TIFF’s 2025 Centrepiece programme celebrates the best of international cinema

Presenting works from celebrated filmmakers, including  Mathieu Denis’ Cost of Heaven, Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake, Jan Komasa’s Good Boy, Anders Thomas Jensen’s The Last Viking, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, Pietro Marcello’s Duse, Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3, and Álvaro Olmos Torrico’s The Condor Daughter

TIFF Centrepiece programme, the Festival’s global showcase of compelling cinema from around the world.  This year, there are 55 titles from filmmakers representing nearly fifty countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chad, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Germany, Iraq, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand, reflecting TIFF’s commitment to global cinema. Centrepiece provides a platform for internationally recognized films, acclaimed titles from other festivals around the globe, and highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents.  This year’s slate includes the latest work from influential filmmakers Hubert Davis, Mathieu Denis, Hasan Hadi, Chie Hayakawa, Anders Thomas Jensen, Jan Komasa, Richard Linklater, Sergei Loznitsa, Pietro Marcello, Christian Petzold, Potsy Poncirol, and Álvaro Olmos Torrico.   Home Bound at TIFF 2025 The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, will take place September 4–14, 2025.   Hear from Jason Anderson: TIFF’s new Lead Programmer, Canada:

Centrepiece has 19 world premieres, including: Blood Lines, Gail Maurice’s sophomore feature, a pastoral drama of family and reconnection Carolina Caroline, directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier, an outlaw romance starring Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner Erupcja, directed by Pete Ohs, features a combustible chemistry between a Polish florist (Lena Góra) and a British tourist (Charli xcx) Good Boy, by Jan Komasa, a twisted thriller about freedom and identity, starring Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, and Anson Boon I Swear, from Kirk Jones, the inspirational true story of John Davidson, a trailblazer whose honesty and humour helped the world better understand what it means to live with Tourette Syndrome Nomad Shadow, Eimi Imanishi’s poignant debut feature about a refugee to Spain who’s forced to return to Western Sahara Palimpsest: the Story of a Name, from Mary Stephen (Shades of Silk), a deeply personal story about her family’s complicated history and their Western surname Saipan, from filmmakers Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, about a rift between star player Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy on the eve of the 2002 World Cup, starring Éanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan The Condor Daughter, from Álvaro Olmos Torrico, about a young woman who inherits the sacred art of midwifery but dreams of conquering the city with her voice The Cost of Heaven, a film from Quebec’s Mathieu Denis (whose TIFF ’16 film Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Dig Their Own Graves was awarded that year’s Best Canadian Feature), starring French actor Samir Guesmi The President’s Cake, from a multiple award winner at Cannes, Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi, a heartbreaking and unforgettable look at a country crushed by poverty and international sanctions — and ruled by a sadistic, greedy and vain tyrant Unidentified, the latest from Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda), an iconoclastic crime thriller that questions our collective fascination with tales of femicide Wasteman, Cal McMau’s debut feature, which peels back the conventions of the prison drama, featuring rising star David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus) Whitetail, from Dutch filmmaker Nanouk Leopold, a slow-burn thriller with a haunting performance from Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders) Youngblood, directed by Hubert Davis, starring Blair Underwood and Shawn Doyle, and co-written by the late Charles Officer, is a powerful tribute to the Toronto filmmaker, and a reimagining of the original 1986 film Hear from Diana Cadavid, International Programmer Latin America, Spain, Portugal:

