicated to dragging it out of the shadows. Robyn Citizen Learn more about The Order and find screenings here.

Propelled by the deliciously dry wit of Oscar nominee Steve Coogan, this poignant dramedy follows an Englishman’s personal and political awakening during a period of crisis in Argentina. Inspired by true events, The Penguin Lessons takes to heart the notion that saving someone’s life begins a new responsibility. In this case, that someone is a surprisingly wise, utterly adorable penguin. The year is 1976. Tom (Coogan) lands in Buenos Aires to take up a teaching position at a prestigious English boarding school. The city is in the midst of political violence, but the headmaster (Oscar nominee Jonathan Pryce) insists his school simply keep calm and carry on. That suits Tom just fine. When a coup d’état shuts down the school, he hops next door to Uruguay to party. A romantic foray leads to a walk along the beach, which leads to the sight of a penguin drenched in oil from a spill. Against his better judgment, Tom rescues the bird, which unlocks its undying loyalty. He’s forced to sneak the flightless beast back to Argentina, and thus begins a strange and beautiful friendship. Against the backdrop of crackdowns from the new dictatorship and echoes from Tom’s long-repressed past, the penguin becomes a sounding board and an unwitting agent of change for him and, ultimately, the whole school. Helmed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty; Military Wives, TIFF ’19), The Penguin Lessons delivers this delightful true story with wit, warmth, and subtle insight into just how rewarding it can be to do the right thing. Learn more about The Penguin Lessons and find screenings here.

The Charles family of Pittsburgh has a precious heirloom that sits quietly in the middle of their home: a piano. In its wooden frame are carefully chiselled carvings of the faces of their great-grandparents during a time when they were enslaved. It’s 1936, and Boy Willie (John David Washington) wants to sell the piano to buy the land his ancestors were enslaved upon. His sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is fiercely protective of it, even though she never plays it. Their uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to keep the peace as The Piano Lesson finds levity in this sibling confrontation before the family is troubled by a more serious shadow that hangs over their heads. A ghost descends on their home and Boy Willie gives Berniece an ultimatum that she is too scared to face. In his auspicious feature directorial debut, Malcolm Washington brings August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play to the screen, adapted from a 2022 Broadway revival and carrying over many of the same cast members. Deadwyler gives an exceptional performance that captures the strength it takes to pull apart your family’s history. The Piano Lesson joins other works by Wilson that have been successfully adapted, including Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, stories about the African American legacy, and how we can best make use of the things that are left to us. Jane Schoettle Learn more about The Piano Lesson and find screenings here.

Director Uberto Pasolini’s slow-burning adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey reunites The English Patient stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche for a film grounded in a classical style that captures the steeliness of the Greek epic, where gazes are locked tight and every breath and word is measured. The Return picks up as Odysseus (Fiennes, also at the Festival in Conclave) washes onto the shores of Ithaca. It has been more than 20 years since he left his kingdom to fight in the Trojan War and, in all that time, his wife and queen Penelope (Binoche) has waited. Their son, Telemachus (Charlie Plummer), has lost faith that his father will return and worries for his mother’s safety as a group of increasingly unruly suitors pressure her to take one of them as the new king. Barely recognizable to himself or to the people who once revered him as a mighty warrior, Odysseus slowly makes his way toward the castle, seeing what has become a desolate island in his absence. With tension growing, Penelope works on weaving a red quilt, promising that she’ll choose a suitor once it’s finished. It becomes a symbol of all the little ways she keeps holding on. When Odysseus finally enters the fray, Penelope puts forth an iconic and instantly recognizable test for her weakened king to prove himself true among a viper’s nest of men lusting for power. Learn more about The Return and find screenings here.

The Room Next Door might be renowned Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, but he has left none of his signature hallmarks behind. The complex narratives filled with heartbreaking choices, visuals saturated with colour, and the precise rendering of women’s inner lives are very much intact. Ingrid (Oscar winner Julianne Moore) is a bestselling author so famously afraid of death she has written a book about it. When she learns that Martha (Oscar winner Tilda Swinton, also at this year’s Festival in The End) — a former war correspondent — is ill, she visits her, reigniting a friendship from years past, when both were journalists. Martha is fighting another war now, and the rekindled closeness between the women means Ingrid is drawn into her treatments as stories are told, secrets are revealed, and regret, redemption, and mortality are discussed over tea. One day, Martha asks Ingrid for the one thing she is most hesitant to give. The way they negotiate life’s deepest choices is what makes the film so memorable. Almodóvar’s latest is a feast for the eyes, thanks to Eduard Grau’s exquisite cinematography, but all our senses are beautifully captured. We can almost taste the crisp white wine that Ingrid sips and hear nuances in the birdsong Martha adores. Superb performances by Swinton and Moore — who inhabit these complex, flawed, and fascinating women — give the film its pounding heart, making it less about death than about the magic of life while we live it. Anita Lee Learn more about The Room Next Door and find screenings here.

