TIFF revealed its annual Canada’s Top Ten list of the year’s most outstanding Canadian feature films and shorts.
Among the 10 features in the 2025 selection is Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband), the winner of the Best Canadian Feature Film Award at Toronto International Film Festival 2025, at which director Zacharias Kunuk recevied a Special Tribute Award.
Two more highlights of this year’s Canada’s Top Ten, Chandler Levack’s second feature Mile End Kicks and Bretten Hannam’s Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), both made their World Premieres at TIFF ’25.
This year’s lineup also features Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron, recipient of the Best Canadian Discovery Award at TIFF ’25 and the First Feature Award at the Locarno Film Festival; Eric K. Boulianne’s French-language comedy Follies; Kid Koala’s animated film Space Cadet; and Amalie Atkins’ Agatha’s Almanac, named Best Canadian Feature Documentary at Hot Docs 2025. Another film, Tuner, marks the narrative debut of Daniel Roher, whose documentary Navalny won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2023.
Further highlights include Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, recipient of the TIFF ’25 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award; and The Things You Kill, Canada’s official Oscar submission for Best International Feature, from Iranian-Canadian director Alireza Khatami.
The short film lineup includes seven films that screened at this year’s Festival, including Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls, which won the Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film and was recently included on the Academy Awards shortlist in the category of Best Animated Short Film; Heather Young’s A Soft Touch, which earned an honourable mention from the jury; and Klee, a mashup of body horror and Prairie Gothic by director Gavin Baird.
“This year’s Canada’s Top Ten films reflect the remarkable breadth of perspectives shaping contemporary Canadian cinema,” said Anita Lee, TIFF’s Chief Programming Officer. “Spanning globally minded stories and deeply personal visions, these films reveal the profound ways Canadian artists are interpreting the world around them. I’m especially inspired to see four first features in the lineup, an exciting testament to the bold new voices emerging across the country. I’d like to acknowledge all the Canadian programmers from coast to coast that participated in Top Ten.”
The 25th edition of Canada’s Top Ten runs February 5–8 at the Lightbox. The opening ceremony will include a presentation of the second annual Charles Officer Legacy Award by TIFF, recognizing a Black Canadian director and/or writer whose body of work exemplifies the creative excellence, strong point of view, and community-mindedness of the award-winning late filmmaker. Last year’s winner was Montreal-based filmmaker Miryam Charles.
Canada’s Top Ten Feature Films
Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts) | dir. Bretten Hannam | English, Mi’kmaw, French
Agatha’s Almanac | dir. Amalie Atkins | English
Blue Heron | dir. Sophy Romvari | English, Hungarian
Follies | dir. Eric K. Boulianne | French
Mile End Kicks | dir. Chandler Levack | English
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie | dir. Matt Johnson | English
Space Cadet | dir. Kid Koala | no dialogue
The Things You Kill | dir. Alireza Khatami | Turkish
Tuner | dir. Daniel Roher | English
Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband) | dir. Zacharias Kunuk | Inuktitut
Canada’s Top Ten Short Films
A Soft Touch | dir. Heather Young | 20 minutes | English
Ambush | dir. Yassmina Karajah | 21 minutes | Arabic
Jazz Infernal | dir. Will Niava | 16 minutes | French
Klee | dir. Gavin Baird | 20 minutes | English
La Mayordomía | dir. Martin Edralin | 23 minutes | Spanish
Lloyd Wong, Unfinished | dir. Lesley Loksi Chan | 29 minutes | English
Pidikwe (Rumble) | dir. Caroline Monnet | 10 minutes | no dialogue
Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts | dir. Shervin Kermani | 8 minutes | Spanish
ripe | dir. Solara Thanh Bình Đặng | 19 minutes | Vietnamese
The Girl Who Cried Pearls | dirs. Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski | 17 minutes | English, French
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