From European avant-garde to celeb-driven fare, here are 10 buzzy films coming to TIFF

A scene from Matt Johnson's "Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie" starring Johnson and co-writer Jay McCarrol, is shown in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout - TIFF

TORONTO — It’s TIFF’s 50th edition — TIFFty feels like something of a missed branding opportunity — and the event once known as the Festival of Festivals is going big.

More than 200 features are scheduled to screen between Sept. 4 and 14. The Canadian Press’ arts and entertainment team has picked out 10 buzzy films hitting the festival, from celeb-driven Netflix fare, to European avant-garde, to a couple of well-known actors’ first foray into filmmaking.

“BLUE MOON”

Director Richard Linklater reunites with his “Boyhood” and “Before ” trilogy star Ethan Hawke for the Canadian premiere of this portrait of a musical genius’ unraveling, all played out in a single evening in the early days of Broadway’s golden age. Hawke is nearly unrecognizable in a trailer revealing him as bald, short lyricist Lorenz Hart, who drinks and spirals at the legendary theatre-district restaurant Sardi’s while “Oklahoma!” premieres down the street. Despite hits including “My Funny Valentine,” “Manhattan” and of course, “Blue Moon,” the anxiety-ridden Hart is consumed with fresh angst over the obvious professional triumph of his former collaborator Richard Rodgers, played by Andrew Scott, who is finding new success with a new partner, Oscar Hammerstein. The film also stars Margaret Qualley as a 20-year-old Yale student whom Hart fixates on, and Bobby Cannavale as a bartender who serves as a sounding board for Hart’s gripes. -Cassandra Szklarski

“CHRISTY”

Discourse around Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle ad earlier this summer may have drowned out the buzz about this biopic of Christy Martin, who was one of the biggest stars in women’s boxing in the 1990s. But the film may be career-defining role for Sweeney, who has seen massive Hollywood success with blockbuster rom-coms and horror flicks since she played an impassive teenager in the first season of “The White Lotus.” Martin was a survivor of domestic abuse: her manager-turned-husband was convicted of her attempted murder in 2010. Sweeney told W Magazine that she spent three months transforming her body for the role, weight training and kickboxing for hours every day. The film is directed by David Michôd, who also helmed the Brad Pitt Netflix movie “War Machine.” -Nicole Thompson

“ELEANOR THE GREAT”

This comedic drama lands at TIFF just before hitting theatres later this month, buoyed by an enthusiastic reception at the Cannes Film Festival for its quirky protagonist. Much of the early buzz has focused on June Squibb’s turn as a cheeky nonagenarian who can’t seem to stop herself from crossing ethical lines now and again. Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson makes her directorial debut with a bracing look at grief and aging, described as “a comically poignant exploration of how the stories we hear become the stories we tell.” -CS

“FRANKENSTEIN”

As cinema’s modern artisan of gothic storytelling, Guillermo del Toro has a proven track record for affectingly humanizing the inhuman. But what’s a monster moviemaker to do after earning widespread acclaim for “Pan’s Labyrinth” and a best picture Oscar for “The Shape of Water”? Take a swing at retelling Mary Shelley’s 19th-century novel, of course. Many directors have put their stamp on the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, and yet early footage for Netflix’s Toronto-made epic suggests del Toro will push the boundaries, introducing an expansive and visceral universe. In the leads are Oscar Isaac as the obsessive doctor and Jacob Elordi as the larger-than-life monster he creates. -David Friend

“GOOD FORTUNE”

Keanu Reeves plays a hapless angel meddling in the life of a struggling food delivery driver in Aziz Ansari’s feature directorial debut. Ansari stars as the gig worker, who — at the angel’s divine insistence — must swap lives with a spoiled tech billionaire, played by Seth Rogen. The idea is that each will learn from walking a mile in the other’s shoes, but the experiment spirals into chaos neither heaven nor Silicon Valley could have predicted. This marks Ansari’s highest-profile project since his hit Netflix series “Master of None,” and a sexual misconduct allegation in 2018 that he later addressed on tour, effectively making it a Hollywood career comeback attempt. -Alex Nino Gheciu

“HEN”

The buzz around “Hen” sounds more like a cacophony of clucks. Our heroine, a hen portrayed by eight real-life chickens, escapes a grisly fate and searches for a new home. Through her story, Hungarian filmmaker György Pálfi shows us a portrait of humanity — from the universal quest for belonging to the European migrant crisis. Pálfi is best known for “Taxidermia,” an intergenerational body horror that screened at Cannes in 2006 and has since developed something of a cult following. More recently, he made “Mindörökké,” a post-apocalyptic tale about a Ukrainian-Hungarian village. -NT

“MILE END KICKS”

Three years ago, Chandler Levack delighted TIFF-goers with her directorial debut “I Like Movies,” a witty coming-of-age comedy about a team of video store clerks. Her followup finds the Toronto filmmaker digging into her own experiences as a young female culture journalist in a semi-autobiographical romantic comedy. “Euphoria” star Barbie Ferreira shines as an aspiring music critic who abandons Ontario for a fresh start covering Montreal’s flourishing rock music scene of the early 2010s. Her newfound independence comes with its many challenges, which range from paying the rent on time to navigating the toxic world of male musicians. Levack’s witty script captures the joys of being young and stupid, while accepting that sometimes it’s the errors in judgment that help build character. -DF

“MODERN WHORE”

Andrea Werhun was on the periphery of last year’s edition of TIFF, after she consulted on Sean Baker’s Oscar-sweeping sex worker tragicomedy “Anora” and acted in Sook-Yin Lee’s “Paying For It.” This year, Werhun takes centre stage in the hybrid documentary “Modern Whore,” a nuanced and theatrical exploration of her years as an escort and stripper. The film features dramatizations of her encounters with clients and employers, charmingly narrated by Werhun and interspersed with interviews with her friends and family. Werhun and director Nicole Bazuin, her longtime collaborator, shine the spotlight on the humour inherent to sex work, but don’t shy away from the darkness of it. -NT

“NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE”

Since co-creating web series “Nirvanna the Band the Show” in 2007, Matt Johnson has gone from scrappy DIY filmmaker to directing 2023’s acclaimed “BlackBerry” and A24’s forthcoming Anthony Bourdain biopic. Yet in this film revival of his and Jay McCarrol’s cult comedy, the pair remain stuck where we left them: still scheming to play Toronto venue The Rivoli and failing spectacularly. Only now, their plots are bigger, dumber, and more gloriously unhinged — think death-defying stunts, time travel gone wrong, and a butterfly effect that tears their friendship apart. To put things right, the two hop over heaps of red tape — at the CN Tower, the TTC, and even Drake’s house — in this Borat-style gonzo romp that earned a thunderous standing ovation at its SXSW premiere. -ANG

“WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY”

Suave detective Benoit Blanc was introduced to TIFF audiences when Rian Johnson’s 2019 star-studded “Knives Out” became a breakout success of the festival that year. Now in its third instalment, the mystery franchise is purring along with Blanc — played expertly by James Bond alum Daniel Craig — cracking another case tied to a different cast of colourful suspects. This time, Blanc descends on a small town where a community of churchgoers are locked in a crisis of faith. One of their own has turned up dead and many suspect the killer is among them. Seemingly darker than its predecessors, the latest “Knives Out” film stars Josh Brolin, Glenn Close, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington and Mila Kunis. - DF

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2025.

Nicole Thompson, Cassandra Szklarski, David Friend and Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press