The Shrouds is the saddest movie David Cronenberg has ever made. It’s steeped in grief; the loss of the filmmaker’s wife Carolyn in 2017 is the engine that drives every scene, and his decision to style and groom star Vincent Cassel as his own doppelgänger brings the point home all the more powerfully. Cassel plays Karsh, a technological entrepreneur still grieving the death of his wife Becca (Diane Kruger) four years earlier. He has thrown himself into his work, devising technologically augmented burial shrouds that let loved ones watch their lost family members decompose. It’s the closest thing to being there with them — and no, it’s not for everyone. But when his wife’s plot is among several desecrated in an apparent act of vandalism, Karsh slips into a full-on crisis that expands to involve Becca’s lookalike sister, Terry (also Kruger), her ex-husband Maury (Guy Pearce), and, eventually, Soo-Min (Sandrine Holt), the enigmatic wife of a dying Hungarian tycoon who wants to open one of Karsh’s cemeteries in Budapest. Is Karsh losing his mind, or is some strange web closing around him? Though The Shrouds does call back to Cronenberg’s body of work — specifically Videodrome, Naked Lunch, and Crash — it’s its own thing, a film unlike any he’s ever done before. The Shrouds denies the audience anything but the experience of Cronenberg’s own grief. It’s a work of art, written on the decomposing bodies of its characters, exploring the horror of simple human fragility. And it’s made by a master. Norm Wilner Learn more about The Shrouds and find screenings here.

Based on Peter Brown’s bestselling children’s books, this adventure from Oscar-nominated director Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) and DreamWorks Animation follows a robot (voiced by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o), designed to assist humans who finds herself stranded on an island populated exclusively by beasts. Also featuring the voices of Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, and Oscar nominees Stephanie Hsu and Bill Nighy, The Wild Robot is an epic tale of survival, in which animals and machines must question their programming and embrace their hidden strengths. Rozim 7134 (Nyong’o) exists to receive orders. But on the rugged isle where Roz first boots up, no orders are forthcoming. There’s no owner is to be found and none of the island’s motley menagerie of animals have any use for her skills. Until, that is, she meets Brightbill (Kit Connor), an orphaned gosling who attaches to Roz the moment he’s born. Taking advice from a fox called Fink (Pascal), Roz compiles a set of directives to help Brightbill through his infancy. But in this place where every creature is either predator or prey, learning to eat, swim, and fly isn’t enough. Brightbill needs to negotiate sticky social situations and find entry into a flock before migration season comes. In short, he needs qualities like tenderness and nurturing — things Roz will need to look deep inside her robot soul to find. Filled with spectacular imagery and hilarious encounters, The Wild Robot is perfect family entertainment. It is also a heartfelt story about the sort of love that only comes from believing in yourself — regardless of what materials you’re made of. Learn more about The Wild Robot and find screenings here.

Winner of the inaugural Directors’ Fortnight audience award at Cannes this year, Matthew Rankin’s follow-up to his eccentric, surreal The Twentieth Century (TIFF ’19) is a gentle sort of comedy, settling us down in a reimagined Canada where Persian and French are the two official languages… and loneliness is the common currency. In Winnipeg, children set themselves on eccentric quests — or dress like Groucho Marx — to flummox the adults around them, occasionally disrupting a tour group led by the flustered Massoud (Pirouz Nemati) as he does his best to explain the city’s curious landmarks. Meanwhile, in Montreal, government wonk Matthew (played by Rankin himself) quits a job he hates and catches the first bus home to Manitoba to see his mother, only to find his family is not what he thought it was. The films of Abbas Kiarostami and his New Iranian Cinema contemporary Mohsen Makhmalbaf are Rankin’s most obvious touchstones here, but Festival audiences will also recognize the influence of the Swedish absurdist Roy Andersson and the ’Peg’s own Guy Maddin, all filtered through Rankin’s deadpan comic sensibility. He’s traded the gleeful depravity of The Twentieth Century for something kinder and softer, an affectionate look at a diasporic nation trying to fit itself into a box that can’t contain it. Don’t worry, people still congregate at Tim Hortons. (Always Fresh!) It’s just that their idea of a double-double is a little different. Norm Wilner Learn more about Universal Language and find screenings here.

