We’re just one day away from the kickoff of fall-film-festival season—considered the most wonderful time of year for Oscar obsessives like us.
This year’s crop is full of promise, with a slew of previously Oscar-nominated filmmakers debuting new projects. Some are making much-anticipated returns, like Kathryn Bigelow, who hasn’t released a film since 2017. Others are finally bringing to life long-awaited passion projects, like Guillermo del Toro with Frankenstein. Noah Baumbach and Bradley Cooper are both back in the mix with personal projects, and Yorgos Lanthimos and Paul Greengrass are also aiming to surprise audiences with their new films.
Basically, there’s something for everyone. Here, Vanity Fair rounds up the 20 most promising films debuting at the Venice International Film Festival 2025, the Telluride Film Festival 2025, the Toronto International Film Festival 2025, and the New York Film Festival 2025.
After the Hunt (Venice, New York)
The ever productive Luca Guadagnino returns with a thriller-drama about a college professor caught in a controversy of campus ethics. After the Hunt, with a buzzy script by Nora Garrett, has been touted as a #MeToo movie—Andrew Garfield plays a professor accused of some kind of impropriety with a student. But knowing Guadagnino, it’s likely that the film will venture into some less obvious corners too. And while that all sounds intriguing enough, it’s the presence of Julia Roberts that really has us curious. Roberts, one of the last great movie stars, doesn’t go dark like this very often. But it’s typically a thrill when she does. —Richard Lawson
A House of Dynamite (Venice, New York)
The first woman to win a best-director Oscar hasn’t released a film in eight years. Kathryn Bigelow’s last effort, Detroit, was a bleak and controversial drama that very few people saw. Here’s hoping her latest, about an American presidential administration dealing with an impending (and likely nuclear) missile attack, restores Bigelow as one of the premier purveyors of procedural, technical suspense. A House of Dynamite also sports a, well, dynamite cast: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Greta Lee, and Kaitlyn Dever are among the reliable names. Early buzz for this one is strong enough to suggest that the film is not only a jangly fall thriller, but also a true Oscar contender. —R.L.
The Wizard of the Kremlin (Venice, Toronto)
Journeyman oddball filmmaker Olivier Assayas takes aim at Russia in his new film, an adaptation of a novel about a reality TV producer turned highly connected official in Vladimir Putin’s government. Paul Dano plays the calculating master of misinformation, while Jude Law takes the Putin role. Assayas is not the most obvious pick for material like this—his films tend to have an idiosyncratic tempo that feels like an ill fit for a political process movie—but maybe his dash of Euro madness is just what a story about an almost absurd real-world government requires. Good or bad, the movie is sure to stoke controversy when it premieres in Italy. —R.L.
Frankenstein (Venice, Toronto)
Guillermo del Toro takes a crack at Mary Shelley’s sci-fi ur-monster novel, going for baroque as usual. Oscar Isaac plays misguided resurrectionist Victor Frankenstein, while Jacob Elordi, one of the pretty boys du jour, plays Frankenstein’s monster. An early trailer suggests something focused more on action than on gothic considerations of the Industrial Revolution, which is probably fine. A visually ravishing del Toro spectacular is never unwelcome, even if this film does not initially appear to be the serious, high-minded take on a classic text for which some had hoped. —R.L.
No Other Choice (Venice, Toronto, New York)
Korean master Park Chan-wook’s latest film was assumed to be a Cannes premiere, but ended up conspicuously absent from that festival’s lineup in May. No matter; the film will instead play three of the biggies this fall, where it’s sure to become a major contender for, at the very least, the international-film Oscar. Based on an old Donald Westlake novel called The Ax, No Other Choice has a grimly compelling premise: a man laid off from a long-term job decides to kill the other candidates for a new position he’s hoping to land. That sounds like a plot right up Park’s alley, as well as an apt fit for star Lee Byung-hun—so memorably ruthless on Squid Game. —R.L.
