50th Toronto Film Festival Reveals Centerpiece Program with Titles by Richard Linklater, Pete Ohs and More

The 50th Toronto International Film Festival taking place September 4 to 14, announced the Centerpiece program – the “Festival’s global showcase”, featuring the latest work from influential filmmakers Hubert Davis, Mathieu Denis, Hasan Hadi, Chie Hayakawa, Anders Thomas Jensen, Jan Komasa, Richard Linklater, Sergei Loznitsa, Pietro Marcello, Christian Petzold, Potsy Poncirol and Álvaro Olmos Torrico.

In total, the Centerpiece program features 55 titles from filmmakers representing nearly fifty countries.

Centrepiece has 19 world premieres including:

Blood Lines, Gail Maurice’s sophomore feature, a pastoral drama of family and reconnection

Carolina Caroline, directed by Adam Carter Rehmeier, an outlaw romance starring Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner

Erupcja, directed by Pete Ohs, features a combustible chemistry between a Polish florist (Lena Góra) and a British tourist (Charli xcx)

Good Boy, by Jan Komasa, a twisted thriller about freedom and identity, starring Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, and Anson Boon

I Swear, from Kirk Jones, the inspirational true story of John Davidson, a trailblazer whose honesty and humour helped the world better understand what it means to live with Tourette Syndrome

Nomad Shadow, Eimi Imanishi’s poignant debut feature about a refugee to Spain who’s forced to return to Western Sahara

Palimpsest: the Story of a Name, from Mary Stephen (Shades of Silk), a deeply personal story about her family’s complicated history and their Western surname

Saipan, from filmmakers Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, about a rift between star player Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy on the eve of the 2002 World Cup, starring Éanna Hardwicke and Steve Coogan

The Condor Daughter, from Álvaro Olmos Torrico, about a young woman who inherits the sacred art of midwifery but dreams of conquering the city with her voice

The Cost of Heaven, a film from Quebec’s Mathieu Denis (whose TIFF ’16 film Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Dig Their Own Graves was awarded that year’s Best Canadian Feature), starring French actor Samir Guesmi

The President’s Cake, from a multiple award winner at Cannes, Iraqi filmmaker Hasan Hadi, a heartbreaking and unforgettable look at a country crushed by poverty and international sanctions — and ruled by a sadistic, greedy and vain tyrant

Unidentified, the latest from Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda), an iconoclastic crime thriller that questions our collective fascination with tales of femicide

Wasteman, Cal McMau’s debut feature, which peels back the conventions of the prison drama, featuring rising star David Jonsson (Alien: Romulus)

Whitetail, from Dutch filmmaker Nanouk Leopold, a slow-burn thriller with a haunting performance from Natasha O’Keeffe (Peaky Blinders)

Youngblood, directed by Hubert Davis, starring Blair Underwood and Shawn Doyle, and co-written by the late Charles Officer, is a powerful tribute to the Toronto filmmaker, and a reimagining of the original 1986 film.

2025 Centerpiece Program

(in alphabetical order)

A Useful Ghost | Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke | Thailand/France/Singapore/Germany
North American Premiere

Arco | Ugo Bienvenu | France
North American Premiere

Barrio Triste | STILLZ | Colombia/USA
North American Premiere

Blood Lines | Gail Maurice | Canada
World Premiere

Blue Heron | Sophy Romvari | Canada/Hungary
North American Premiere

Blue Moon | Richard Linklater | USA/Ireland
North American Premiere

Carolina Caroline | Adam Carter Rehmeier | USA
World Premiere

Dandelion’s Odyssey | Momoko Seto | France/Belgium
North American Premiere

Diya | Achille Ronaimou | Chad/France/Germany/Côte d’Ivoire
North American Premiere

Duse | Pietro Marcello | France/Italy
International Premiere

Eagles of the Republic | Tarik Saleh | Sweden/France/Denmark/Finland/Germany
North American Premiere

Erupcja | Pete Ohs | USA/Poland
World Premiere

Exit 8 | Genki Kawamura | Japan
North American Premiere

Follies | Eric K. Boulianne | Canada
North American Premiere

Girl | Shu Qi | Taiwan
North American Premiere

Good Boy | Jan Komasa | Poland/UK
World Premiere

Hamlet | Aneil Karia | UK
Canadian Premiere

Honey Bunch | Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada
North American Premiere

I Swear | Kirk Jones | UK
World Premiere

In Search of The Sky | Jitank Singh Gurjar | India
World Premiere

Irkalla: Gilgamesh’s Dream | Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji | Iraq/United Arab Emirates/France/UK/Qatar/Saudi Arabia
North American Premiere

Left-Handed Girl | Shih-Ching Tsou | Taiwan/France/USA/UK
North American Premiere

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain | Maïlys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han | France
North American Premiere

Lucky Lu | Lloyd Lee Choi | USA
North American Premiere

Mama | Or Sinai | Israel/Poland/Italy
North American Premiere

Memory of Princess Mumbi | Damien Hauser | Kenya/Switzerland/Saudi Arabia
North American Premiere

Milk Teeth | Mihai Mincan | Romania/France/Denmark/Greece/Bulgaria
North American Premiere

Miroirs No. 3 | Christian Petzold | Germany
North American Premiere

Motor City | Potsy Ponciroli | USA
North American Premiere

My Father’s Shadow | Akinola Davies Jr. | UK/Nigeria
North American Premiere

New Years Rev | Lee Kirk | USA
World Premiere

Nomad Shadow | Eimi Imanishi | USA/Spain/France
World Premiere

Olmo | Fernando Eimbcke | USA/Mexico
North American Premiere

Orphan | László Nemes | Hungary/France/Germany/UK
North American Premiere

Palimpsest: the Story of a Name | Mary Stephen | France/Hong Kong/Taiwan
World Premiere

Renoir | Chie Hayakawa | Japan/France/Singapore/Philippines/Indonesia/Qatar
North American Premiere

Saipan | Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn | Ireland/UK
World Premiere

Space Cadet | Kid Koala | Canada
North American Premiere

The Blue Trail | Gabriel Mascaro | Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands
North American Premiere

The Condor Daughter | Álvaro Olmos Torrico | Bolivia/Peru/Uruguay
World Premiere

The Cost of Heaven | Mathieu Denis | Canada
World Premiere

The Fox King | Woo Ming Jin | Malaysia/Indonesia
World Premiere

The Last One for The Road | Francesco Sossai | Italy/Germany
North American Premiere

The Last Viking | Anders Thomas Jensen | Denmark/Sweden
North American Premiere

The Little Sister | Hafsia Herzi | France/Germany
North American Premiere

The Love That Remains | Hlynur Pálmason | Iceland/Denmark/Sweden/France
North American Premiere

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo | Diego Céspedes | Chile/France
North American Premiere

The President’s Cake | Hasan Hadi | Iraq/USA/Qatar
North American Premiere

The Sun Rises On Us All | Cai Shangjun | China
North American Premiere

Two Prosecutors | Sergei Loznitsa | France/Germany/Netherlands/Latvia/Romania/Lithuania
North American Premiere

Under The Same Sun | Ulises Porra | Dominican Republic/Spain
World Premiere

Unidentified | Haifaa Al Mansour | Saudi Arabia
World Premiere

Wasteman | Cal McMau | UK
World Premiere

Whitetail | Nanouk Leopold | Netherlands/Belgium/Ireland
World Premiere

Youngblood | Hubert Davis | Canada
World Premiere