TIFF 50 Shines as Toronto Becomes World Cinema’s Stage
The festival opened with Colin Hanks’s affectionate documentary John Candy: I Like Me and closed with Anne Émond’s Peak Everything (Amour Apocalypse). Yet the undeniable centerpiece of TIFF 50 was Guillermo del Toro’s long-anticipated adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, presented as part of the Special Presentations program on September 8.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) celebrated its golden jubilee this year, marking 50 editions of the world-renowned showcase of cinema. Running from September 4 to 14, 2025, TIFF 50 transformed the city into a global stage, hosting over 200 feature films, high-profile premieres, and star-studded red carpets.
Organizers commemorated the milestone with The TIFF Story in 50 Films, a sweeping retrospective, and a starry slate of Tribute Award recipients, including Guillermo del Toro, Jodie Foster, Catherine O’Hara, Channing Tatum, Idris Elba, and Keanu Reeves.
The festival opened with Colin Hanks’s affectionate documentary John Candy: I Like Me and closed with Anne Émond’s Peak Everything (Amour Apocalypse). Yet the undeniable centerpiece of TIFF 50 was Guillermo del Toro’s long-anticipated adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, presented as part of the Special Presentations program on September 8.
Del Toro’s Frankenstein — a project decades in the making — finally arrived to extraordinary anticipation. The result is a gothic, visually stunning reimagining that combines the director’s signature artistry with a profoundly human meditation on creation, grief, and identity.
At the film’s core are two widely acclaimed performances:
Oscar Isaac as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, portrayed not as a caricature of obsession but as a man consumed by brilliance, ambition, and loss.
Jacob Elordi as the Creature, delivering a performance hailed as both terrifying and deeply vulnerable — a career-defining turn.
The ensemble also features Mia Goth as Elizabeth Lavenza, Felix Kammerer as William Frankenstein, and appearances by Christoph Waltz, Charles Dance, Lars Mikkelsen, Ralph Ineson, and David Bradley.
The premiere at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre drew feverish crowds, with fans thronging the red carpet to glimpse del Toro, Isaac, and Elordi. Inside, the screening ended in a hushed silence before erupting into a prolonged standing ovation, as powerful as the Creature’s final, anguished cry.
Visually, the film bears del Toro’s unmistakable gothic signature — candlelit laboratories, sweeping alpine landscapes, and a haunting elegance that recalls Crimson Peak, layered with the emotional urgency of The Shape of Water. Yet the film’s power lies not just in its spectacle but in its emotional weight, offering a story that resonates as both timeless and urgently modern.
As awards season looms, many predict that TIFF 50 will be remembered not only for its milestone year but also as the festival where Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein claimed its place as a defining cinematic achievement.