The Cannes Film Festival has just finished back in May, and the upcoming film festival season is looming upon us, with the big festivals like Venice, Telluride, TIFF and NYFF on the horizon with further announcements soon to follow. Sometimes it is fun to speculate on what will be announced at these respective festivals – and perhaps set our own expectations accordingly. So without further ado, I have compiled this list together of some films that I (and perhaps many others) think will appear at the Toronto International Film Festival for this upcoming September.

All of a Sudden

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s previous film Evil Does Not Exist made an appearance at TIFF back in 2023, although it premiered at Venice first before TIFF. Given the reception and the accolades his latest film has received at Cannes (including a Best Actress Award win for its two lead stars Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto), All of a Sudden is likely to be one of the most highly coveted films during the upcoming festival season. I would not be surprised if TIFF is in the cards for this one as far as a North American premiere is concerned.

The Black Ball

Another film that has received much praise including winning the Best Director Award at Cannes earlier this year. Netflix bought the rights to distribution for an estimated $4-5 million and are likely looking to position the film as one of its primary awards contenders later in the year. Given Netflix and TIFF’s relationship over the years, it’s very likely that we’ll be seeing this one at TIFF come this September and could even be a potential People’s Choice contender.

Bunker

This one may be a bit of a shot in the dark, as while director Florian Zeller’s previous films The Father and The Son have made appearances at TIFF before, his last film The Son hasn’t had nearly quite the same acclaim and reception that The Father had received overall. There’s some reason to be skeptical about the film’s chances of appearing at TIFF this year, but also reason to believe it may have its North American premiere here, given Zeller’s track record at this point (even if it is a small track record thus far).

Club Kid

This directorial debut from Jordan Firstman played at Cannes this year, where it was nominated for various awards including the Camera d’Or. The reception this movie received has resulted in a large bidding war, with A24 winning out after paying $17 million for its distribution rights internationally. It’s likely that A24 will mount a significant festival and awards campaign for the film in the coming months. Perhaps this also means it’ll play at TIFF too? We’ll see – but I’m sure there are many who would love to see that happen. Expect it to have only 2 screenings if that’s the case though – I anticipate A24 will play it based off of the hype this has already received.

Coward

This is another one that received plenty of praise and accolades at Cannes this year, including the Best Actor Award win shared by its two lead stars Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne. Lukas Dhont’s previous film Close did miss out on TIFF in spite of its accolades, but Dhont’s debut film Girl did have its Canadian premiere at TIFF back in 2018. This could go either way – but it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think that a festival like TIFF would be interested in premiering the film.

The Debut

Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut is titled The Debut. It has secured A24 distribution and includes a pretty star-studded cast lead by Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti to boot. TIFF loves Hollywood stars and celebrities, and TIFF is no stranger to premiering directorial debuts from well-known actors – think for example Eleanor the Great at TIFF last year, directed by Scarlett Johansson, or Poolman directed by Chris Pine. Maybe not a given, but I think the chances of it appearing at TIFF this year are pretty good.

Fatherland

This is another one where it received nothing but accolades at Cannes this year, this time taking home the Best Director Award. Also another one where director Pawel Pawlikowski is no stranger to TIFF – minus his debut feature The Stringer, all his feature-length movies have appeared at TIFF in some capacity (with The Woman in the Fifth and Ida being TIFF world premieres). Given the track record, Fatherland seems like a no-brainer.

Fjord

A combination of Fjord‘s Cannes accolades (with it being the Palme D’Or winner), director Cristian Mungiu’s previous three films having premiered at TIFF, plus a history of Palme D’Or winners always coming to TIFF ensures that Fjord is pretty much a slam dunk when it comes to its chances of appearing at TIFF this year. But this also means it’ll likely be one of the hottest, most in-demand tickets like the past Palme D’Or winners at TIFF – expect maybe about 2 or 3 screenings for this one.

Forgotten Island

TIFF loves its big animated films, and Dreamworks Animation has had success in the past with their films at TIFF, the most recent being The Wild Robot in 2024. Given Forgotten Island‘s release date late in the year that wasn’t too different from that of TIFF world premieres like The Wild Robot and Abominable, the timing certainly lines up very well.

Here Comes The Flood

A lot of people seem to be speculating on what big Netflix films will make an appearance at TIFF this year. Many predictions seem to be going bold with something like The Adventures of Cliff Booth, but I think the chances of that premiering at TIFF are quite low considering David Fincher doesn’t have much of a track record of doing TIFF plus its connections to the previous Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, as TIFF doesn’t commonly do sequels or prequels (minus standalone instalments – Junk World is one that comes to mind). I actually think something like Here Comes The Flood is a safer bet. It’s got a star-studded cast in Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson and Daisy Edgar-Jones, and the past three films from director Fernando Meirelles have also played at TIFF (as well as his most well-known film City of God back in 2002).

I Play Rocky

Ever since Peter Farrelly split off from his brother Bobby to focus more on his solo work, his films that have released later in the calendar year – namely Green Book and The Greatest Beer Run Ever – have been world premieres at TIFF. I Play Rocky is following in that same pattern, plus its inspirational angle that focuses on the story of how the first Rocky film came to be will likely appeal to the TIFF crowd – TIFF’s history of enjoying a good biographical underdog story cannot be understated.

Klara And The Sun

Taika Waititi loves TIFF, as many of his films have appeared there – his last two non-Thor movies Next Goal Wins and Jojo Rabbit were world premieres at TIFF. Given the secrecy surrounding Waititi’s next upcoming film for quite a while and the recently announced late October release date, this seems destined for another TIFF premiere later this year.

