TORONTO – The Toronto International Film Festival may be shifting more of its focus to the business side of things with the launch of TIFF: The Market, but at its heart, it’s still a place for people to see great cinema.
From Oscar bait to social media stars breaking into film, The Canadian Press has picked out some of the buzziest titles this year.
BABIES
An increasingly common question for modern couples is whether to have kids and director Lauren Miller Rogen is no exception.
When “Babies” was picked up by distributors, she revealed how personal her second feature film is.
“For some, the answer is obvious. For me, it was a lot more complicated. Babies is the exploration of the funny, weird, and life-changing things that happened to me along the way to the answer,” she said in a statement to Deadline.
The dramedy, set to make its world premiere at TIFF, stars the director’s husband and frequent collaborator, Canadian comedian Seth Rogen, who appears opposite Anna Kendrick.
The onscreen couple test drive parenthood when their divorced friend comes to stay with them, toddler in tow.
Off-screen, the Rogens have been open about choosing not to have kids. In a 2023 episode of the podcast “Diary of a CEO,” Seth Rogen said he attributed some of his success in Hollywood to not doing the additional work of raising children. Before that, he told Howard Stern that his wife was even less interested in having kids than he was.
-Kathryn Mannie
BUCKING FASTARD
Seven years after his last film, Werner Herzog returns to the director’s chair with a bizarre tale of sisters who share everything.
The renowned German auteur cast real-life siblings Rooney and Kate Mara as the Holbrooke twins, sisters who speak the same, dress the same, and eventually fall for the same man. Eventually, the courts step in.
The film mirrors the true story of British twins whose court case made them a media spectacle in the 1980s when they defended themselves in unison.
Premiering at the Venice Film Festival the week before TIFF, “Bucking Fastard” was a late — and welcome — addition to the Toronto lineup. -KM
CLOSING NIGHT
Cody Fern’s directorial debut comes with a built-in audience, given the filmmaker’s profile. Fern, an Australian actor, co-wrote the script with Canadian actor Devon Bostick, who recently starred in “Mile End Kicks.”
Bostick’s breakout was as the charming rock star-wannabe older brother Rodrick in “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” — a first crush for a legion of Gen Zers. He has written a couple of short films before, but this marks his first screenwriting credit on a feature film.
Fern, meanwhile, has appeared in numerous Ryan Murphy productions including “American Horror Story” and “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.”
The film stars Sarah Paulson — another frequent collaborator of Murphy’s — as Sandra Vale, a famous movie star who invites her estranged family to the opening of her Broadway play after decades without contact. It promises to be an explosive reunion, filled with cutting remarks designed to reopen old wounds. -Nicole Thompson
CLUB KID
Jordan Firstman is turning out to be another TikTok success story.
The American comedian rose to online prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic for his in-character confessional-style videos. He took that social media fame and spun it into a bona fide film career, first as an actor, including HBO’s “I Love LA,” and now as a director.
“Club Kid,” his acclaimed first feature film, became one of Cannes’ most talked about movies this spring and reportedly sparked a studio bidding war.
Now, the story of a queer New York party boy who has fatherhood thrust upon him when he finds out he has a 10-year-old son, is coming to TIFF.
Described as heartwarming and sobering, “Club Kid” stars Firstman and child actor Reggie Absolom as father and son, and sees Cara Delevingne return to the silver screen.
Praised for its sentimental charm and unapologetic queerness, “Club Kid” promises hedonistic mania that gives way to touching domesticity and later, despair, mirroring the rise and fall of a partier’s high.
The film has also been lauded for its soundtrack and score, the latter of which composed by Canadian Cristobal Tapia de Veer of “White Lotus” fame.
-KM
THE DEBUT
Jesse Eisenberg has in recent years vaulted from an actor best known for compelling portrayals of socially awkward characters to one of Hollywood’s most exciting new directors.
His debut feature, “When You Finish Saving the World,” came out in 2022 but he really broke through with 2024’s “A Real Pain,” which saw Kieran Culkin take home an Academy Award and was nominated for best screenplay.
