Five Fall Festival Films to Look Out For

With the summer coming to an end and temperatures coming down, fall is officially on the horizon. While many people are preparing for football season, us cinephiles are preparing for a different season: the fall film festivals. 

Over the course of fall, we will have the following three major film festivals: Venice International Film Festival (Venice) from Aug. 17 to Sept. 6, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) from Sept. 4 to Sept. 14, and New York Film Festival (NYFF) from Sept. 27 to Oct. 14. These festivals are not only important for showcasing some of the year's best movies, but also for serving as a proxy to see what movies will be major players in this year's Oscars race.

Even before these festivals started, there has already been major buzz around the films that are to premiere. So, here are my five fall festival films to look out for this year at Venice, NYFF, and TIFF, and how I think they will play in this year's Oscars race!

5. Hamnet (Chloé Zhao)

Making her return to directing feature films after four years, Chloé Zhao is looking to redeem herself to those who doubted her. While her last film, the MCU's Eternals, may have been a commercial and critical flop, Zhao is back to remind everyone of the prestigious director she really is. It has been less than five years since Zhao won Best Director and Best Picture for Nomadland at the 93rd Academy Awards, where she was the second woman ever to win the former. Zhao marks her return to the Oscars race with Hamnet, an adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel of the same name, which is having its Canadian premiere at TIFF.

According to TIFF, Hamnet follows a fictionalized account of William Shakespeare (Academy Award nominee Paul Mescal) and his wife Agnes Shakespeare (Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley) grieving over the loss of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet, and how these events inspired one of the playwright's most famous works, Hamlet.

Even though Focus Features has two other films they will be promoting this year at festivals, Yorgos Lanthimos' Bugonia starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, and Anemone starring Sir Daniel Day-Lewis in his return to acting after eight years, it would be hard to imagine Hamnet not getting preferential treatment by the distributor when it comes to campaigning for films, especially considering Academy Award winners Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes are attached as producers.

Director: Chloé Zhao

Writers: Maggie O'Farrell & Chloé Zhao

Cast: Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley, Emily Watson, Joe Alwyn

Major Fall Festivals: TIFF (World Premiere)

Release Date: November 27, 2025

US Distributor: Focus Films

4. Sentimental Value (Joachim Trier)

If there was any movie that generated the most awards season buzz after this year's Cannes Film Festival, it was undoubtedly Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi in Norwegian.) The winner of the Grand Prix, the second most prestigious award at Cannes, Sentimental Value is primed to be a big player at this year's award season as it's being rolled out to the red carpet at both NYFF and TIFF.

According to NYFF, Sentimental Value is about Nora (Renate Reinsve), an acclaimed stage actress, reconnecting with her estranged film director father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), who suddenly comes back into her life when he offers her the lead role in his newest film. 

This marks the third collaboration for Joachim Trier and Renate Reinsve, and their first since 2021's The Worst Person in the World (Verdens verste menneske in Norwegian,) which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay and Best International Film (Norway) at the 94th Academy Awards. With Trier adding both Scandinavian acting legend Stellan Skarsgård and Hollywood's Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value is poised to be a major player at this year's awards scene.

And the studio backing Sentimental Value to be a major player is Neon, who, according to Brent Lang's 2025 Variety article, is giving the movie a "robust awards campaign." While they do have this year's Cannes Palme d'Or winner It Was Just an Accident and Park Chan-wook's newest film No Other Choice, I would expect them to prioritize the Norwegian film as they are going to throw the gauntlet at it for the Oscars race.

Director: Joachim Trier

Writers: Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt

Cast: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, and Cory Michael Smith

Major Fall Festivals: NYFF, TIFF

Release Date: November 7, 2025

US Distributor: Neon

3. The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie)

If there is one major storyline this awards season, it would be the heavyweight fight between the Safdie Brothers. In 2024, it was announced that the brotherly duo that made Good Time and Uncut Gems would be breaking up to pursue separate solo careers. That brings us to 2025, where both brothers are entering the ring this awards season for one of the biggest sibling rivalries in cinematic history: The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie) vs Marty Supreme (Josh Safdie). 

