New award for animated shorts and diverse lineup mark the festival’s 50th edition
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), running September 4–14, 2025, has announced its Short Cuts program for its 50th edition, featuring 48 short films from 28 countries, including 20 Canadian titles. Curated across seven presentations, the lineup includes the genre-hybrid Strange Cuts strand and introduces a new Best Animated Short Film Award, judged by cinematographer Ashley Iris Gill, Annecy’s Marcel Jean, and Canadian actor-director Connor Jessup.
World premieres include Idris Elba’s Dust to Dreams, Patrick Xavier Bresnan and Ivete Lucas’ The Contestant with David Hasselhoff, and Blake Winston Rice’s DISC, starring Victoria Ratermanis and Jim Cummings. North American premieres feature Joecar Hanna’s Talk Me, executive produced by Spike Lee, and Joshua Seftel’s documentary All the Empty Rooms, backed by Adam McKay. The program highlights ten animations, such as Sandra Desmazières’ Water Girl and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls.
Returning TIFF alumni include Rich Williamson and Shasha Nakhai with the satire Bots and Kelly Fyffe-Marshall with the drama Demons. Emerging Canadian filmmakers like Will Niava (Jazz Infernal), Giran Findlay-Liu (Year of the Dragon), and Solara Thanh Bình Đặng (ripe) make their festival debuts. The Strange Cuts strand features genre works like Nieto’s psychedelic animation UM and Hannah Cheesman’s micro-satire Marriaginalia.
Tickets for TIFF Members go on sale August 15, with the full schedule released August 12.