It’s that time of year again, when the major fall film festivals start unveiling which Oscar hopefuls (and just, all-around great movies) will make their world premieres. Venice, known for hosting almost exclusively world premieres, sets the tone early and we already know Paolo Sorrentino’s “La grazia” will open the 82nd edition of the festival. Telluride, on the other hand, keeps its lineup secret until just a day before the festival begins, which is always very exciting (and a little stressful). Meanwhile, the first wave of Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) announcements often hints at whether a film will debut at Venice, Telluride, or TIFF itself, depending on its listed premiere status. We’ve already gotten word of a few world premieres which will be taking place for the festival’s 50th anniversary. And the New York Film Festival has become a “best of” festival in many respects, selecting the most acclaimed films of the year from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, and the other three major festivals, while featuring a world premiere or two.
With this year’s slate of upcoming films, we at Next Best Picture are already buzzing with excitement for the upcoming fall film season. I decided to dive in and predict where each film might land across the four major fall festivals, based on the filmmakers’ and studios’ past strategies, histories, and, of course, gut feeling. Here’s what I came up with…
Venice
After The Hunt (World Premiere) – dir. Luca Guadagnino
Ann Lee (World Premiere) – dir. Mona Fastvold
At The Sea (World Premiere) – dir. Kornél Mundruczó
The Ballad Of A Small Player (World Premiere) – dir. Edward Berger
Below The Clouds (World Premiere) – dir. Gianfranco Rosi
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (World Premiere) – dir. Kogonada
Bugonia (World Premiere) – dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
Chocobar (World Premiere) – dir. Lucrecia Martel
Couture (World Premiere) – dir. Alice Winocour
Duse (World Premiere) – dir. Pietro Marcello
Father, Mother, Sister, Brother (World Premiere) – dir. Jim Jarmusch
The Fence (World Premiere) – dir. Claire Denis
Frankenstein (World Premiere) – dir. Guillermo del Toro
Franz (World Premiere) – dir. Agnieszka Holland
In The Hand Of Dante (World Premiere) – dir. Julian Schnabel
I Want Your Sex (World Premiere) – dir. Gregg Araki
Jay Kelly (World Premiere) – dir. Noah Baumbach
La Grazia (World Premiere) – dir. Paolo Sorrentino
No Other Choice (World Premiere) – dir. Park Chan-wook
One Battle After Another (World Premiere) – dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
Orphan (World Premiere) – dir. László Nemes
Sacrifice (World Premiere) – dir. Romain Gavras
The Smashing Machine (World Premiere) – dir. Benny Safdie
Wake Of Umbra (World Premiere) – dir. Carlos Reygadas See
The Wizard Of The Kremlin (World Premiere) – dir. Olivier Assayas
Telluride
Blue Moon – dir. Richard Linklater
Bugonia
Chocobar
The Chronology Of Water – dir. Kristen Stewart
Hamnet (World Premiere) – dir. Chloe Zhao
The History Of Sound – dir. Oliver Hermanus
A House Of Dynamite (World Premiere) – dir. Kathryn Bigelow
It Was Just An Accident – dir. Jafar Panahi
Jay Kelly
Left-Handed Girl – dir. Shih-Ching Tsou
The Love That Remains – dir. Hlynur Pálmason
A Magnificent Life – dir. Sylvain Chomet
Mother Mary (World Premiere) – director. David Lowery
The Perfect Neighbor – dir. Geeta Gandbhir
The President’s Cake – dir. Hasan Hadi
Rental Family (World Premiere) – dir. Hikari
The Secret Agent – dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
Seeds – dir. Brittany Shyne
Sentimental Value – dir. Joachim Trier
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (World Premiere) – dir. Scott Cooper
Train Dreams – dir. Clint Bentley
Urchin – dir. Harris Dickinson
The Young Mothers’ Home – dir. Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)
After The Hunt
Aisha Can’t Fly Away – dir. Morad Mustafa
All That’s Left Of You – dir. Cherien Dabis
Alpha – dir. Julia Ducournau
Amrum – dir. Fatih Akin
& Sons (World Premiere) – dir. Pablo Trapero
Anemone (World Premiere) – dir. Ronan Day-Lewis
Ann Lee
Arco – dir. Ugo Bienvenu
At The Sea –
