TIFF announced its 2025 Platform lineup, marking the tenth anniversary of the Festival’s auteur competitive section, which champions bold directorial vision and distinctive storytelling.

Platform offers audiences a first glimpse at some of the most compelling cinematic voices on the rise. This year’s edition features 10 exceptional films representing 19 countries.

The Platform program is curated by TIFF’s programming team under the direction of Robyn Citizen, Platform Lead and Director of Programming, Festival & Cinematheque. Platform spotlights 10 films from early- to mid-career filmmakers poised to break out on the world stage. All films in this program are eligible for the Platform Award, which is selected by an international jury. The winning filmmaker will receive a $20,000 CAD cash prize. The Platform Award will be presented as part of the TIFF awards ceremony on the last day of the Festival on Sunday, September 14.

This year’s Jury Chair is Spanish film writer, editor, and director Carlos Marqués-Marcet. He is joined by Oscar-nominated actor, writer, composer, and director Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Québécois filmmaker Chloé Robichaud.

2025 Platform program (in alphabetical order):

Between Dreams and Hope | Farnoosh Samadi | Iran
World Premiere

Farnoosh Samadi, whose feature film 180° Rule (TIFF ’20) and short film Disappearance (TIFF ’17) both premiered at the Festival, returns with Between Dreams and Hope. In this bold queer love story, Azad (Fereshteh Hosseini), a trans man, and Nora (Sadaf Asgari) are two young lovers toggling between tradition and modernity in their society and family. Together, they travel to a remote Iranian village to face Azad’s estranged father and obtain documents that would permit the pair to live authentically.

Bouchra | Orian Barki & Meriem Bennani | Italy/Morocco/USA
World Premiere

Longtime collaborators and partners, visual artist Meriem Bennani and documentary filmmaker Orian Barki, known for their previous works Life on the CAPS (TIFF ’22) and 2 Lizards (TIFF ’22), bring their latest animated project, Bouchra, to the Festival, marking the first animated feature to premiere in Platform. In this film, 35-year-old Moroccan Coyote and filmmaker, Bouchra, lives in New York and chronicles the impact her queerness has on her relationship with her mother, Aïcha, in Casablanca. Cutting between the film that’s forming and real-life conversations between Bouchra and Aïcha (recreations of phone calls that took place between Bennani and her mother), Bouchra is a humorous and tender portrait of the love and pain that both sides have to understand in order to move forward.

Hen | György Pálfi | Germany/Greece/Hungary
World Premiere

György Pálfi’s Hen, an inventive live-action feature, chronicles a remarkable chicken as she escapes from her grisly fate in this unorthodox and bold story. Escaping from a chicken farm, she finds refuge in the courtyard of a crumbling restaurant. There, she discovers love, confronts the pecking order, and fights to protect her eggs from a greedy owner. Her droll yet touching quest for motherhood mirrors the messy compromises and silent struggles of human lives.

Nino | Pauline Loquès | France
International Premiere

With a breakout performance from TIFF ’17 Rising Star and Québécois actor Théodore Pellerin (whose previous TIFF credits include Never Steady, Never Still, Family First, and Genèse and the most recent, Solo), Pauline Loquès’ Nino follows its titular character (played by Pellerin) over three pivotal days. Nino faces a major health challenge, but first, his doctors have assigned him two vital tasks. These two missions lead the young man on a journey through Paris, compelling him to reconnect with the world — and himself.

Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) | Bretten Hannam | Canada/Belgium
World Premiere

From Indigenous, two-spirited filmmaker Bretten Hannam (Wildhood, TIFF ’21) comes Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), which follows siblings Mise’l and Antle who were close as children, but trauma from their upbringing has caused them to drift apart as adults. When they are both haunted by a malevolent spirit of bones and rot, the siblings are forced to reunite and venture deep into the forest to confront their trauma together.

Steve | Tim Mielants | Ireland/United Kingdom | Opening Film
World Premiere

Set in the mid-90s, Steve is a reimagining of Max Porter’s Sunday Times bestseller Shy. The film follows a pivotal day in the life of headteacher Steve (Academy Award winner Cillian Murphy) and his students at a last-chance reform school amidst a world that has forsaken them. As Steve fights to protect the school’s integrity and impending closure, we witness him grappling with his own mental health. In parallel to Steve’s struggles, we meet Shy (Jay Lycurgo), a troubled teen caught between his past and what lies ahead as he tries to reconcile his inner fragility with his impulse for self-destruction and violence.

The Currents | Milagros Mumenthaler | Switzerland/Argentina
World Premiere

Known for her evocative storytelling, filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler, whose acclaimed film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay) premiered at TIFF ’11, unveils her latest drama, The Currents. The enigmatic film follows Lina on a business trip to Geneva. She is driven by an impulse that puts her life in danger. On her return to Buenos Aires, Lina keeps what happened hidden, but the past which she escaped from emerges and puts her present in abyss.

The World of Love | Yoon Ga-eun | South Korea
World Premiere

Yoon Ga-eun’s third feature, The World of Love, brings together Seo Su-bin in her debut role with Chang Hyae-jin (Parasite, Crash Landing on You). The film introduces us to Jooin (Seo Su-bin), an enigmatic 17-year-old high school student who is curious about and baffled by love. One day, some words she says in a fit of anger cause a major scene. Afterwards, she receives anonymous notes questioning her behaviour, and cracks begin to appear in her formerly peaceful world. “Jooin, who is the real you?”

To The Victory! | Valentyn Vasyanovych | Ukraine/Lithuania
World Premiere

The latest from multi-talented filmmaker Valentyn Vasyanovych, who also stars as the lead character in To The Victory! Ukraine, in the near future. The war has ended. A film director is out of work, out of luck, and out of touch with his family abroad. While his wife and daughter built a new life in Vienna, he stays behind — confused, restless, and convinced that things will get better. Eventually. Probably. Maybe.

Winter of the Crow | Kasia Adamik | Poland/Luxembourg/United Kingdom
World Premiere

Winter of the Crow, stars Lesley Manville, Zofia Wichłacz, and Tom Burke, based on a short story by Nobel Prize–winning author Olga Tokarczuk. Set during the onset of Poland’s Martial Law era, the country is shut down just as British psychiatry professor Dr. Joan Andrews (Manville) arrives as a guest lecturer in Warsaw. Taxis have been replaced by tanks; citizens are treated like criminals. As chaos engulfs the city, Joan witnesses a brutal murder by the secret police. In mortal danger and trapped as Poland is closed down, Joan becomes a hunted fugitive running for her life.

Tickets go on sale to TIFF Members by level beginning on Friday, August 15. For more details, visit tiff.net/join. The full Festival schedule will be released on Tuesday, August 12.

The 50th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF 50), presented by Rogers, will take place September 4–14, 2025.

Please subscribe to Solzy on Buttondown and visit Dugout Dirt.