Bugonia (Venice)
Filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos reunites with muse Emma Stone (The Favourite, Poor Things) for this English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 South Korean film, Save the Green Planet! Following two young men (Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis) who kidnap a powerful CEO (Stone), the film is said to be a major acting showcase for Plemons, who plays a conspiracist beekeeper. Though Lanthimos’s films range in their accessibility, he always delivers a singular point of view, presented in a world that only he could dream up. We’re ready for another trip. —Rebecca Ford
Jay Kelly (Venice, New York)
The latest from Noah Baumbach stars movie star George Clooney as movie star Jay Kelly, a fictional creation played with rich memoiristic undertones. Crafted by Baumbach as a love letter to the medium to which he’s dedicated his life, the film costars returning collaborators like Adam Sandler and Laura Dern and is expected to be a return to form for the director, following his divisive 2022 literary adaptation, White Noise. The project certainly felt that way to Baumbach: “It’s about falling back in love with what you do, and falling back in love with yourself,” he recently told me. —David Canfield
Father Mother Sister Brother (Venice)
Believe it or not, the past several years have marked the longest gap between features in the history of Jim Jarmusch’s career, going all the way back to his 1980 debut, Permanent Vacation. (His last film, the star-studded zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die, was released in 2019.) Described as an anthology film, Father Mother Sister Brother has assembled a murderers’ row of talent for the art house darling’s long-awaited return, including awards favorites Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver. —D.C.
The Smashing Machine (Venice, Toronto)
By the end of this year, A24 will have released two movies directed by one Safdie brother apiece. Josh’s Marty Supreme hits theaters this Christmas; before that, we have Benny’s The Smashing Machine. Exploring the life of MMA champion Mark Kerr, the film marks not only its director’s solo feature debut behind the camera, but also the most ambitious and transformative work in the acting career of Dwayne Johnson. “You have to be willing to tap into all the stuff that you’ve gone through, and this was stuff that I had not explored on camera or otherwise,” Johnson told me. “I’m not a big therapy person, even though I’m an advocate for whatever it is you need. I found it so scary, but also, so nourishing and freeing. I ripped it open.” —D.C.
Dead Man’s Wire (Venice, Toronto)
Between his Oscar-winning smashes, Good Will Hunting and Milk, Gus Van Sant was once a mainstay on the prestige circuit. But he hasn’t made a ton of noise with his movies of late, despite attracting high-profile actors and splashy festival bows. Still, his most recent project—Van Sant directed the majority of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans—resulted in a well-deserved Emmy nomination for directing. Now he’s back with his first movie in seven years, revisiting a harrowing ’70s true hostage saga with Bill Skarsgård in the lead. Here’s hoping Van Sant stays on the rebound. —D.C.
Hamnet (likely Telluride, Toronto)
The ingredients are too good to ignore for this one: an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning 2020 novel, directed by Oscar winner Chloé Zhao, produced by Oscar winners Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, and starring Oscar nominees Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William Shakespeare and his spirited wife, Agnes, respectively. Buckley actually centers this drama, which imagines the couple’s love story, from their initial courtship to the grief that follows the death of their son. She’s already being trailed by serious best-actress buzz. “It was the most fluid, creative, immediate film experience I’ve had,” Buckley recently told me. While not confirmed for Telluride, the “Canadian premiere” language on Hamnet’s TIFF bow suggests that the Colorado fest will be the film’s first stop on the festival circuit. —D.C.
Ballad of a Small Player (likely Telluride, Toronto)
Though officially announced for the Toronto International Film Festival, Ballad of a Small Player—starring Colin Farrell as a gambling addict hiding out in Macau—is expected to first head to the mountains of Colorado, based on the way its premiere is described in the TIFF announcement. The film is based on Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel, and its first trailer teases a visually playful and intense journey into the Vegas of the East. Edward Berger’s last two film adaptations, All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, were Oscar darlings, so we’ll see if he can strike gold once again. —R.F.
Christy (Toronto)
Throughout Sydney Sweeney’s meteoric rise to stardom, we’ve seen her do a lot of things—like have bathroom breakdowns on Euphoria and participate in flirty hijinks in Anyone but You. But we’ve never quite seen her pull off something like this: a transformation into a real-life person for a physically demanding role in a film that follows her character over decades. Christy, helmed by David Michôd, is based on the true story of Christy Martin, a barrier-breaking female boxer who rose to prominence in the ’90s. We’re hoping Sweeney delivers a knockout performance. —R.F.
