The section dedicated to dedicated to works by first and second-time filmmakers, Toronto International Film Festival have announced the twenty-three films in the Discovery Programme. The section will open with John Early‘s Maddie’s Secret (featuring Early alongside Kate Berlant, Vanessa Bayer, Eric Rahill, Claudia O’Doherty, Chris Bauer, Kristen Johnston, and Conner O’Malley). Among the film items we’ve been tracking we find the likes of Lucía Alenar Iglesias‘ Forastera – a project that was part of the 2021 Cannes Cinéfondation Residence and was the winner of the Prix ARTE Kino Intl prize, this is set during holidays in Majorca de Cata, this is about a woman whose vacation is dramatically disrupted by the death of her grandmother. Willem Dafoe will be in Venice for a pair of titles, but he could be Toronto-bound with Nadia Latif‘s debut. The Man in My Basement is set in Sag Harbor, New York, where Charles Blakey (Corey Hawkins) is out of work, out of luck and on the verge of foreclosure on his ancestral home. A knock on the door from a mysterious businessman, Anniston Bennet (Dafoe), brings a bizarre and lucrative proposition; rent his dusty stand-up basement out for the summer and receive enough money to clear his debts for good. Johannesburg-based filmmaker Zamo Mkhwanazi‘s Laundry is set in South Africa 1968. Khuthala hates the family-owned laundry. But as the apartheid government cracks down on Black business ownership, Khuthala is torn between chasing his music dreams and fighting the injustice that threatens the business that is the sole means of support and glue of his family. All films selected are world premiere status –
2025 Discovery Program (in alphabetical order):
100 Sunset | Kunsang Kyirong | Canada
Amoeba | Siyou Tan | Singapore/Netherlands/France/Spain/South Korea
As We Breathe | Şeyhmus Altun | Turkey/Denmark
Babystar | Joscha Bongard | Germany
Bayaan | Bikas Ranjan Mishra | India
Dinner With Friends | Sasha Leigh Henry | Canada
Egghead Republic | Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja | Sweden
Forastera | Lucía Aleñar Iglesias | Spain/Italy/Sweden
Ghost School | Seemab Gul | Pakistan
Julian | Cato Kusters | Belgium/Netherlands
Laundry | Zamo Mkhwanazi | Switzerland/South Africa
Little Lorraine | Andy Hines | Canada
Maddie’s Secret | John Early | USA
Mārama | Taratoa Stappard | New Zealand
Nika & Madison | Eva Thomas | Canada
Noviembre | Tomás Corredor | Colombia/Mexico/Brazil/Norway
Oca | Karla Badillo | Mexico/Argentina
Our Father | Goran Stankovic | Serbia/Italy/Croatia/North Macedonia/Montenegro/Bosnia and Herzegovina
Out Standing | Mélanie Charbonneau | Canada
Retreat | Ted Evans | United Kingdom
Sink | Zain Duraie | Jordan/Saudi Arabia/Qatar/France
The Man in My Basement | Nadia Latif | United Kingdom/USA
The Son and the Sea | Stroma Cairns | United Kingdom
