Recap of the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival—with more to come!
Russell Crowe and Rami Malek attend the world premiere of “Nuremberg” at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 7, 2025.
After 11 days of screening 19 unseen films, photographing 10 red carpets, and schmoozing industry professionals at every event, I can’t wait for next year, but I desperately need a good night’s sleep. Part of the challenge is Felix who sleeps soundly to classical radio all day while I’m out running between the venues and events, which gives him all this energy when I come home with blisters on my feet ready to collapse after quick edits and a shower. The other part of it is pacing—I averaged two films and one red carpet a day, some days more or less, and had to adapt my schedule to keep myself from complete burnout. Being a one-person operation gives me complete freedom to pick and choose what I want to cover but it comes with the cost of doing everything, every aspect of the operation, yourself—creating a schedule, being present at every event, following up with new connections, writing and editing the actual content, and publishing everything online with enough SEO that people will find it.
Director Colin Hanks attending the world premiere of “John Candy: I Like Me” at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 4, 2025, alongside producers Christopher and Jennifer Candy, Ryan Reynolds, Sean Stuart, and Glen Zipper.
When planning my coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), some things were non-negotiable, like my freelance contracts outside of the festival, ticketed screenings (one of which I was forced to miss due to security), and, to an extent, red carpets for the films I’d be covering. Everything else could be planned and changed last minute if needed, but I was determined to maximize my press access. I wanted to have experiences related to the films outside of their screenings, many of which I attended for Press & Industry where it is first-come, first-serve, fewer pre-show commercials, and no lingering after the film as everyone races to their next engagement. When I was fortunate to attend world premieres of To the Victory!, Wayward, Meadowlarks, The Wizard of the Kremlin, and Fuck My Son!, I stayed for the Q&As that offered easy insights from the filmmakers and talent, plus I can appreciate people’s passion for their work even if I didn’t care for it myself and that adds to the experience.
For films I screened without a Q&A period, I was on the red carpet or coordinating interviews with publicists, and I continue to do research on the subjects presented in documentaries or stories based on true events. I’m not here to spoil the films—hence why I won’t write anything about Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery beyond Letterboxd, it’s another whodunit you’ll want to see free from any preconceived teaser (but I do think it was better than its predecessor Glass Onion). The big blockbusters like Knives Out and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein will see lots of screen time in North America, but Dead Lover is another version of Mary Shelley’s classic tale that premiered at this year’s festival. So with that, I hope my writing can entice you to see films you maybe wouldn’t have gone to the theatres to see before, especially documentaries.
Sarah McLachlan on the red carpet before the premiere of “Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery” at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 13, 2025.
I’m tired of biopics on musicians and athletes—I enjoyed Christy and have immense respect for Christy Salters, but I’m passionate about films that use real-world footage to tell a true story. Seeing Sarah McLachlan then and now in Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery reinvigorated my feminist confidence, as did Modern Whore. Orwell: 2+2=5 was the first film I screened and it stuck with me when I watched A Simple Soldier showing the war in Ukraine. Love+War was one of my favourite films of the festival profiling photojournalist Lynsey Addario. John Candy: I Like Me was also an emotional roller coaster but of nostalgia that will resonate with some more than others. Canceled: The Paula Deen Story was one I didn’t know (I avoid watching cooking shows since it makes me hungry), but offered interesting insights into North America’s cancel culture that I find fascinating—it also kept a good pace akin to documentaries like Fyre (2019) and Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal (2021).
I also made a point to go see queer and international films that don’t often get proper space in Cineplex theatres. Between Dreams and Hope is set in Iran and depicts the beyond harsh realities trans people go through to be themselves. To the Victory! fictionalizes families in post-war Ukraine, and Monkey in a Cage refers to India’s corrupt prison systems. I highly recommend Good Boy to those who enjoy a twisted Polish commentary on family love.
The film festival experience allowed me to analyze each film individually as well as a collective package where genre or themes intersect and offer differing perspectives sometimes on the same subject matter. You may not agree with everything I write in my upcoming blogs—especially if I choose to publish my experience on not being allowed into my ticketed screening of The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue—but my purpose, with all of my writing, is to get people engaged and learning about the world around them, respectfully asking questions and being openly curious.
The world seems more divided today than previous decades, and cinema offers an artistic outlet for understanding the chaos we create, which can be reality or a fantasized version of it. There’s a reason these films are chosen to premiere at TIFF—they create space for conversation and interpretation. As an independent journalist, I wanted to be part of that to spotlight some of the underdogs. The first being, Min Sook Lee’s There Are No Words.