Welcome to the 50th Edition of TIFF

John Candy

Interestingly, the Festival of Festivals changed its name to the Toronto International Film Festival the same year Canadian comedic icon John Candy died who will be the subject of the opening night film for the 50th edition; he was able to get even bigger laughs than his rotund stature which is something that the son of a Hollywood legend honours with the documentary John Candy: I Like Me.  “When you hear the name John Candy, your face lights up,” noted Colin Hanks.  “He wasn’t just a great actor; he was an even better person. People loved his everyman qualities, but they didn’t know how relatable John really was. He went through the same struggles we all do, except now we talk about them. We are incredibly honoured to have gotten to know the man better through this process and to bring the real John Candy to audiences starting with his hometown of Toronto.”

Good News

Helping to launch the careers of Alfonso Cuarón, Julie Dash, Jean-Marc Vallée, Christopher Nolan, Maren Ade, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Barry Jenkins is the Discovery programme which this time around showcases the work of Seyhmus Altun (As We Breathe), Joscha Bongard (Babystar), Seemab Gul (Ghost School), Taratoa Stappard (Mārama), Karla Badillo (Oca), Ted Evans (Retreat), and Zain Duraie (Sink).  Among the World Premieres are Alejandro Amenábar’s The Captive, Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, Sung-hyun Byun’s Good News, Nia DaCosta’s Hedda, and Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks. “These first five films of our Official Selection reflect the innovation, heart, and global perspective that have made our Festival a home for great cinema over the past 50 editions,” stated Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF. “We’re excited to kick-off our Special Presentations with Chandler Levack’s Mile End Kicks, a young, Canadian director who has close ties to TIFF in addition to these established directors.”

Winter of the Crow

Other noteworthy movies that will be shown on the big screen for the first time are Roofman by Derek Cianfrance, The Lost Bus by Paul Greengrass and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery by Rian Johnson.  Getting the red carpet-treatment as well is Eleanor the Great, the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson along with Nuremberg by James Vanderbilt, Driver’s Ed by Bobby Farrelly, A Pale View of Hills by Kei Ishikawa, and Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater.  Celebrating a decade of existence is the Platform Award which has 10 films from 19 countries competing against each other, some of them have serious star wattage like Steve which features Cillian Murphy directed by Tim Mielants and Lesley Manville in Winter of the Crow helmed by Kasia Adamik while others are equally compelling such as Hen by György Pálfi which actually has a hen as the protagonist and Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) where two Indigenous siblings have to confront their troubled past.

Dust Bunny

No Toronto Internation Film Festival would be complete without audiences getting thrilled and chilled by the Midnight Madness programme which includes Dust Bunny by Bryan Fuller, Normal by Ben Wheatley, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie by Matt Johnson, and The Furious by Kenji Tanigaki.  Getting lauded are Guillermo del Toro, Jodie Foster, HIKARI, and Lee Byung Hun at the Tribute Awards with Guillermo de Toro receiving the TIFF Edbert Director Award, Jodie Foster being given the TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award, HIKARI being presented with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award, and Lee Byung Hun is to be the recipient of the TIFF Special Tribute Award.  Amidst all of the TIFF tradition is the brand-new International People’s Choice Award that will be presented in addition to the People’s Choice Award which has become a respected bellwether for the Best Picture nominees and winners at the Academy Awards.

Jodie Foster

The 50th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4-14, 2025, and for more information visit tiff.net.    

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.