The Currents by Milagros Mumenthaler
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) marks its 50th edition this year with a diverse selection of Latin American titles from Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Venezuela across multiple sections.
The Currents / Las corrientes, the third feature by Argentine director Milagros Mumenthaler, will have its World Premiere in the Platform competition, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year. Dedicated to bold directorial vision and distinctive storytelling, Platform offers audiences an early glimpse at some of the most compelling cinematic voices on the rise. The film follows celebrated Argentine artist Lina, who survives a fall in the icy waters of a Swiss lake, triggering a haunting journey through trauma, memory, and motherhood.
Two Latin American debut features will premiere in TIFF’s Discovery section: Noviembre by Colombian director Tomás Corredor and Oca by Mexican filmmaker Karla Badillo. Based on the 1985 Palace of Justice siege, Noviembre blends gripping fiction with archival footage to reflect on conviction, chaos, and the lasting wounds of one of Colombia’s darkest chapters. In Oca, a young nun embarks on a poetic pilgrimage to save her dying congregation, encountering others whose own struggles with faith, privilege, and contradiction mirror her haunting search for divine meaning in a fractured world.
Among the notable titles in the Special Presentations slate are Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent / O Secreto Agente, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, Simón Mesa Soto’s Cannes-winning A Poet / Un Poeta, and Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás’ It Would Be Night in Caracas.
Winner of Best Director and Best Actor at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, The Secret Agent is a politically charged thriller that fuses Mendonça Filho’s formal rigor with themes of surveillance, disinformation, and the erosion of democratic norms. Set in 1977, during Brazil’s military dictatorship, the film follows Wagner Moura as Marcelo, a teacher who returns to Recife seeking peace, only to find the city far from the refuge he hoped for.
Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro delivers a visually sumptuous adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece, with Oscar Isaac as the brilliant scientist and Jacob Elordi as the unearthly creation that blurs the boundaries between life, death, and madness.
Starring Ubeimar Ríos, Rebeca Andrade, Guillermo Cardona, Allison Correa, Margarita Soto, and Humberto Restrepo, A Poet follows Óscar Restrepo, whose obsession with poetry has brought him no glory. Aging and erratic, he has become the cliché of the poet in the shadows. When he mentors a humble teenager, helping her cultivate her talent, he finds new purpose—but leading her into the world of poets may prove dangerous.
Based on the novel by Karina Sainz Borgo, It Would Be Night in Caracas is a powerful human drama. After burying her mother, Adelaida returns home to find it overtaken by violent militia. As society collapses around her, she must risk everything—including her identity—to survive.
Previously known as Contemporary World Cinema, TIFF’s Centerpiece program honors global cinematic achievements. This year’s lineup features six Latin American films: The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo by Diego Céspedes, Under the Same Sun / Bajo el mismo sol by Ulises Porra, Olmo by Fernando Eimbcke, The Condor Daughter / La hija Cóndor by Álvaro Olmos Torrico, The Blue Trail / O Último Azul by Gabriel Mascaro, and Barrio Triste by Stillz.
Winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard top prize, Céspedes’ remarkable debut The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo is set in early 1980s Chile, where a queer family faces the onset of the AIDS epidemic in a remote mining town haunted by a mythic disease said to spread when men fall in love—with just a glance. Eight-year-old Lidia watches as her brothers are quarantined after a raid on a clandestine gay speakeasy. As paranoia mounts, she must confront the town’s fear and prejudice.
Set on Hispaniola in 1820, the Spanish–Dominican co-production Under the Same Sun follows Lázaro, the introverted son of a late Spanish merchant, who must fulfill his father’s final venture: establishing a silk factory in Santo Domingo. He relies on Mei, a Chinese silk-maker, and Baptiste, a deserter from the Haitian army.
A U.S.–Mexico co-production, Eimbcke’s Olmo follows a 14-year-old who cares for his bedridden father with multiple sclerosis. When his neighbor Nina invites him to a party, his world is upended.
The Condor Daughter follows Clara, a young Quechua midwife who sings to ease women’s labor pains. Her mother, Ana, sees this gift as a divine blessing. After a dispute, Clara leaves for the city, and the community soon suffers mysterious misfortunes, which villagers interpret as divine punishment. Determined, Ana sets out to bring her daughter home.
Gabriel Mascaro’s The Blue Trail follows Tereza, an elderly woman forced to relocate from her Amazonian town to a state-run senior facility. Refusing this fate, she embarks on a transformative river journey to fulfill one last wish before her freedom is taken away.
Barrio Triste, the debut feature from Bad Bunny collaborator Stillz and produced by Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD studio, also has its North American Premiere in this section. Through found footage and visual glitches, the film redefines the thriller aesthetic. Amid a gang of violent youths who steal diamonds and burn cars, one member turns a stolen camera into an unsettling act of image-making.
Landmarks / Nuestra tierra, the debut documentary feature by acclaimed director Lucrecia Martel (Zama) will have its North American premiere in TIFF Docs. The film is a haunting investigation into the killing of an Indigenous community leader and its relationship to the larger, centuries-old story of colonialism and erasure.
In Wavelengths, TIFF’s avant-garde section, the North American Premiere of Mexican-Canadian filmmaker Nicolás Pereda’s Copper / Cobre is featured. Set on the edge of an isolated mining town, the film follows Lázaro, who discovers a body and refuses to return to the mine, convinced he is ill. Rumors, suspicion, and desire soon engulf him.
Within Wavelengths’ shorts program, Colombian filmmakers Jorge Caballero and Camilo Restrepo present 09/05/1982, also having its North American Premiere. This refined meditation on voice, image, and the malleability of narrative reconstructs the aftermath of a violent event alongside its official account.
The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs September 4–14, 2025.
