A major milestone for the Toronto International Film Festival this year: the 50th edition of North America's largest film festival will be taking place from September 4 to 14, 2025. Films from 30 countries have been selected for the eleven days of the festival. 20 German productions and co-productions will be screening in Toronto.
The programme for the 50th Toronto International Film Festival was gradually unveiled over the past two weeks. Today (Friday) saw the films for the last remaining section being announced.
There are several international and North American premieres - as well as one world premiere - among the German productions being shown in Toronto. MIROIRS NO.3 will have its North American premiere in the Centrepiece section. The drama by director Christian Petzold had already been warmly received by audiences and critics alike in Cannes. MIROIRS NO. 3 is the final film in the trilogy which he began with UNDINE and AFIRE about elemental spirits in German Romanticism. The drama centres on a music student who loses her boyfriend in a car accident. When she tries to find her way back to life with another family, she realises that something is wrong with this family as well.
BABYSTAR by Joscha Bongard will have its world premiere In the Discovery section which showcases debut and second films by emerging filmmakers in contemporary international cinema. The drama revolves around the controversy of Instagram versus reality. The teenage daughter of a couple of vloggers realises that she is not only the star, but also the victim.
SILENT FRIEND by Ildikó Enyedi will be shown in Toronto as a North American premiere following its world premiere in Venice. The drama, which will be screening in the Special Presentations section, is set in the botanical garden of a medieval university town in Germany and revolves around a majestic tree that observes people. The film takes place in three different eras – 1908, 1972 and 2020 – and tells three human stories that have been shaped and changed by the plants surrounding them over more than a hundred years.
This section will also feature SOUND OF FALLING by Mascha Schilinski. The ex aequo winner of the Jury Prize in Cannes will have its North American premiere in Toronto. The drama recounts the story of four women from different time periods whose lives are eerily intertwined on the same four-sided farmstead in the Altmark region.
Another two North American premieres were selected for the Wavelengths section. This section is considered as TIFF’s avant-garde showcase. DRY LEAF by Alexandre Koberidze and WITH HASAN IN GAZA by Kamal Aljafari had already had their world premieres in the International Competition in Locarno at the beginning of August. The drama DRY LEAF follows Lisa, a sports photographer who has disappeared. She was last seen taking photographs in rural football stadiums in villages in Georgia. Her father Irakli sets out to look for her with the help of Lisa's mysterious best friend. The documentary film WITH HASAN IN GAZA is based on three recently rediscovered Mini DV tapes from 2001 showing life in Gaza. These recordings are now a testimony to a place and a time that no longer exists.
In addition, the former FACE TO FACE ambassador Anne Zander will have the world premiere of her film RETREAT in the Discovery section. The deaf actress Anne Zander had taken part in German Films’ talent campaign in 2022. The British production RETREAT by Ted Evans is set in an isolated all-deaf community where Matt's seemingly idyllic world starts showing cracks when the enigmatic outsider Eva (played by Anne Zander) arrives, making him question the reality of his identity.
The German director Edward Berger’s latest feature film produced in the UK - BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER - will be shown in the Special Presentations section.