Look Back

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s films have made frequent appearances at TIFF over the years, in fact you could say nearly his entire filmography going all the way back to his debut feature Maborosi in 1995. He has also made another film Sheep In The Box earlier this year, which got a rather tepid reception at Cannes and is slated to have a July release date in theatres, which means it’ll likely miss the upcoming festival season including TIFF. Look Back is Kore-eda’s other film for this year, and so far I’d say the chances look much better for this film. It would be unfortunate for someone like Kore-eda to have his second film in a row within the same year miss out on TIFF otherwise. After Life is the only Kore-eda film thus far to have made its world premiere at TIFF, so I think the chances are much higher for Look Back to premiere first at Venice before heading to TIFF in line with some of his other films (like The Truth or The Third Murder), but I suppose a TIFF world premiere is possible too.

If it’s anything like Monster back in 2023, this will probably only get about two screenings should it play at TIFF.

Love Is Not the Answer

So far not much is known about the film other than it being an ‘absurdist comedy’ with another big-name actor in Michael Cera making his directorial debut. My logic for this one is pretty similar to the upcoming Jesse Eisenberg debut film; TIFF loves it when big-name actors make their directorial debuts, even a Canadian one. I don’t know how good the chances are at the moment that Cera’s film will be coming out at some point in the year, but on paper this seems about right for a TIFF premiere.

Mimesis

Director Kaouther Ben Hania made a big splash during last year’s TIFF with The Voice of Hind Rajab. Mimesis seems like it could be headed for a theatrical release later in the year which would mean a TIFF premiere would be in the cards – but if not, there’s always next year. Either way I think the chances of it appearing at TIFF at some point are pretty good, although much like The Voice of Hind Rajab this could also be one of those instances where it might head to Venice first.

Minotaur

Minotaur won a couple of accolades at Cannes earlier this May, particularly the Grand Prix. All of Andrey Zvyagintsev’s five previous films have had North American premieres at TIFF, with nearly all of them having a similar run of playing Cannes before moving on to other film festivals later in the year. Minotaur feels like a lock as far as playing at TIFF this year is concerned.

The Myth of a Real Man

This is director Lee Filipovski’s debut feature film, following her short films Nula (played at TIFF in 2021) and Fluffy (also played at TIFF in 2016). It is a Canadian production that wrapped up production last year and has received funding from Telefilm Canada. Given Filipovski’s relationship with TIFF, I could see this being a TIFF world premiere.

Paradise

It’s interesting to me that Paradise hasn’t made any other festival appearances since Berlin earlier this year at the time of writing this. It’s also not a guarantee that Paradise will appear at TIFF at all considering TIFF tends to prefer when Canadian films prioritize TIFF for their world premiere over other festivals – but it’s already got some early buzz for a Canadian film, and director Jérémy Comte established a name for himself back in 2018 when his short film Fauve played at TIFF. TIFF does love its Canadian films. So, who knows?

Possible Love

Ever since Oasis in 2002, Lee Chang-dong’s films have always played at TIFF all the way to his last film, the widely acclaimed Burning back in 2018. Possible Love is Lee Chang-dong’s follow-up to Burning after many years, and as a result of Burning‘s success I think a TIFF North American or Canadian premiere seems like a pretty good possibility.

Rose

MUBI typically likes to send at least a film or two of theirs to TIFF every year. Given Rose‘s reception at Berlin earlier this year, and Markus Schleinzer’s previous films having also appeared at TIFF in past years (with his last film Angelo having been a TIFF world premiere back in 2018), surely there’s a good chance that Schleinzer’s most acclaimed film yet will play at TIFF too?

Saturn Return

This is another one of those Netflix vehicles that seems destined for a big film festival like TIFF later in the year considering Netflix’s history with TIFF, backed by a pretty star-studded cast and a director whose last film Sing Sing has garnered many accolades and has also made its world premiere at TIFF. It also marks another one of Kwedar’s collaborations with writer and filmmaker Clint Bentley, whose past few films as a director have also appeared at TIFF including his most recent Train Dreams (Bentley’s most acclaimed work to date).

Tangles

TIFF typically tends to present an animated film that has garnered some amount of praise and attention coming out of Cannes early on – last year it was Arco and Little Amélie, and Flow the year before that. This year I think Tangles has a pretty good shot, considering the early positive reception it has also received.

Tender Loving Care

Mike Leigh has been a constant at TIFF ever since Happy-Go-Lucky back in 2008, and it seems like age hasn’t stopped Leigh from making another film only 2 years after Hard Truths. So far there has not been many details released to the public about the film, although filming for it has already wrapped earlier this year. So we’ll see about whether or not it’s ready in time for another TIFF premiere this year, just like the world premiere of Hard Truths back in 2024.

Victorian Psycho

Zachary Wigon’s previous film Sanctuary made its world premiere at TIFF back in 2022, and this time around he’s back with a Cannes premiere this time around and a late September release date after TIFF. He seems to be leaning more into a horror direction this time around, which suggests something that could potentially appeal to a Midnight Madness crowd as well – maybe.

Wild Horse Nine

Martin McDonagh has been a mainstay at TIFF ever since Seven Psychopaths in 2012. His films generally follow a similar festival run prioritizing the late film festival season, with his last two films The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri making their world premieres at Venice before immediately moving on to TIFF. So there’s almost no question that his latest film Wild Horse Nine will follow suit at TIFF after its potential Venice premiere. The November theatrical release date that is in line with McDonagh’s previous film releases also tracks.