TIFF’s Short Cuts program returns for TIFF 50 with a compelling slate of 48 short films representing 28 countries – including 20 Canadian titles. This year’s program showcases TIFF’s expansive curatorial vision across seven presentations, including Strange Cuts, the Midnight Madness-adjacent strand introduced in 2024.

The Best International and Best Canadian Short Film Awards are joined by a third honor this year: the Best Animated Short Film Award evaluated by a panel of three Short Cuts Jurors. This year they are rising cinematographer Ashley Iris Gill (Black Community Mixtapes), Marcel Jean, Artistic Director of the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Executive Director of the Cinémathèque québécoise, and Canadian actor, writer, and director Connor Jessup (whose short film Julian and the Wind had its World Premiere at last year’s Festival).

Short Cuts Program 1 (in alphabetical order)

A Small Fiction of My Mother in Beijing | Dorothy Sing Zhang | China
World Premiere

Agapito | Arvin Belarmino, Kyla Danelle Romero | Philippines
North American Premiere

DISC | Blake Winston Rice | United States of America
World Premiere

Healer | Chelsea McMullan | Canada
World Premiere

Jazz Infernal | Will Niava | Canada
World Premiere

Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts | Shervin Kermani | Spain/Canada/Mexico
World Premiere

The Girl Who Cried Pearls | Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski | Canada
North American Premiere

Short Cuts Program 2 (in alphabetical order)

Ambush | Yassmina Karajah | Jordan/Canada
World Premiere

Bots | Rich Williamson | Canada
World Premiere

I Fear Blue Skies | Salar Pashtoonyar | Canada
World Premiere

Not Scared, Just Sad | Isabelle Mecattaf | Lebanon/Bulgaria
World Premiere

Talk Me | Joecar Hanna | Spain/United States of America
North American Premiere

Water Girl | Sandra Desmazières | France/Netherlands/Portugal
North American Premiere

Short Cuts Program 3 (in alphabetical order)

A South Facing Window | Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir | France/Mongolia
North American Premiere

Asparagus Bear | Ivan Grgur | Croatia
World Premiere

Demons | Kelly Fyffe-Marshall | Canada
World Premiere

Earworm | Patrik Eklund | Sweden
International Premiere

Sea Star | Tyler Mckenzie Evans | Canada
World Premiere

The Non-Actor | Eliza Barry Callahan | United States of America
North American Premiere

What We Leave Behind | Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte | Canada
North American Premiere

Short Cuts Program 4 (in alphabetical order)

Ali | Adnan Al Rajeev | Bangladesh/Philippines
North American Premiere

Dust to Dreams | Idris Elba | Nigeria
World Premiere

Fiction Contract | Carolyn Lazard | United States of America
International Premiere

More Than Happy | Wei Keong Tan | Singapore
World Premiere

ripe | Solara Thanh Bình Đặng | Canada/Vietnam
World Premiere

To the Woods | Agnès Patron | France
North American Premiere

Year of the Dragon | Giran Findlay-Liu | Canada
World Premiere

Short Cuts Program 5 (in alphabetical order)

Arguments in Favor of Love | Gabriel Abrantes | Portugal
North American Premiere

Dish Pit | Anna Hopkins | Canada
Canadian Premiere

I’m Glad You’re Dead Now | Tawfeek Barhom | France/Greece/Palestine
North American Premiere

Karupy | Kalainithan Kalaichelvan | Canada
World Premiere

Once in a Body | María Cristina Pérez González | Colombia/United States of America
North American Premiere

Pink Light | Harrison Browne | Canada
World Premiere

Poster Boy | India Opzoomer | Canada
World Premiere

The Contestant | Patrick Xavier Bresnan | United States of America/Germany
World Premiere

Short Cuts Program 6 (in alphabetical order)

A Soft Touch | Heather Young | Canada
World Premiere

All the Empty Rooms | Joshua Seftel | United States of America
International Premiere

Divers | Geordie Wood | United States of America
North American Premiere

Niimi | Dana Solomon | Canada
World Premiere

Permanent Guest | Sana Zahra Jafri | Pakistan
World Premiere

The Death of the Fish | Eva Lusbaronian | France
North American Premiere

Strange Cuts

Klee | Gavin Baird | Canada
World Premiere

Marriaginalia | Hannah Cheesman | Canada
World Premiere

Praying Mantis | Joe Hsieh | Taiwan/Hong Kong
North American Premiere

Quietness | Gonçalo Almeida | Spain
World Premiere

Thanks To Meet You! | Richard Hunter | United Kingdom
World Premiere

The Veil | Gabriel Motta | Brazil
World Premiere

UM | Nieto | France
World Premiere

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

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