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Idris Elba's ‘Dust To Dreams' Starring Seal Set To Premiere In TIFF Shorts + Full Lineup
Idris Elba's Lagos-set work Dust to Dreams, starring music artist Seal, will premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival's TIFF Shorts program, the lineup of which was unveiled Thursday.
Seal is joined by Nollywood stars Nse Ukpe-Etim, Eku Edewor, Atlanta Bridget Johnson and Constance Olatunde in the drama set against a nightclub on the cusp of a new era as its dying female owner sets a succession plan in motion.
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Luther and Hijack star Elba made his directorial debut on the 2018 movie Yardie.
The year's edition of TIFF Shorts will showcase 48 short films, representing 28 countries, across seven presentations, including Strange Cuts, the Midnight Madness-adjacent strand introduced in 2024.
Further program highlights include the world premieres of Patrick Xavier Bresnan and Ivete Lucas' The Contestant, featuring David Hasselhoff, and Disc by Cannes alum Blake Winston Rice (Tea), co-written with and starring Victoria Ratermanis and Jim Cummings.
Joecar Hanna's Talk Me, executive produced by Spike Lee, will makes its North American premiere after playing Cannes student film focused Cinef section in May, as will The Non-Actor, starring Maya Hawke and Victoria Pedretti.
The documentary All the Empty Rooms from Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joshua Seftel and executive produced by Adam McKay is also in the line-up.
The selection also features works by a number of returning TIFF alumni, including short satire Bots by Rich Williamson and Shasha Nakhai (Scarborough, TIFF '21); Demons by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall (When Morning Comes, TIFF '22); Healer from Chelsea McMullan (Swan Song, TIFF '23) in collaboration with Amar Wala (Shook, TIFF '24); A South Facing Window by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (City of Wind, TIFF '23, Snow in September, TIFF '22); and A Soft Touch by Heather Young (Murmur, TIFF '19, Milk, TIFF '17).
This year's line also includes short animations which broke out at Cannes, Annecy and Venice including Water Girl by Sandra Desmazières, The Girl Who Cried Pearls from Oscar-nominated Canadian animators Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, and Praying Mantis by Yonfan (No. 7 Cherry Lane, TIFF '19) and Joe Hsieh.
It will also screen a number of live-action standouts from the festival circuit such Cannes 2025 titles, the Palme d'Or winner as I'm Glad You're Dead Now by Tawfeek Barhom, and Ali by Adnan Al Rajeev which won a Special Jury Mention.
The existing Best International and Best Canadian Short Film Awards are joined by a new prize, the Best Animated Short Film Award. The 2025 Short Cuts Awards jurors are cinematographer Ashley Iris Gill (Black Community Mixtapes), Annecy Artistic Director Marcel Jean and actor, writer, and director Connor Jessup.
TIFF Shorts 2025 Selection
Short Cuts Programme 1 (in alphabetical order)
A Small Fiction of My Mother in Beijing | Dorothy Sing Zhang | ChinaWorld Premiere
Agapito | Arvin Belarmino, Kyla Danelle Romero | PhilippinesNorth American Premiere
DISC | Blake Winston Rice | Premiere
Healer | Chelsea McMullan | CanadaWorld Premiere
Jazz Infernal | Will Niava | CanadaWorld Premiere
Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts | Shervin Kermani | Spain/Canada/MexicoWorld Premiere
The Girl Who Cried Pearls | Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski | CanadaNorth American Premiere
Short Cuts Programme 2 (in alphabetical order)
Ambush | Yassmina Karajah | Jordan/CanadaWorld Premiere
Bots | Rich Williamson | CanadaWorld Premiere
I Fear Blue Skies | Salar Pashtoonyar | CanadaWorld Premiere
Not Scared, Just Sad | Isabelle Mecattaf | Lebanon/BulgariaWorld Premiere
Talk Me | Joecar Hanna | Spain/ American Premiere
Water Girl | Sandra Desmazières | France/Netherlands/PortugalNorth American Premiere
Short Cuts Programme 3 (in alphabetical order)
A South Facing Window | Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir | France/MongoliaNorth American Premiere
Asparagus Bear | Ivan Grgur | CroatiaWorld Premiere
Demons | Kelly Fyffe-Marshall | CanadaWorld Premiere
Earworm | Patrik Eklund | SwedenInternational Premiere
Sea Star | Tyler Mckenzie Evans | CanadaWorld Premiere
The Non-Actor | Eliza Barry Callahan | American Premiere
What We Leave Behind | Jean-Sébastien Hamel, Alexandra Myotte | CanadaNorth American Premiere
Short Cuts Programme 4 (in alphabetical order)
Ali | Adnan Al Rajeev | Bangladesh/PhilippinesNorth American Premiere
Dust to Dreams | Idris Elba | NigeriaWorld Premiere
Fiction Contract | Carolyn Lazard | Premiere
More Than Happy | Wei Keong Tan | SingaporeWorld Premiere
ripe | Solara Thanh Bình Đặng | Canada/VietnamWorld Premiere
To the Woods | Agnès Patron | FranceNorth American Premiere
Year of the Dragon | Giran Findlay-Liu | CanadaWorld Premiere
Short Cuts Programme 5 (in alphabetical order)
Arguments in Favor of Love | Gabriel Abrantes | PortugalNorth American Premiere
Dish Pit | Anna Hopkins | CanadaCanadian Premiere
I'm Glad You're Dead Now | Tawfeek Barhom | France/Greece/PalestineNorth American Premiere
Karupy | Kalainithan Kalaichelvan | CanadaWorld Premiere
Once in a Body | María Cristina Pérez González | Colombia/ American Premiere
Pink Light | Harrison Browne | CanadaWorld Premiere
Poster Boy | India Opzoomer | CanadaWorld Premiere
The Contestant | Patrick Xavier Bresnan | U.S./GermanyWorld Premiere
Short Cuts Programme 6 (in alphabetical order)
A Soft Touch | Heather Young | CanadaWorld Premiere
All the Empty Rooms | Joshua Seftel | Premiere
Divers | Geordie Wood | American Premiere
Niimi | Dana Solomon | CanadaWorld Premiere
Permanent Guest | Sana Zahra Jafri | PakistanWorld Premiere
The Death of the Fish | Eva Lusbaronian | FranceNorth American Premiere
Strange Cuts (in alphabetical order)
Klee | Gavin Baird | CanadaWorld Premiere
Marriaginalia | Hannah Cheesman | CanadaWorld Premiere
Praying Mantis | Joe Hsieh | Taiwan/Hong KongNorth American Premiere
Quietness | Gonçalo Almeida | SpainWorld Premiere
Thanks To Meet You! | Richard Hunter | United KingdomWorld Premiere
The Veil | Gabriel Motta | BrazilWorld Premiere
UM | Nieto | FranceWorld Premiere
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