Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | August 20, 2025
The Summer is drawing to an end, which means it's time to say goodbye to blockbusters and hello to awards bait. While last year's Oscars cycle saw a few predictable moments form early on in the season, it was also full of surprises. Nobody could have predicted that the most celebrated films of 2024 would include a bananas body horror, a screwball comedy about a stripper, and a fiercely indie drama that was almost four hours long (legend has it that Adrien Brody is still giving his Best Actor speech right now.)
We have a few big hitters in contention for the little gold men already, thanks to premieres at Cannes that included new movies from Lynne Ramsay, Jafar Panahi, Richard Linklater, and Joachim Trier. Autumn, however, is when many of the major distributors hold their contenders for release. They want to ride a wave of hype because awards season is nothing if not set in its ways. So, with the film festivals at Venice, New York, and Toronto on the way, we can expect some extremely buzzy works to open with much anticipation. I'll be attending TIFF on behalf of Pajiba, so I definitely have most of these works on my radar.
There are many films we're excited about that aren't on this list, like Wake Up Dead Man, After the Hunt, A House of Dynamite, Jay Kelly, Is This Thing On?, and Radu Jude's Dracula. There are also a few films that aren't receiving festival releases but are expected to be part of the conversation, like Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another and Wicked: For Good. I'm also not including stuff that's already played at other festivals and will screen elsewhere this Autumn, like If I Had Legs I'd Kick You or Die, My Love.
THE SMASHING MACHINE (Dir. Benny Safdie)
The Safdie brothers are no more. Now, they are two separate entities and they have decided to make radically different movies. Actually, they're both releasing sports biopics starring major stars that are hyped to dominate awards season. The bonds of brotherhood are just that strong, I suppose.
Up first, and premiering in competition at Venice, is Benny with The Smashing Machine, based on the life of the MMA fighter Mark Kerr. The Academy loves a boxing/fighting movie. The big hook here though, of course, is the presence of Dwayne Johnson. He's wearing prosthetics, he's undergone a major physical transformation, and he's playing a real person who struggled with drug addiction, injury, and the perils of life in the ring. One couldn't have imagined a more perfect project for The Artist Formerly Known as The Rock to make his leap into "serious" film. Trust me, no actor this season is going to hustle hard for a Best Actor nomination than Johnson. Shout out, also, to Emily Blunt, who is playing the role of every boxer's girlfriend ever from SNL.
MARTY SUPREME (Dir. Josh Safdie)
If you're Team Josh then this Safdie brother's sports biopic seems to be a little less conventional by comparison. Based (sort-of) on the life of ping pong player Marty Reisman, the film stars Timothée Chalamet and features one of the most eclectic casts of the season: Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator, Abel Ferrara, Fran Drescher, Penn Jillette, and Sandra Bernhard! Chalamet is arguably the most popular actor in his age range and the industry adores him. They're certainly invested enough in him to allow Safdie to have a $70 million budget, the highest-ever for an A24 film. Will audiences follow suit, as they have for other Timmy Christmas headliners like A Complete Unknown and Wonka?
FRANKENSTEIN (Dir. Guillermo del Toro)
Truly, how has it taken this long for del Toro to adapt Frankenstein? It feels like he something he should have done by now. We are, of course, stoked to see how the current king of the gothic and grotesque (and head monster-f*cker) takes on one of the most influential and oft-adapted works in the English language. His cast includes Oscar Isaac, Mia Goth, and the severely tall Jacob Elordi.
NO OTHER CHOICE (Dir. Park Chan-wook)
One of the most important and influential filmmakers in modern South Korean film, Park Chan-wook helped to make his nation a hub of cinematic creativity. A new Park film is always cause for celebration in my household. This time around, he's adapting a thriller by the American writer Donald Wastlake. No Other Choice stars Lee Byung-hun from Squid Game as a man who loses his job and goes on an increasingly desperate hunt for employment that quickly goes off the rails. I don't think Park has ever directed a bad film, and I don't expect that to change with this one. Fingers crossed.
THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE (Dir. Mona Fastvold)
(Image via TIFF.)
Last season, we had Brady Corbet emerge as a Best Director frontrunner thanks to The Brutalist. This time around, his regular collaborator and wife, Mona Fastvold, is behind the camera with a very interesting project. This is a historical drama about Ann Lee (played by Amanda Seyfried), the founding leader of the Shakers religious sect, who worshipped through ecstatic dancing displays. Fastvold and Corbet (who is a co-writer on this) don't tend to pick conventional routes of storytelling so don't expect this to be just another historical drama. Oh, did I also mention that this is a musical?
CALIFORNIA SCHEMIN' (Dir. James McAvoy)
Glasgow's beloved James McAvoy is making his directorial debut with a homegrown story. Silibil N' Brains was a Scottish hip-hop duo who managed to convince the music world that they were actually Americans in order to be taken seriously by the industry. At one point, they ended up on tour with Eminem. I must admit that this one is here mostly because it's a Dundee-set story that was shot not that far from where I live. No, I never saw James McAvoy, but apparently, he spent a lot of time in the nearby shopping centre getting his lunch. Top bloke.
ANEMONE (Dir. Ronan Day-Lewis)
(Image via New York Film Festival.)
Daniel Day-Lewis retired following the 2017 release of one of his best films, Phantom Thread. But nobody expected that to stick. After all, he'd retired before then made a comeback. He's the Hayao Miyazaki who can make his own shoes. So, what's brought him back to acting this time round? Being a good dad and headlining his son's directorial debut. DDL has a co-writer credit on this drama about generational conflict, and his co-stars include Sean Bean and Samantha Morton. Surely, this means that Ronan DL has now won the nepo baby Olympics?
HAMNET (Dir. Chloe Zhao)
Chloe Zhao made history by becoming only the second woman, and the first woman of colour, to win the Best Director Oscar with Nomadland. While her dip into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Eternals didn't set the world alight, we're more excited by her return to drama. Based on the novel by Maggie O'Farrell, Hamnet stars Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare as he struggles with grief after the death of his son. Zhao's work is typically defined by its naturalistic approach, focus on the margins of American life, and use of non-professional actors. Hamnet has none of that but also feels within her oeuvre of narratives of emotional intensity through a muted lens. This could be the tearjerker of 2025.
BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER (Dir. Edward Berger)
Conclave proved to be a major critical and commercial hit last year, becoming far more popular than one would have expected for a film about a papal election. Now, it's basically become the Die Hard of the conclave season: we'll all sit down and watch it every time a Pope dies. Edward Berger has proven himself to be a sturdy director of crowd-pleasing fare that doesn't sacrifice its prestige slant. In his next film, Ballad of a Small Player, he has Colin Farrell on-board as a con artist who runs away to Macau. Sounds juicy.
RENTAL FAMILY (Dir. Hikari)
Bless the Brenaissance. The return of Brendan Fraser to the mainstream was a heartening moment in pop culture, even if his Oscar win was for a movie that was, well, awful. Fraser has laid low since his Best Actor victory but he now essentially has free rein to do whatever the hell he wants, more so than he did during his action hero peak. What he's chosen for his first film after The Whale is Rental Family. In it, he plays an underemployed American actor working in Japan who starts taking on gigs at a rental family service in Tokyo. Yes, this is a real thing. Conan O'Brien used one once. This has the potential to be a real crowd pleaser. Its world premiere at TIFF primes it for the coveted audience award.
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (Dir. Kaouther Ben Hania)
(Image via TIFF.)
In January 2024, Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl, was killed by Israeli forces alongside her family when their vehicle was shelled. Rajab was left stranded in the vehicle for hours on the phone as paramedics tried to save her. This event has been dramatized by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, whose most recent film, Four Daughters, was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar.
