TIFF Announces Documentary Program for 2025
The TIFF Docs programme features attention-grabbing non-fiction cinema from around the world. The programme will open with Academy Award–winning Canadian director Ben Proudfoot’s The Eyes of Ghana, which profiles the filmmaker Chris Hesse and is backed by executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama.
TORONTO — TIFF is thrilled to announce the 2025 Docs programme presented by A&E IndieFilms, featuring 23 titles from 18 countries and 16 World Premieres. Audiences will encounter a wide range of real-life characters, including explorers, journalists, sex workers, activists, soldiers, and champion whistlers. This year’s lineup includes new work by celebrated directors such as Jimmy Chin, Billy Corben, Tamara Kotevska, Lucrecia Martel, Raoul Peck, Laura Poitras, Ben Proudfoot, Gianfranco Rosi, Michèle Stephenson, Peter Mettler, and Chai Vasarhelyi. The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, will take place September 4–14, 2025.
The TIFF Docs programme features attention-grabbing non-fiction cinema from around the world. The programme will open with Academy Award–winning Canadian director Ben Proudfoot’s The Eyes of Ghana, which profiles the filmmaker Chris Hesse and is backed by executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama. High-profile World Premieres coming to TIFF as sales titles include: The Balloonists, directed by John Dower, capturing adventurers who set out to circle the globe in a balloon; A Life Illuminated, directed by Tasha Van Zandt, following marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder on a stunning journey to the ocean depths; Whistle, directed by Christopher Nelius, portraying a competition of champion whistlers; Nuns vs. the Vatican, directed by Lorena Luciano and executive produced by Mariska Hargitay, exposing new allegations of abuse inside the Catholic Church; Canceled: The Paula Deen Story, directed by Billy Corben, which re-investigates the scandal of a celebrity chef; and Modern Whore, directed by Canadian Nicole Bazuin, which explores the sex industry and is based on the book of the same name by Andrea Werhun and Bazuin.
Other World Premieres include Vasarhelyi and Chin’s LOVE+WAR, Stephenson’s True North, Sky Hopinka’s Powwow People, Zahraa Ghandour’s Flana, and a notable cluster of Canadian titles including Jamal Burger and Jukan Tateisi’s Still Single, Darlene Naponse’s Aki, Shane Belcourt’s Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising, Min Sook Lee’s There Are No Words, and Mettler’s While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts.
These TIFF Docs titles join a number of documentaries already announced for TIFF 50, including the World Premieres of John Candy: I Like Me and Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery in the Gala programme; Degrassi: Whatever It Takes, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution... in Special Presentations; and Palimpsest: the Story of a Name, announced yesterday in the Centrepiece programme.
Hear more from Docs Lead Programmer Thom Powers:
2025 TIFF Docs programme (in alphabetical order):
A Life Illuminated | Tasha Van Zandt | USA
World Premiere
A Simple Soldier | Juan Camilo Cruz, Artem Ryzhykov | Ukraine
North American Premiere
Aki | Darlene Naponse | Canada
World Premiere
Below the Clouds | Gianfranco Rosi | Italy
International Premiere
Canceled: The Paula Deen Story | Billy Corben | USA
World Premiere
Cover-Up | Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus | USA
Canadian Premiere
Flana | Zahraa Ghandour | Iraq/France/Qatar
World Premiere
LOVE+WAR | Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin | USA
World Premiere
Modern Whore | Nicole Bazuin | Canada
World Premiere
Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising | Shane Belcourt | Canada
World Premiere
Nuestra Tierra | Lucrecia Martel | Argentina/USA/Mexico/France/Denmark/Netherlands
North American Premiere
Nuns vs. The Vatican | Lorena Luciano | USA
World Premiere
Orwell: 2+2=5 | Raoul Peck | USA/France
North American Premiere
Powwow People | Sky Hopinka | USA
World Premiere
Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk | Sepideh Farsi | France/Palestine/Iran
North American Premiere
Still Single | Jamal Burger, Jukan Tateisi | Canada
World Premiere
The Balloonists | John Dower | USA/United Kingdom/Austria
World Premiere
The Eyes of Ghana | Ben Proudfoot | USA | Opening Film
World Premiere
The Tale of Silyan | Tamara Kotevska | North Macedonia
North American Premiere
There Are No Words | Min Sook Lee | Canada
World Premiere
True North | Michèle Stephenson | USA/Canada
World Premiere
While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts | Peter Mettler | Canada/Switzerland
World Premiere
Whistle | Christopher Nelius | Australia
World Premiere
The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 4–14, 2025.