Its followup, “The Debut,” is among the more talked-about films headed to Toronto. It stars Julianne Moore as a bored suburban housewife who lands a role in a community theatre production and is determined to give the performance of a lifetime while clashing with the show’s tyrannical director, portrayed by Paul Giamatti.
Poking fun at the self-serious world of community theatre (in the vein of Christopher Guest’s iconic 1996 film “Waiting for Guffman”), early reports suggest “The Debut” ultimately has a soft spot for its subject. -NT
MISTY GREEN
Chris Rock’s latest feature — his first for beloved indie producer-distributor A24 — is a change of form for the comedian. His first stint in the director’s chair came in 2003’s political satire “Head of State,” and his next two films (released in 2007 and 2014) were romantic comedies.
“Misty Green” promises a much more serious cinematic experience.
Rosalind Eleazar, best known for her role in the Apple TV Plus show “Slow Horses,” stars as the titular character, a down-on-her-luck actress who was once the toast of Hollywood. She’s looking for one last break as she struggles to make ends meet while supporting her mentally ill brother.
Though the film is a showpiece for Eleazar’s talents, she’s supported by an All-Star cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Adam Driver and Anna Kendrick. -NT
MUSK
Long before this documentary was anywhere close to completion, it had rankled its subject — the world’s richest man.
Elon Musk took to X in 2023 to label it “a hit piece.” Director Alex Gibney’s reply? “How would you know?”
Ever since then, buzz has built for the roughly four-hour film that promises to be an unvarnished look at the billionaire owner of social media company X and mercurial chief executive of automaker Tesla and rocket developer SpaceX.
Musk reportedly declined to participate in the film but that didn’t stop Gibney.
The filmmaker, who previously investigated late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and failed entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes in documentaries, pored through hours of Musk interviews. Gibney also spoke with those who know the tech titan best, including his father, to develop this deep dive into Musk and the extreme power and influence he wields. -Tara Deschamps
TANGLES
When this animated feature premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, tears were flowing, even from star Seth Rogen.
Its turn at TIFF is a chance for North American audiences to see what he and everyone else was crying about.
Based on Sarah Leavitt’s 2010 graphic novel, “Tangles” chronicles how the Canadian author uprooted her life to care for her mother who was slipping away amid the fog of Alzheimer’s.
The film is rendered in mostly black and white, hand-drawn animations but occasionally uses bursts of colour.
A who’s who of Hollywood — Bryan Cranston, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bowen Yang, Wanda Sykes, Sarah Silverman and Beanie Feldstein — provide the voices.
Newcomer Leah Nelson directed. Rogen’s wife Lauren Miller Rogen, whose mother, grandmother and grandfather were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, produced. -TD
WILD HORSE NINE
Martin McDonagh is among the more divisive writer-directors to consistently be nominated for Oscars.
He’s won one Academy Award — best live action short for “Six Shooter” — and has been nominated for six more. His last two films — “The Banshees of Inisherin” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” — earned nods for best picture and best original screenplay, despite having a contingent of very vocal detractors, who argue his work lacks emotional depth and relies on negative stereotypes about its subjects.
Reception for “Wild Horse Nine” remains to be seen, but it appears to include many of the hallmarks of McDonagh’s work: a strained relationship between two men, morally questionable authorities and dark humour.
The movie follows two CIA agents to Easter Island in the 1970s, just before the Chilean revolution. -NT
YAGA
Not technically a film but certainly buzzy, this forthcoming Crave series will have its world premiere at TIFF. Yes, it’s a sexy retelling of the Baba Yaga myth; yes it’s based on the stage play by Kat Sandler; yes, it stars Carrie-Anne Moss.
But the real buzz comes from Hudson Williams, the Canadian breakout star of “Heated Rivalry,” in his first project since the hockey romance debuted last year (other than a handful of short films, a Laufey music video and innumerable advertisements.) It promises to be the first of many — he was spotted filming “Apparatus,” a Canadian flick co-starring Dylan O’Brien, earlier this year and has been cast in the fine-dining thriller “Tyrant.”
How much screen time Williams has in “YAGA” remains to be seen. He plays the heir to a fishery dynasty whose disappearance is at the centre of the story.
The first two episodes of the eight-episode series will premiere at TIFF, before hitting Crave sometime in October. -NT
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2026.
