The Toronto International Film Festival just announced its Centrepiece programme, and with it comes plenty of star power. Spotlighting a wide-ranging lineup of 55 films from around the globe, the program includes titles representing nearly 50 countries, including Iraq, Chad, Thailand, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Taiwan.

This year TIFF’s Centrepiece lineup brings with it 19 world premieres, including buzzed-about new titles from filmmakers such as Mathieu Denis, Hasan Hadi, Jan Komasa, Anders Thomas Jensen, and Richard Linklater. 

Leading the slate is Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” marking the director’s return to TIFF with a character-driven drama. Other high-profile international entries include Christian Petzold’s “Miroirs No. 3,” Pietro Marcello’s “Duse” (an international premiere), and Anders Thomas Jensen’s Viking epic “The Last Viking.”
TIFF is also playing host to a number of world premieres from emerging and mid-career directors.

Highlights include:

“Blood Lines,” the sophomore feature from Gail Maurice, a pastoral drama exploring family and reconnection;
“Carolina Caroline,” a stylish outlaw romance from Adam Carter Rehmeier, starring Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner;
“Erupcja,” directed by Pete Ohs, which features a combustible pairing between a Polish florist (played by Lena Góra) and a British tourist (Charli XCX, making a turn into narrative film);
“Good Boy,” a tense identity thriller from Jan Komasa starring Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, and Anson Boon;
“Saipan,” a sports-political drama from Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, starring Éanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan as part of a dramatic retelling of the infamous 2002 World Cup fallout between Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy.

Other world premieres in the TIFF Centrepiece programme include Eimi Imanishi’s “Nomad Shadow,” a poignant debut set between Spain and Western Sahara; “Palimpsest: The Story of a Name,” a deeply personal tale from Mary Stephen; and “The Condor Daughter” by Álvaro Olmos Torrico, a Bolivian-set drama that navigates tradition and ambition through the story of a young woman balancing ancestral midwifery and a dream of becoming a singer.

2025 TIFF 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 runs September 4–14, 2025.