Toronto film festival 2025 preview: Screen’s guide to the Discovery and Centrepiece strands

Screen International previews the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery and Centrepiece strands. TIFF runs September 4-14.

Discovery

Toronto’s Discovery programme of first- and second-time filmmakers comprises 23 features, all of which are world premieres. It opens with one of only two US titles in the line-up, Maddie’s Secret (UTA), comedian John Early’s debut feature satirising content culture.

Narratives centred on young female protagonists abound this year: Canadian director Eva Thomas’ Nika & Madison (Canoe/Film), is about two Indigenous women who go on the run after one is sexually assaulted by a police officer, and 16-year-old Luca realises she’s the victim of her influencer parent’s content in Joscha Bongard’s German-title Babystar.

Pakistani director Seemab Gul’s Ghost School centres on a girl out to discover why her village’s only school is closed; Seyhmus Altun’s As We Breathe sees Esma step up in her rural Anatolian family; and a woman incites a rebellion at an elite all-girls school in Siyou Tan’s Amoeba. Further female-focused stories include: Bikas Ranjan Mishra’s police drama Bayaan; Spanish filmmaker Lucia Aleñar Iglesias’ Forastera (Alpha Violet), which is based on her 2020 short of the same name; a biography of Canada’s first female infantry officer in Mélanie Charbonneau’s Out Standing; and Zain Duraie’s mother-son story Sink.

Cato Kusters’ love story Julian (The Match Factory), produced by brothers Lukas and Michiel Dhont (Close), is about two women planning to marry in all the countries where they legally can.

Conflict rises in Swedish filmmakers Pella Kagerman and Hugo Lilja’s sci-fi Egghead Republic (Best Friend Forever) taking place in a reality where the Cold War did not end; Zamo Mkhwanazi’s Laundry is set in 1968 during South Africa’s apartheid era; and Tomas Corredor’s Noviembre (Cineplex) dramatises Colombia’s 1985 Palace of Justice siege.

Horror stories include Taratoa Stappard’s Maori gothic Mārama (MPI Media Group) and Nadia Latif’s The Man In My Basement (Protagonist) about a man (Corey Hawkins) losing his home until a businessman (Willem Dafoe) rents his basement.

The deaf community feature in Stroma Cairns’ BBC Film production The Son And The Sea and writer/director Ted Evans’ thriller Retreat (XYZ Films) starring an all-deaf cast. Likewise in the thriller genre is Andy Hines’ Little Lorraine.

Mexican director Karla Badillo’s Oca and Croatia’s Goran Stankovic’s Our Father (Split Screen) offer religious themes.

This year’s Canadian Discovery titles include Kunsang Kyirong’s 100 Sunset and Sasha Leigh Henry’s Dinner With Friends.

Centrepiece

Among the 18 world premieres in the 55-film Centrepiece line-up is Kirk Jones’ biopic I Swear (Bankside Films) about trailblazer John Davidson, who helped the world better understand what it means to live with Tourette syndrome. Disability also features in Jitank Singh Gurjar’s Indian family drama In Search Of The Sky about an elderly couple and their special-needs adult son.

The family theme continues in Canadian Gail Maurice’s Indigenous drama Blood Lines; Hong-Kong-born Mary Stephen’s Palimpsest: The Story Of A Name about the origins of her western surname; Malaysian Woo Ming Jin’s coming-of-age drama The Fox King about fraternal twins; and Quebec’s Mathieu Denis’ The Cost Of Heaven about a family man desperate to escape his financial situation.

From Latin America, Ulises Porra’s Under The Same Sun is a historical drama about high-quality silk production coming to early 19th-century Hispaniola; and Alvaro Olmos Torrico’s The Condor Daughter follows a Quechua midwife who flees to the city to pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Migration likewise features in Eimi Imanishi’s debut feature Nomad Shadow about a refugee forced to return to Western Sahara.

Centrepiece offers a pair of sport dramas: Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa tell the story of the infamous 2002 World Cup dispute between Ireland football manager Mick McCarthy and captain Roy Keane in Saipan (Bankside); and Hubert Davis directs hockey drama Youngblood, based on the original 1986 film.

The US offers a romance and a buddy comedy: Adam Carter Rehmeier’s Carolina Caroline (FilmNation/CAA) about a young woman who finds love on the run with a con man; and New Year’s Rev (CAA) from director Lee Kirk based on Green Day’s early days.

Poland is showcased in Pete Ohs’ Erupcja (Magnify/CAA) starring Charlie XCX; and Polish Oscar-nominated director Jan Komasa’s Good Boy (HanWay Films), which tells the story of a criminal who is kidnapped and forced into a rehabilitation process.

Thrillers and crime dramas include Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s Unidentified (UTA) about a true crime aficionado; Cal McMau’s feature debut Wasteman (Bankside) following a parolee whose chances of release are jeopardised by a new arrival; and Dutch director Nanouk Leopold’s Whitetail, which sees the past catch up with a woman who carries the guilt of a tragic accident.

Among the 37 features in Centrepiece that premiered elsewhere, Aniel Karia’s Hamlet (WME/CAA) stars and is produced by Riz Ahmed. The film’s billing as a Canadian premiere indicates a Telluride launch. 

TIFF profiles by Charles Gant, Tim Grierson, Nadiya Jackson, Rebecca Leffler, Lee Marshall, Tara Nimmoneser, Jonathan Romney, Michael Rosser, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong

• The lowdown on the 2025 Toronto lineup