Notable North American premieres include: French animation director Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco,Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost, Barrio Triste, from music video director STILLZ, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, Chadian director Achille Ronaimou’s surprising debut feature Diya, Genki Kawamura’s Exit 8,  Quebec screenwriter, actor and director Eric K. Boulianne’s Follies, Taiwanese actor and director Shu Qi’s Girl, Iraqi filmmaker’s Mohamed Jabarah’s Irkalla: Gilgamesh's Dream, Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl, co-written by Sean Baker, Lucky Lu by Korean-Canadian writer-director and 2025 TIFF–CBC Films Screenwriter Award recipient Lloyd Lee Choi, German auteur Christian Petzold’s Miroirs No. 3, Italian filmmaker Francesco Sossai’s The Last One for The Road, Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen’s The Last Viking, Diego Céspedes’ The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo. Hafsia Herzi’s The Little Sister, and other Centrepiece standout selections are: Duse, an International Premiere from visionary Italian auteur Pietro Marcello (whose  Martin Eden won TIFF’s 2019 Platform prize) and Hamlet, a Canadian Premiere from director Aneil Karia. Centrepiece is programmed by Jason Anderson, Kelly Boutsalis, Diana Cadavid, Robyn Citizen, Claire Diao, Giovanna Fulvi, June Kim, Dorota Lech, Anita Lee, Peter Kuplowsky, Andréa Picard, and Jason Ryle. 2025 CENTREPIECE PROGRAMME (in alphabetical order) A Useful Ghost | Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke | Thailand/France/Singapore/Germany North American Premiere Arco | Ugo Bienvenu | France North American Premiere Barrio Triste | STILLZ | Colombia/USA North American Premiere Blood Lines | Gail Maurice | Canada World Premiere Blue Heron | Sophy Romvari | Canada/Hungary North American Premiere Blue Moon | Richard Linklater | USA/Ireland North American Premiere Carolina Caroline | Adam Carter Rehmeier | USA World Premiere Dandelion's Odyssey | Momoko Seto | France/Belgium North American Premiere Diya | Achille Ronaimou | Chad/France/Germany/Côte d’Ivoire North American Premiere Duse | Pietro Marcello | France/Italy International Premiere Eagles of the Republic | Tarik Saleh | Sweden/France/Denmark/Finland/Germany North American Premiere Erupcja | Pete Ohs | USA/Poland World Premiere Exit 8 | Genki Kawamura | Japan North American Premiere Follies | Eric K. Boulianne | Canada North American Premiere Girl | Shu Qi | Taiwan North American Premiere Good Boy | Jan Komasa | Poland/UK World Premiere Hamlet | Aneil Karia | UK Canadian Premiere Honey Bunch | Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada North American Premiere I Swear | Kirk Jones | UK World Premiere In Search of The Sky | Jitank Singh Gurjar | India World Premiere Irkalla: Gilgamesh's Dream | Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji | Iraq/United Arab Emirates/France/UK/Qatar/Saudi Arabia North American Premiere Left-Handed Girl | Shih-Ching Tsou | Taiwan/France/USA/UK North American Premiere Little Amélie or the Character of Rain | Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han | France North American Premiere Lucky Lu | Lloyd Lee Choi | USA North American Premiere Mama | Or Sinai | Israel/Poland/Italy North American Premiere Memory of Princess Mumbi | Damien Hauser | Kenya/Switzerland/Saudi Arabia North American Premiere Milk Teeth | Mihai Mincan | Romania/France/Denmark/Greece/Bulgaria North American Premiere Miroirs No. 3 | Christian Petzold | Germany North American Premiere Motor City | Potsy Ponciroli | USA North American Premiere My Father's Shadow | Akinola Davies Jr. | UK/Nigeria North American Premiere New Years Rev | Lee Kirk | USA World Premiere Nomad Shadow | Eimi Imanishi | USA/Spain/France World Premiere Olmo | Fernando Eimbcke | USA/Mexico North American Premiere Orphan | László Nemes | Hungary/France/Germany/UK North American Premiere Palimpsest: the Story of a Name | Mary Stephen | France/Hong Kong/Taiwan World Premiere Renoir | Chie Hayakawa | Japan/France/Singapore/Philippines/Indonesia/Qatar North American Premiere Saipan | Lisa Barros D'Sa, Glenn Leyburn | Ireland/UK World Premiere Space Cadet | Kid Koala | Canada North American Premiere The Blue Trail | Gabriel Mascaro | Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands North American Premiere The Condor Daughter | Álvaro Olmos Torrico | Bolivia/Peru/Uruguay World Premiere The Cost of Heaven | Mathieu Denis | Canada World Premiere The Fox King | Woo Ming Jin | Malaysia/Indonesia World Premiere The Last One for The Road | Francesco Sossai | Italy/Germany North American Premiere The Last Viking | Anders Thomas Jensen | Denmark/Sweden North American Premiere The Little Sister | Hafsia Herzi | France/Germany North American Premiere The Love That Remains | Hlynur Pálmason | Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/France North American Premiere The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo | Diego Céspedes | Chile/France North American Premiere The President's Cake | Hasan Hadi | Iraq/USA/Qatar North American Premiere The Sun Rises On Us All | Cai Shangjun | China North American Premiere Two Prosecutors | Sergei Loznitsa | France/Germany/Netherlands/Latvia/Romania/Lithuania North American Premiere Under The Same Sun | Ulises Porra | Dominican Republic/Spain World Premiere Unidentified | Haifaa Al Mansour | Saudi Arabia World Premiere Wasteman | Cal McMau | UK World Premiere Whitetail | Nanouk Leopold | Netherlands/Belgium/Ireland World Premiere Youngblood | Hubert Davis | Canada World Premiere The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 4–14, 2025.

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