TIFF 50 had it all

Toronto just threw itself the biggest movie party of the year… and everyone
showed up. From red carpet royalty to breakout stars and one headline-
grabbing controversy,
Lights, cameras, confetti — and yes, comet-level drama. The Toronto International Film
Festival (TIFF) turned fifty this year. The party was exactly the kind of unruly,
emotional, star-studded blowout you’d expect: an orgy of premieres that mixed old
masters with buzzy newcomers, awards that already smell a little like Oscar dust, and
— in proper festival form — a few unwanted surprises that kept the town talking long
after the last red carpet was rolled up. This delicate balance of celebration and
controversy is what made TIFF 50 so engaging and intriguing. Below: a lively deep dive
into TIFF 50, what worked, what didn’t, who dazzled, and what everyone whispered
about in hotel bars.

The through-line: big, bold, and sometimes messy
TIFF’s 50th edition threw the kitchen sink at the cinema: 291 films, a gallery of galas,
and the kind of crowd you can’t move down King Street on without tripping over a
director or two. The festival felt exuberant and generous. A place for premieres that
want awards momentum and art-house fare hungry for discovery. However, it also felt,
at times, like a midway between festival glamour and risk management: thrilled to
present provocative voices, yet cautious when politics started to ripple through
programming. TIFF’s official schedule and the size of the slate make the festival’s
ambitions plain: it wanted scale and variety, and it delivered on that promise by
showcasing both established and emerging talent, leaving the audience excited and
optimistic about the future of cinema.

Still, for all its bigness, critics and audiences agreed TIFF 50 had standout moments.
The People’s Choice Award went to Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet — a tender, literary reworking
of grief and art that played the room like a pro and immediately joined the early “award
season must-watch” conversation. That audience applause translated into a top prize;
TIFF audiences have a history of pointing to films that go on to win awards, and
Hamnet’s reception looked like a classic example.
The films that wowed (and why people cared)
Here are the titles that got TIFF buzzing — a mix of critics’ favourites, crowd-pleasers,
and festival discoveries that stuck with people:

Hamnet broke hearts.
Frankenstein resurrected applause.
Wake Up Dead Man (yes, Benoit Blanc is back!) had mystery lovers grinning.
No Other Choice left crowds in tears… in the best way.  

Stars and return engagements
TIFF is still a celebrity magnet. This year’s red carpets featured returning favourites
(Chloé Zhao, Guillermo del Toro, and Park Chan-wook) alongside actors riding hot
seasons (Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley), as well as a wave of established stars showing
up to champion their projects. Industry favourites like Rian Johnson and David Freyne
brought crowd-pleasing energy, while the festival also made room for risk-taking
auteurs and emerging voices. The vibe was one of familiar faces and new energies.
(See leaks from premiere photo galleries — the who’s who was, as usual, very who.)

First-timers, discoveries and returning treasures
TIFF 50 balanced veteran auteurs and first-timers nicely — the lineup included major
world premieres alongside debut features and films from national cinemas that rarely
get North American attention. Critics praised that mix: you’d go for a del Toro spectacle
and also walk away haunted by a small, formally daring film you’d never have seen
otherwise. The TIFF press pack did a nice job highlighting that range.

The uncomfortable truth: controversy and curation
It wasn’t all confetti. TIFF stumbled in the public eye over the handling of Barry Avrich’s
documentary about October 7 and the subsequent back-and-forth about whether the
film would screen at the festival. The episode highlighted the tension that festivals now
face: balancing safety and legal concerns with the expectation of being principled
platforms for challenging work. You could sense that TIFF was sometimes sharply
divided; some accused TIFF of being risk-averse, while others emphasized the legal and
security realities for a significant public festival. Either way, the controversy became
part of the festival story and confirmed an uncomfortable truth: festivals can be brilliant
and messy at the same time.

Critics’ consensus (and grumbles)
Across outlets, the tone was roughly this: TIFF 50 delivered memorable highs and some
uneven moments. Critics praised the emotional and technical craft on display (notably
in Hamnet and several auteur films). Still, they flagged occasional program bloat — a
side effect of a 291-film schedule where signal gets lost in noise. A few big-name films
charmed and divided (with some critics calling specific prestige titles overrated), while
smaller discoveries delighted seasoned film festival attendees. It was the usual festival
cocktail: revelatory, exasperating, and impossible to ignore.

Best single-moment pick
If you want one defining image from TIFF 50, it’s audiences giving Zhao’s Hamnet the
People’s Choice crown, while outside, protest signs and a media swirl reminded us that
art and politics are still intertwined. It was the festival’s heartbeat: beauty and
contention, side by side.

Final take — why TIFF 50 mattered
TIFF at fifty is both a monument and a living thing. It still launches careers, sets the
tone for awards, and gives audiences moments they’ll rave about for years to come.
This year, it reminded us how festivals can be joyous engines — celebrations,
discoveries, and communal viewing — while also being sites of complex decisions about
safety, speech, and responsibility. The festival’s role in launching careers and setting
the tone for awards is a source of inspiration and hope for the future of cinema. If the
golden anniversary had a theme, it was this: cinema’s enormous power to dazzle and to
divide, and the impossible job of a festival to hold both at once.
TIFF 50 was fun, messy, brave, and human — which, frankly, is the festival you want
when cinema is trying to say something significant. Want a punchy social media caption
or an awards-season odds breakdown based on TIFF’s picks? I’ll write it up — including
popcorn and hot takes.