The People's Choice Award from the just-wrapped 50th Toronto Film Festival has gone to Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, first runner-up is Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and second runner-up is Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Hamnet hails…

The Toronto Film Festival kicked off its 50th edition on Thursday, September 4, 2025 with a slew of premieres including the official opening-night film John Candy: I Like Me. It launched 10 days of world premieres, gala presentations and more as the third leg of the fall festival tour (along with…

For a book that not many people know about or have read, James George Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890) has had quite an impact on cult cinema, particularly in the '70s. For reasons that would take too long to go into here — and thanks to its influence…

EXCLUSIVE: In the new documentary A Life Illuminated, marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder comments, "You never get tired of this." The "this" she refers to is sinking below the ocean surface to explore the mysterious deep, a place of wondrous bioluminescence and strange marine creatures. The film…

CAROLINA CAROLINE Section: Centrepiece Director: Adam Carter Rehmeier Screenwriter: Tom Dean Logline: With the soulful appeal of the Jonathan Edwards song that shares its name, Carolina Caroline is a sweet, slick road movie about a woman yearning to find herself. Finding love…

HAMLET Section: Centrepiece Director: Aneil Karia Screenwriter: Michael Lesslie Logline: Shakespeare's most enduring tragedy finds bold new life in Aneil Karia's fierce, full-blooded adaptation, set in present-day London's vibrant South Asian community. Anchored by a resonant and…

& SONS Section: Special Presentations Director: Pablo Trapero Screenwriter: Sarah Polley, Pablo Trapero Logline: This dramatic adaptation of David Gilbert's 2013 novel, co-written by Oscar-winner Sarah Polley and directed by Pablo Trapero (TIFF '15's The Clan), stars Bill Nighy as…

TUNER Section: Special Presentations Director: Daniel Roher Screenwriter: Daniel Roher, Robert Ramsey Logline: Documentarian Daniel Roher dazzles with his narrative debut, a whip-smart thriller about an unusual safecracker (Leo Woodall). Panelists: Daniel Roher, Leo Woodall…

DUST BUNNY Section: Midnight Madness Director: Bryan Fuller Screenwriter: Bryan Fuller Logline: A 10-year-old girl procures the services of a hit man (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill the monster under her bed in this whimsically macabre feature debut from acclaimed television showrunner…

Looking like it was a script plucked straight out of the 1970s, maybe even the ’50s, the richly entertaining midrange drama Easy’s Waltz goes down easy. It’s an engrossing character study of the kind of Vegas lounge singer that ought to be in that…

THE LOWDOWN Section: Primetime Director: Sterlin Harjo Logline: Opening the tenth year of Primetime, Sterlin Harjo's The Lowdown is a modern noir set in Tulsa, with Ethan Hawke playing Lee Raybon, a latter-day Philip Marlowe. Panelists: Ethan Hawke and Sterlin Harjo. Key Quote…

CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN’ Section: Special Presentations Director: James McAvoy Screenwriters: Archie Thomson and Elaine Gracie Logline: Actor James McAvoy makes his directorial debut with this irresistible, feel-good underdog tale about two Scottish men pretending to be Americans to…