Stories like Anthony Robles’ are the stuff of inspirational fiction, except this one actually happened. Though born without a right leg and growing up in a volatile household, Robles never let go of his dream. He set out to develop the strength and skills that college wrestling demands. He aimed to earn a place on a US Division 1 team despite being its only disabled athlete. And he competed to win. Starring Jharrel Jerome (Moonlight, TIFF ’16; When They See Us) as Robles in another outstanding performance, Unstoppable is both an irresistible sports drama and a family story full of heart. In the wrestling circle and the locker room, he has to convince two tough coaches (Michael Peña and Don Cheadle) that his grit and potential are real. At home, he contends with a mother going through some growing up of her own. Jennifer Lopez, too often underrated, is terrific here. Unstoppable marks the follow-up to the sports drama Air, from Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity company. Director William Goldenberg, a veteran editor who also cut Air, brings a similar optimism and authenticity to this film. Weaving Jerome’s competition performance together with visual effects and Robles himself doubling in some shots, the wrestling scenes carry the on-the-mat urgency of genuine footage. The real-life Robles has long been a champion for accessibility, and this film will no doubt bring his message to a wider public. Even better, it wraps that message in persuasive, deeply affecting drama. Learn more about Unstoppable and find screenings here.

Featuring gorgeously detailed performances from Oscar nominees Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, this inventively structured romance from director John Crowley (TIFF ’19’s The Goldfinch, TIFF ’15’s Brooklyn) and screenwriter Nick Payne explores the question of how to make the most of our time in this world. Since their first encounter, Almut (Pugh) and Tobias (Garfield) have rarely had a dull moment. A meet-cute car accident, giving birth in the unlikeliest of locations, a world-class gastronomical competition… their time together seems fated to brim with striking events. We Live in Time alternates between three distinct chronologies, allowing us to experience this couple’s story in a way that heightens our understanding of how memory collides with present experience and how meaning is made through accumulation. As the film begins, Almut is given a sobering medical diagnosis and options for treatment that may or may not prove effective. What if the time spent in treatment wastes time that could be spent living life to the fullest? Pugh is exhilarating as a young woman determined to balance personal relationships with professional ambitions, while Garfield gives a career-best performance by using Tobias’ innate restraint as a way of revealing a deep well of intense emotion. The pair ensure that this intricately told story mirrors our own blend of dizziness and gratitude in the face of time’s merciless march. Jane Schoettle Learn more about We Live in Time and find screenings here.

Jack (Dacre Montgomery, Stranger Things) travels to a remote region of New Zealand to attend the wake of his estranged mother Elizabeth, a troubled architect who abandoned him as a child. Jack claims he was invited to the funeral by his mother’s widow, Jill (Vicky Krieps, TIFF 2023’s The Dead Don’t Hurt), who has no recollection of contacting him. Out of a sense of obligation to her late wife, Jill invites Jack to stay at their house until the funeral, intrigued, as he is, for them to learn more about each other. As Jack grapples with his complex emotions about his mother and the boyfriend he has left behind, his encounters with Jill begin as terse and sometimes tense affairs. Their lives are soon upended further when Elizabeth’s spectral presence makes itself known, inhabiting each of their bodies in turn but leaving no memories of what was said — or done — during the possessions. Elizabeth’s spirit causes chaos, confusion, and fractures for Jack and Jill. As they struggle to make sense of her intentions, her interventions begin to take ever darker and more sinister turns. Director Samuel Van Grinsven crafts a brooding and deeply atmospheric story that explores the legacy of loss, grief, and abuse through tremendous performances from its two leads, set amid New Zealand’s breathtaking South Island. Went Up The Hill is that exciting gem: a beautiful, intimate, and original ghost story. Jason Ryle Learn more about Went Up the Hill and find screenings here.

This heartfelt documentary from director Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) follows Saturday Night Live alumni Will Ferrell and Harper Steele as they traverse the US by car following Steele’s announcement of her transition. Both a portrait of enduring friendship and a field report on contemporary attitudes toward the trans community, Will & Harper reinvents the road movie for an age of change and empowerment. Ferrell and Steele met in 1995 on their first day at work at SNL, where they discovered an instant comedic kinship. Their personal bond deepened in the decades that followed. When Steele came out as trans, she feared the news could alienate those in her orbit. Ferrell declared his unconditional support, yet worried he might inadvertently say or do something offensive. The duo decide that a road trip could be a great way of reinforcing their friendship and surveying what it means to be transgender in today’s sharply divided culture. Their 16-day journey begins in New York, where they revisit their former headquarters at 30 Rock and reunite with old pals Seth Meyers and Tina Fey. From there, it’s off to Washington, DC, and the American heartland — including states that have recently placed restrictions on gender-affirming care. While buoyed by humour and warmth, Will & Harper delivers an urgent message regarding the sobering challenges still facing trans people. In precarious times, the love of a friend can supply some of the strength needed to forge ahead. Learn more about Will & Harper and find screenings here.