Like Uncut Gems, both Benny Safdie and Josh Safdie's solo movies revolve around sports. The Smashing Machine is a biopic on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter and UFC champion Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson). Marty Supreme is about young and aspiring ping-pong player Marty Mauser (Academy Award nominee Timothée Chalamet), inspired by real life ping-pong player Marty Reisman.

What makes this rivalry even more interesting is that both films will be released by A24. While A24 does have other films coming out this awards cycle, like Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest and If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, I'd presume that A24 will narrow their focus down to the two Safdie Brothers films.

However, it's hard to see which film they will prioritize more this year because both films will have different rollout processes. While The Smashing Machine will have a traditional fall festival rollout process with a world premiere at Venice followed by an additional premiere at TIFF, Marty Supreme is currently slated to go straight to theaters on Christmas day. Considering both films will be going up for most of the same categories, I think it will come down to how well The Smashing Machine tests at the fall festivals and Marty Supreme tests in theaters before we see which film A24 fully commits to.

Director: Benny Safdie

Writer: Benny Safdie

Cast: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt

Major Fall Festivals: Venice (World Premiere), TIFF

Release Date: October 3, 2025

US Distributor: A24

2. Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro)

The Master of Monsters challenges the biggest monster story of them all as Guillermo del Toro brings to life one of cinema's foundational horror icons this fall: Frankenstein. Having its world premiere at Venice followed by an additional premiere at TIFF, Frankenstein will be one of the hottest movies to follow this awards season.

The Frankenstein story needs no introduction, considering many of you have already read the Sparknotes in high school, but whether del Toro deviates from Mary Shelly's original gothic novel is unknown. All we know right now is Oscar Isaac will be taking the lead as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi will be playing his monster.

On paper, Frankenstein looks to be a favorite in this year's awards circuit, as it is directed by a filmmaker who is no stranger to the Oscars, having won Best Picture and Best Director for The Shape of Water at the 90th Academy Awards. Additionally, del Toro already has a winning partnership with Netflix; their first movie together, Pinocchio, won Best Animated Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards. Unfortunately, I have a strong feeling that Netflix will give this film the same treatment Nosferatu got last year and only push this movie for the below-the-line awards. This is because Netflix does have another contender at this year's fall festivals that I feel will be their priority for the above-the-line awards, Jay Kelly.

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Writer: Guillermo del Toro

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Ralph Ineson, Felix Kammerer, and Christoph Waltz

Major Fall Festivals: Venice (World Premiere), TIFF

Release Date: October 17, 2025 (Select Theaters) / October 17, 2025 (Netflix)

US Distributor: Netflix

1. Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach)

And the star to look out for the most at this year's fall film festivals is Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly. Having its world premiere at Venice followed by an additional premiere at NYFF, Jay Kelly will likely get a lot of the spotlight in this year's Oscars race.

According to Netflix's Tudum, Jay Kelly follows the titular character (Academy Award winner George Clooney), a famous movie star, and his manager (Adam Sandler) going on an unexpected yet reflective journey across Europe.

Despite Netflix's crowded field, I do believe that Jay Kelly will be the safer play for them in this year's awards circuit because of the big names attached to it. Baumbach already has an existing partnership with Netflix when campaigning for awards, being nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay for Marriage Story at the 92nd Academy Awards. Moreover, it is easier to sell a campaign for a movie's acting categories when it has Academy Award winner George Clooney, Academy Award winner Laura Dern, and Adam Sandler (who should have been nominated for Uncut Gems) attached to it. 

It is genuinely possible Netflix campaigns for both Jay Kelly and Frankenstein equally, but given how competitive the field is and that the studio will have to make room campaigning for the surprise hit KPop Demon Hunters in the Best Animated Feature Film and Best Original Song categories, it makes the most sense that they focus on Jay Kelly for the above-the-line categories and Frankenstein for the below-the-line categories.

Director: Noah Baumbach

Writer: Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer

Cast: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Patrick Wilson, and Greta Gerwig

Major Fall Festivals: Venice (World Premiere), NYFF, 

Release Date: November 14, 2025 (Select Theaters) / December 5, 2025 (Netflix)

US Distributor: Netflix

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Obviously, it is hard to tell what will happen this year and what films will end up testing well or poorly, so it's important to pay attention to these five films, and many more, at this year's fall festivals to see how the Oscars race plays out!

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