Hedda (Toronto)
Hedda Gabler is one of the most iconic—and elusive—characters in stage history. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta will put her own spin on the classic Henrik Ibsen text with a bold adaptation that stars Tessa Thompson in the titular role. Following the troublesome Hedda Gabler over one night as she wreaks havoc at a party, Hedda is primed to deliver big performances from Thompson and Nina Hoss, who plays Hedda’s former lover, now back to stir up a tempest of trouble. —R.F.
The Lost Bus (Toronto)
Though they’re set in completely different times and places, director Paul Greengrass compares The Lost Bus to his previous Oscar-nominated film Captain Phillips. In both, the drama takes place in a very contained area: Captain Phillips unfolds largely on a boat, while The Lost Bus mostly takes place on a school bus being driven by a man (Matthew McConaughey) who is trying to rescue elementary school kids from a deadly fire. Based on the devastating Camp Fire in Northern California, The Lost Bus is sure to be an emotional experience for Los Angeles residents who are still recovering from the blazes that ravaged the city in January. But even if it doesn’t hit close to home for everyone, Greengrass knows how to balance large-scale action and gripping personal stories in the same movie. —R.F.
The Choral (Toronto)
No fall-festival season would be complete without at least one feel-good drama about British people making things, preferably set in or around wartime. This year we have our eye on The Choral, a WW I movie about a choir director helping a wounded, shell-shocked veteran find his voice again. Ralph Fiennes, possessed of such sonorous speaking tone, plays the choirmaster tasked with inspiring a downtrodden, war-weary town with a performance of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius. Fiennes is not the only classy person involved: History Boys scribe Alan Bennett wrote the script, with History Boys (and, perhaps more importantly, Object of My Affection) director Nicholas Hytner taking the reins behind the camera. This seems like one of the guaranteed cries of the season. —R.L.
The Christophers (Toronto)
Steven Soderbergh’s third film this year is a crime comedy about art forgery, starring Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel, and Baby Reindeer breakout Jessica Gunning. Sounds great! —R.L.
Anemone (New York)
For weeks, little was known about this Focus Features release, beyond a few tantalizing details: It brought Daniel Day-Lewis out of retirement; marks the feature directorial debut of his son Ronan; and takes on the potent theme of fathers, sons, and brothers. Then the studio released a trailer for the movie—which costars Sean Bean—unveiling a project that seems far more visually striking and tonally ambitious than some were expecting. Consider us intrigued. —D.C.
Is This Thing On? (New York)
It wasn’t clear for a while if director Bradley Cooper would finish his comedic drama in time for fall-festival season—but lucky for us, it’ll have its world premiere as the closing-night film of NYFF. Starring Will Arnett as a man who’s facing a divorce and ends up stumbling into a career as a stand-up comic, the film seems lighter in tone than Cooper’s previous directorial efforts (A Star Is Born and Maestro), but it’s still chock-full of Cooper’s meticulous filmmaking style. Cooper and Arnett, who have been friends for 25 years, cowrote the script based on the true story of British comedian John Bishop, and Arnett spent weeks doing stand-up in character in order to prepare. —R.F.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (New York)
One of the season’s clumsiest titles is nonetheless one of its great awards hopefuls. The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White plays Bruce Springsteen in the early stages of his career, as he goes from good-times New Jersey guy to internationally lauded chronicler of the American working-class condition. Writer-director Scott Cooper has done well with musicians in the past; his film Crazy Heart won Jeff Bridges a long-awaited best-actor Oscar. Perhaps that success will repeat here—unless audiences are tired of scruffy music biopics, with this one coming so soon after A Complete Unknown. Regardless of how the movie is received, we should probably never count out supporting player Jeremy Strong, who is beloved by awards voters and here gets the flashy, fun role of Springsteen’s manager. —R.L.
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