Comedian John Early’s directorial debut ‘Maddie’s Secret’ to premiere at TIFF

People walk the closed-off streets at the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

TORONTO — Comedian John Early will make his directorial debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

TIFF announced Wednesday that the satire “Maddie’s Secret” will open the festival’s Discovery program, which spotlights first-time and sophomore directors.

Early, who is best known for his starring role on the TBS and HBO Max show “Search Party,” had not previously announced he was making the movie.

Programmer Dorota Lech says the film, which was also written by Early, is about a content creator on a food network who’s trying to hide her dark past.

She says the movie is both a showcase for some of comedy’s brightest stars, including Early’s frequent collaborator Kate Berlant, and a “really sincere portrait of girlhood and trauma.”

The Discovery lineup includes Canadian filmmaker Eva Thomas’s “Nika & Madison,” a feature-length adaptation of her short film “Redlights.”

The movie follows two Indigenous women who flee their reserve after a violent encounter with a police officer.

“It’s a really relevant social drama,” Lech said in a call last week to preview the lineup.

Other films in the program include “100 Sunset” by Canadian director Kunsang Kyirong, a noir about Toronto’s Tibetan community, and “The Man in My Basement” from director Nadia Latif, a thriller starring Willem Dafoe and Corey Hawkins and based on the novel by Walter Mosley.

TIFF, which holds its 50th edition this year, runs from Sept. 4 to 14.

Earlier this week, festival organizers dropped their most robust lineup announcement to date, touting films from big-name directors including Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” Benny Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine” and Scarlett Johansson’s feature directorial debut “Eleanor the Great.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 23, 2025.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press