24/07/2025 - The festival has unveiled its most diverse and globally orientated section, made up this year of 23 world premieres, which aims to spotlight the next generation of great directors

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), running from 4-14 September, continues to roll out its expansive line-up, unveiling the Discovery section yesterday. The festival’s reliable port of call for emerging talents and underrepresented regions in the world industry, it’s composed this year of 23 titles, all of which are world premieres, with half of these having majority or minority European involvement.

Beginning with a title highlighted by gathering itself, Belgian director Cato Kusters makes her debut in the section with Julian, notably the inaugural majority production from Lukas and Michiel Dhont’s new production company The Reunion, and sold by their usual collaborator The Match Factory. Based on the book by artist, writer and LGBTQ+ advocate Fleur Pierets, which draws from her life story, it follows two young women quixotically aiming to get married in every country where it is permitted.

Also well promoted in the festival’s marketing is Zamo Mkhwanazi’s Laundry, a rare co-production by Switzerland and South Africa. Herself hailing from the latter country, it follows her shorts, which previously premiered to acclaim in Cannes' Directors’ Fortnight, Toronto itself and Clermont-Ferrand. Evoking the logline of Stephen Frears’ similarly politically charged breakthrough My Beautiful Laundrette, it follows a young man aiming to save his father and his family business, as the violent and oppressive apartheid regime continues.

One of three UK titles in the line-up, Nadia Latif’s The Man in My Basement could be one of the more cast-iron audience-friendly selections, adapting a crime yarn from Walter Mosley (Devil in a Blue Dress). The plot follows an African American man (Corey Hawkins), stuck in a rut and about to lose his ancestral home, when a peculiar white businessman (the perennially busy Willem Dafoe) offers to rent his basement for the summer.

Among the other selected first features, two stand out: Forastera by Spaniard Lucía Aleñar Iglesias, based on her short film, labelled by the 2020 Cannes Critics’ Week, and Our Father by Croatia’s Goran Stankovic, who has already directed series such as Operation Sabre.

The section’s track record in launching A-list careers is evidenced by its alumni, who include Ildikó Enyedi, Alfonso Cuarón, Julie Dash, Jean-Marc Vallée, Christopher Nolan, Maren Ade, Yorgos Lanthimos, Barry Jenkins, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Emma Seligman and Elegance Bratton.

Here is the full list of titles:

Discovery

Maddie’s Secret - John Early (USA) (opening film)
As We Breathe - Şeyhmus Altun (Turkey/Denmark)
Oca - Karla Badillo (Mexico/Argentina)
Babystar - Joscha Bongard (Germany)
The Son and the Sea - Stroma Cairns (UK)
Out Standing - Mélanie Charbonneau (Canada)
Noviembre - Tomás Corredor (Colombia/Mexico/Brazil/Norway)
Sink - Zain Duraie (Jordan/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/France)
Retreat - Ted Evans (UK)
Ghost School - Seemab Gul (Pakistan)
Little Lorraine - Andy Hines (Canada)
Forastera - Lucía Aleñar Iglesias (Spain/Italy/Sweden)
Egghead Republic - Pella Kågerman, Hugo Lilja (Sweden)
Julian - Cato Kusters (Belgium/Netherlands)
100 Sunset - Kunsang Kyirong (Canada)
The Man in My Basement - Nadia Latif (UK/USA)
Dinner with Friends - Sasha Leigh Henry (Canada)
Bayaan - Bikas Ranjan Mishra (India)
Laundry - Zamo Mkhwanazi (Switzerland/South Africa)
Our Father - Goran Stankovic (Serbia/Italy/Croatia/North Macedonia/Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Mārama - Taratoa Stappard (New Zealand)
Amoeba - Siyou Tan (Singapore/Netherlands/France/Spain/South Korea)
Nika & Madison - Eva Thomas (Canada)