The final work by late filmmaker Charles Officer headlines the Centrepiece line-up for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The festival announced today at Youngblood, co-written by Officer, will have its world premiere at TIFF in September. Officer’s screenplay was produced following his passing in December 2023 at age 48. Youngblood follows a Hamilton hockey prodigy as he endeavours to play for the National Hockey League. It re-imagines the 1986 drama starring Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, and Keanu Reeves.
The film is directed by Oscar-nominee Hubert Davis, whose Black Ice won the People’s Choice Award for Documentary in 2022, and co-written by Seneca Aaron, Josh Epstein, and Kyle Rideout. Youngblood stars Aston James, Blair Underwood, Shawn Doyle, and Tamara Podemski, and is sure to be a sentimental favourite at TIFF this year.
Other Canadian films in TIFF’s Centrepiece slate include The Cost of Heaven from director Mathieu Denis, whose radical work Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Dig Their Own Grave (directed with Simon Lavoie) won Best Canadian Feature at the 2016 festival. Blood Lines, meanwhile, marks the sophomore directorial work from actor Gail Maurice following her TIFF ’22 hit Rosie. Both films will have their world premieres at TIFF.
Canadian works having their North American premieres include Blue Heron, the feature directorial debut of Sophy Romvari, who has gained notice for her innovative short films including Norman Norman and Still Processing. The line-up also includes Honeybunch from Violation directors Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli.
On the international side, TIFF’s Centrepiece slate boasts some major auteur filmmakers. Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon will have its North American premiere in Toronto alongside the director’s Nouvelle Vague, which was previously announced for the Special Presentations line-up. Blue Moon tells the story of troubled Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart, and hits the fall circuit to capitalize on awards buzz that began at Berlin where it won an acting prize for Andrew Scott. The film also stars Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley. The line-up also includes new films from Oscar winner László Nemes (Son of Saul), festival favourite Christian Petzold (Phoenix), and TIFF Platform winner Pietro Marcello (Martin Eden).
TIFF’s programming rollout continues this week with further announcements for TIFF Docs, Wavelengths, and Cinematheque titles. The festival runs September 4 to 14.
The full Centrepiece line-up for TIFF 2025 is as follows:
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 Year’s 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