Who says they don’t make them like they used to? Full of bravery, honour, and some dazzling battles, this big-screen version of the legendary hero’s tale is pure pleasure to watch. William Tell may or may not have existed in real life, but his story is so irresistible that it has become the origin story of Switzerland, and embedded throughout Western culture. In 1307, a cruel Austrian Hapsburg king (Sir Ben Kingsley) occupies the bordering Swiss cantons. His tax collectors oppress and violate the citizens, driving one farmer to thoughts of murderous revenge. Fleeing across a vast landscape, this farmer finds only one man who will come to his aid: William Tell (Claes Bang, also at this year’s Festival in Bonjour Tristesse). Tell has returned home weary after fighting with the Knights Templar in the Holy Land. Now seeking only a quiet life with the wife he met there (Golshifteh Farahani), he’s nevertheless bound by his principles. When pushed beyond his limits by the villainy of the Hapsburg court, Tell picks up his weapons and rides into battle. Directed with vigour and flair by Nick Hamm (The Journey, TIFF ’16; Driven, TIFF ’18), William Tell delivers the lore as a rousing tale for the 21st century. The visuals are rich, the pacing urgent, and the first-rate cast, which includes Rafe Spall and Jonathan Pryce, truly sink their teeth into the material. And that famous moment when Tell is forced to shoot an apple off his son’s head with a crossbow is everything you want it to be. Learn more about William Tell and find screenings here.

As a director, Angelina Jolie has made a decisive turn from her glamorous on-screen image, crafting thoughtful dramas that illuminate the horrors war visits on individuals. In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) and First They Killed My Father (TIFF ’17) sharpen that focus further to war’s impact on women and girls in Bosnia and Cambodia, respectively. Without Blood sees Jolie returning to that neglected theme in the cinema of war. This time she directs another global screen icon, Salma Hayek Pinault. In a frontier landscape at the beginning of the 20th century, gunmen descend on a remote farmhouse, determined to exact revenge. Their target, a doctor — alone with his son and daughter — tries desperately to protect his children. Inevitably, bullets fly. Years later, Nina (Hayek Pinault) engages Tito (Demián Bichir), a lottery seller, in what seems like casual conversation at his kiosk. But the encounter is anything but chance. It soon dawns on him. “I know who you are,” Tito says, “and I know why you’ve come.“ As their conversation continues, it becomes clear that revenge casts a long shadow, and takes many forms. Adapting Alessandro Baricco’s novel of the same name, Jolie maintains the book’s parable quality, but with crackling precision, especially in Hayek Pinault and Bichir’s exchanges — between a woman who witnessed her family suffer shocking violence and the man who inflicted it. Shot at Rome’s fabled Cinecittà studios, this is an intimate chamber piece about how war seeps inside each person it touches long after the weapons fall silent. Cameron Bailey Learn more about Without Blood and find screenings here.

Wit and unrequited love are at the core of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 18th-century novella The Sorrows of Young Werther, and those elements are updated and adapted beautifully in this snappy, humorous reimagining, set in modern-day Toronto. Werther, played by Douglas Booth (Shoshana, TIFF ’23), is making a brief pit stop to retrieve a statue before departing on a European adventure with his best friend, but a chance encounter with Charlotte (Alison Pill, All My Puny Sorrows, TIFF ’21 ), puts those plans on hold until he can win her over. He falls more in love with her as they spend time together. She’s introverted, loves to read, and has been the main caretaker of her siblings since the deaths of their parents. A small snag to their union, however, is that Charlotte is engaged to successful lawyer Albert (Patrick J. Adams, The Swearing Jar, TIFF ’22). Hurdles continue to pile up against Werther, not the least of which is that Albert is so darn likeable to everyone, including our protagonist. But while he suffers in comically escalating situations in his dogged pursuit of romance, the object of his affection might be having misgivings about her upcoming nuptials. Charlotte, supported by friends played by Amrit Kaur (The Queen of My Dreams, TIFF ’23) and Iris Apatow (Funny People), finds herself drawn to the fun that Werther has brought into her life. But will she be swayed? With delightful performances from Booth, Pill, and the rest of the cast, director José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço’s feature debut succeeds in the difficult task of preserving the pertinence of Goethe’s dark and philosophical work in a bright and fun romantic comedy for a modern audience. Kelly Boutsalis Learn more about Young Werther and find screenings here.