13/08/2025 - A surprise new film from Claire Denis is the choice world premiere, and a strong Locarno line-up gets another close-up in Wavelengths, with the episodic strand Primetime also announced

And that, autumn festival watchers, is it: after starting its roll-out in advance of Venice’s announcements, the Toronto International Film Festival line-up is complete, with the full public schedule available for perusal for domestic and international attendees. Festival-goers, press and buyers will have the chance for a key rendezvous with the year’s best and most noteworthy films at the gathering, which runs from 4-14 September. You can peruse our previous articles on the Galas and Special Presentations line-ups here, the Platform section here, Discovery here, and Midnight Madness, Centrepiece and TIFF Docs here.

A very audience-friendly and highly anticipated offering is Park Chan-wook’s Venice premiere No Other Choice, the last Gala to be announced; the great South Korean has also been in the trades this week for his very unfair-sounding dismissal from the Writers’ Guild of America, for a misunderstanding over post-production on his last series The Sympathizer. Claire Denis, the much-loved French auteur, is world-premiering in Special Presentations with the low-key sounding chamber piece The Fence, uniting her repertory player Isaach de Bankolé with Matt Dillon and Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Molly Manning Walker
film profile]) in the tale of a man who travels to a West African construction site after his brother is killed on the job. Argentinian director Pablo Trapero has & Sons in Special Presentations, a UK-Canadian co-production written by Academy Award winner Sarah Polley, adapting David Gilbert’s novel; with Bill Nighy, George MacKay and Imelda Staunton in the cast, it sounds more sedate than the edgier films he debuted at festivals across the 2000s.

The episodic Primetime section looks promisingly international, headed by an Iranian show, The Savage, created by Houman Seyyedi, and India’s Gandhi from Sameer Nair and Hansal Mehta, an overdue retelling of the great statesman and pacifist’s life. Marco Bellocchio is probably the most recognisable name with two episodes of his series Portobello - The Fall of Enzo Tortora, telling the story of a notorious miscarriage of justice in 1980s Italy. His acclaimed last series Exterior Night [+see also:
series review
trailer
interview: Marco Bellocchio
series profile] saw wide global distribution and terrestrial broadcasts in many countries.

Longtime TIFF attendees have sounded some worrying alarms about Wavelengths’ slimming over the last few years, yet this year’s line-up feels especially urgent, with Kamal Aljafari’s With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] and Alexandre Koberidze’s impending critical hit Dry Leaf [+see also:
trailer
film profile] ready for their close-up beyond Locarno.

The complete list of newly announced titles is below:

Galas

No Other Choice - Park Chan-wook (South Korea)

Special Presentations

The Wizard of the Kremlin - Olivier Assayas (France/USA)
The Voice of Hind Rajab - Kaouther Ben Hania (Tunisia/France/UK)
The Fence - Claire Denis (France)
Dog 51 - Cédric Jiménez (France)
& Sons - Pablo Trapero (UK/Canada)

Primetime

Black Rabbit - Zach Baylin, Kate Susman (USA)
Portobello - The Fall of Enzo Tortora - Marco Bellocchio (Italy/France)
Origin: The Story of the Basketball Africa League - Richard Brown, Tebogo Malope (Rwanda/UK/USA)
The Lowdown - Sterlin Harjo (USA)
Rise of the Raven - Balázs Lengyel, Robert Dornhelm (Hungary/Austria/Germany)
Reunion - William Mager, Luke Snellin (UK)
Wayward - Mae Martin, Ryan Scott (Canada)
Gandhi - Sameer Nair, Hansal Mehta (India)
The Savage - Houman Seyyedi (Iran)
A Sámi Wedding - Åse Kathrin Vuolab, Pål Jackman (Norway)

Wavelengths

With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] - Kamal Aljafari (Palestine/Germany/France/Qatar)
Magellan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Lav Diaz (Portugal/Spain/France/Philippines/Taiwan)
The Seasons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maureen Fazendeiro
film profile] - Maureen Fazendeiro (Portugal/France/Spain/Austria)
BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions - Kahlil Joseph (USA)
Dry Leaf [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Alexandre Koberidze (Germany/Georgia)
Copper - Nicolás Pereda (Canada/Mexico)
Mare’s Nest [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ben Rivers
film profile] - Ben Rivers (France/UK/Canada)
Levers - Rhayne Vermette (Canada)