With 293 titles screening at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) there’s a lot to take in. There are films across every genre, from all over the world, and in a multitude of languages. And when it comes to films directed by women in particular, we’ve got 7 films we’re looking forward to watching at TIFF!
The films listed below are from plenty of different genres and styles of filmmaking. There’s an animated film about loss, romances about more than just falling in love, and even a documentary about one of the most beloved artists in the world. There are also films about identity, scary realizations, and piecing yourself back together again.
And if you’re looking for more about what films are screening at TIFF, you can check out their full schedule here!
MORE: 7 LGBTQ+ Films We’re Looking Forward to Watching at TIFF
1. Tangles
Directed by: Leah Nelson
Summary: Set in San Francisco in the ’90s, Tangles follows the story of Sarah, a young woman whose life is just beginning to tip into the stuff her dreams are made of — new opportunities to illustrate, a new romance with a bad-ass motorcycle-riding girlfriend named Donimo — when the pull of responsibility calls for her. Sarah’s lively mother Midge is battling Alzheimer’s disease, and the rest of the family is struggling to come to terms with the diagnosis.
Why We’re Excited: Tangles is at the top of this list for me because animated films do not get enough credit for telling deeply moving and important stories. Also, this is based on Sarah Leavitt’s graphic memoir Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer’s, My Mother and Me. So there’s more to explore after watching this film. Then there’s the voice cast which includes: Abbi Jacobson, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston, Seth Rogen, and Bowen Yang.
2. Love of Your Life
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Directed by: Rachel Morrison
Summary: Maya (Margaret Qualley) is a 26-year-old Boston nurse when she falls in love with Charlie (A House of Dynamite’s Gabriel Basso). Emotions deepen quickly, the couple marries, but all things fall tragically apart with the onset of the pandemic. Maya abruptly flees her life in the US, severing all her connections — including her best friend Jason (Patrick Schwarzenegger, TIFF ’26’s Bunker). She becomes a digital nomad in Portugal, where she meets Felix (Aaron Pierre, TIFF ’22’s Brother), who revives her capacity for intimacy and prompts a move to England. But can any amount of transformation or new beginnings stave off the ghosts Maya seems determined to run from?
Why We’re Excited: I love a good romance, especially if delves into how different, strange, and complex it is to be a woman in this day and age. And that’s what it looks like we’re going to get in Morrison’s Love of Your Life. Also, haven’t seen Qualley in anything since The Substance and I need more of this actress!
3. Bedford Park
Directed by: Stephanie Ahn
Summary: Eli (Son Sukku, My Liberation Notes) and Audrey (Moon Choi, Now, We Are Breaking Up) meet when Eli gets into a car accident with Audrey’s mother. They come to know each other when Audrey, as a way to make amends, volunteers to drive Eli to work. On the surface, their lives couldn’t appear more different: Eli was adopted by a white woman, raised with little connection to his roots, and works as a mall security guard, while Audrey grew up in a tumultuous household with her Korean-born parents, and is a physical therapist. Yet both characters seek to make peace with their present lives by reckoning with their respective pasts. For Eli, this means facing fatherhood, while Audrey struggles to free herself from her mother’s unreasonable expectations.
Why We’re Excited: Firstly, I’m always here for someone’s feature film debut. And that’s what Ahn is doing with her film Bedford Park. But also, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a movie be a romance but also an examination of the complexities of identity when you have little connection to your roots. And that’s something I want to watch!
4. Always Lalisa
Directed by: Sue Kim
Summary: Always Lalisa follows that journey with an intimate and effortless insider’s fluency, moving through Lisa’s milestones — her childhood dance competitions, breakout K-pop debut, and the creation of her own label — while acknowledging that the superstar is navigating uncharted terrain as she aims to break into the Western market.
Why We’re Excited: I mean, it’s Lisa. That’s enough to get people, including myself, excited to watch this documentary. But also, I really like the behind-the-scenes looks at powerful women. Because she isn’t a global superstar by chance. She worked for this. And I always find that documentaries like this offer an intimate look at someone that humanizes them in a way we’ve never experienced before.
5. In the Heart of the South
Directed by: Nyla Innuksuk
Summary: Anna Lambe leads as Yura Ivalu, the latest darling of the Toronto art world, whose virtual reality piece promises to blow your mind. Presented with a new opportunity to develop a film, she offers to lean into a traumatic story from her youth, which involves a friend who believed she was a shaman. But when that friend, Sesi, re-enters her life, Yura’s sheen of perfection in this polite society begins to show cracks.
Why We’re Excited: Honestly, I was sold as soon as the TIFF page said, “In the Heart of the South is what Single White Female would be if it were set in Toronto.” Single White Female is a classic for a reason and I always love when filmmakers transform a piece of film in unexpected ways. Also, there’s a dash of supernatural elements. I’m sold!
6. Prima Facie
Directed by: Susanna White
Summary: Having risen from a working-class background to a successful career in law, Tessa (Cynthia Erivo) does not suffer fools. She is a formidable presence in the courtroom, expertly dismantling opposing arguments, uncovering vulnerabilities, and holding her adversaries to the highest standards of jurisprudence. For Tessa, the nature of a client’s alleged crime is irrelevant: she believes the legal system operates optimally when all parties are given the strongest possible representation. However, her life is turned upside down when she is sexually assaulted by a colleague, forcing her to experience first-hand just how merciless — and misogynistic — the law can be toward already-traumatized women who are merely seeking justice.
Why We’re Excited: Prima Facie is definitely the movie on this list with the heaviest topic. And while I usually avoid movies about SA, this feels like terrifying unexplored territory grounded in the saying “you’ll never really know how it feels until it happens to you.” And unfortunately for this barrister, played by talented Erivo, she experiences a SA that opens her eyes to how shattered the system is when women seek justice.
7. The Face of Horror
Directed by: Anna Biller
Summary: Jonah Hauer-King (William Tell, TIFF ’24) stars as Edward, a solipsistic knight errant who murderously schemes with his squire to seize a farmer’s estate by marrying the farmer’s daughter — quite literally over her father’s dead body. Blinded by grief and courtly love, the guileless Eleanor (Kristine Froseth, TIFF ’22’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline) accepts Edward’s hand, but it’s not long before the rogue’s insatiable libido pulls him towards more royal aspirations in the form of a wealthy countess (Bella Heathcote, TIFF ’17’s Professor Marston & the Wonder Women), and so yet another murder of convenience foments.
Why We’re Excited: This is the one movie on this list that I know the least about. And a part of me wants to keep it that way because of two things that intrigue me about The Face of Horror. First of all, these saturated colors in the picture above. Film is too drab nowadays and I crave color. But also, apparently this film adapts the famous Japanese ghost story Yotsuya Kaidan for 14-century England. It’s unexpected horror. And I will be watching.