The Ballad Of A Small Player
Below The Clouds
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
Blue Moon
The Blue Trail – dir. Gabriel Mascaro
The Captive (World Premiere) – dir. Alejandro Amenábar
Case 137 – dir. Dominik Moll
Chocobar
The Christophers (World Premiere) – dir. Steve Soderbergh
Christy Martin Biopic (World Premiere) – dir. David Michôd
Come See Me In The Good Light – dir. Ryan White
Couture
The Disappearance Of Josef Mengele – dir. Kirill Serebrennikov
The Drama (World Premiere) – dir. Kristoffer Borgli
Dreams – dir. Michel Franco
Duse
Eagles Of The Republic – dir. Tarik Saleh
Eleanor The Great – dir. Scarlett Johansson
Ella McCay (World Premiere) – dir. – James L. Brooks
Frankenstein
Franz
Fuori – dir. Mario Martone
Good Fortune (World Premiere) – dir. Aziz Ansari
Good News (World Premiere) – dir. Byun Sung-hyun
Hamnet
Hedda (World Premiere) – dir. Nia DaCosta
HIM (World Premiere) – dir. Justin Tipping
Homebound – dir. Neeraj Ghaywan
The Housemaid (World Premiere) – dir. Paul Feig
Huntington (World Premiere) – dir. John Patton Ford
The Ice Tower – dir. Lucile Hadžihalilović
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You – dir. Mary Bronstein
I Love Boosters (World Premiere) – dir. Boots Riley
Is This Thing On? (World Premiere) – dir. Bradley Cooper
It Was Just An Accident
Jay Kelly
Father, Mother, Sister, Brother
John Candy: I Like Me (World Premiere) – dir. Colin Hanks
Kiss Of The Spider Woman – dir. Bill Condon
Klara And The Sun (World Premiere) – dir. Taikia Waititi
Late Fame (World Premiere) – dir. Kent Jones
Left-Handed Girl
The Little Sister – dir. Hafsia Herzi
The Long Walk (World Premiere) – dir. Francis Lawrence
The Lost Bus (World Premiere) – dir. Paul Greengrass
The Love That Remains
A Magnificent Life
Mile End Kicks (World Premiere) – dir. Chandler Levack
Mirrors No. 3 – dir. Christian Petzold
Mother Mary
My Father’s Shadow – dir. Akinola Davies Jr.
The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo – dir. Diego Céspedes
Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie – dir. Matt Johnson
No Other Choice
Nouvelle Vague – dir. Richard Linklater
Nuremberg (World Premiere) – dir. James Vanderbilt
Orphan
Orwell: 2+2=5 – dir. Raoul Peck
Outcome (World Premiere) – dir. Jonah Hill
The Perfect Neighbor
Pillion – dir. Harry Lighton
The Plague – dir. Charlie Polinger
Power Ballad (World Premiere) – dir. John Carney
The President’s Cake
Pressure (World Premiere) – dir. Anthony Maras
A Private Life – dir. Rebecca Zlotowski
Rebuilding – dir. Max Walker-Silverman
Renoir – dir. Chie Hayakawa
Rental Family
Resurrection – dir. Bi Gan
The Rivals Of Amziah King – dir. Andrew Patterson
Romería – dir. Carla Simón
Roofman (World Premiere) – dir. Derek Cianfrance
Sacrifice
The Secret Agent
Seeds
Sentimental Value
Sirât – dir. Oliver Laxe
The Smashing Machine
Song Sung Blue (World Premiere) – dir. Craig Brewer
Sound Of Falling – dir. Mascha Schilinski
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Steve (World Premiere) – dir. Tim Mielants
Switzerland (World Premiere) – dir. Anton Corbijn
The Thing With Feathers – dir. Dylan Southern
Train Dreams
Two Prosecutors – dir. Sergei Loznitsa
Urchin
Wake Of Umbra
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (World Premiere) – dir. Rian Johnson
The Wave – dir. Sebastián Lelio
The Wizard Of The Kremlin
Woman And Child – dir. Saeed Roustayi
The Young Mothers’ Home
NYFF (New York Film Festival)
After The Hunt
Below The Clouds
Blue Moon
The Blue Trail
Bugonia
Chocobar
The Chronology Of Water
Die, My Love – dir. Lynne Ramsey
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele
Duse
Father, Mother, Sister, Brother
The Fence
Franz
A House Of Dynamite
I Only Rest In The Storm – dir. Pedro Pinho
I Want Your Sex
In The Hand Of Dante
It Was Just An Accident
Jay Kelly
Kontinental ’25 – dir. Radu Jude
La Grazia
Late Fame
The Love That Remains
Magellan – dir. Lav Diaz
The Mastermind – dir. Kelly Reichardt
Mirrors No. 3
No Other Choice
Nouvelle Vague
Peter Hujar’s Day – dir. Ira Sachs
The President’s Cake
Resurrection
Romería
The Secret Agent
Sentimental Value
Sirât
Sound Of Falling
Two Prosecutors
What Does That Nature Say To You – dir. Hong Sang-soo
The Wizard Of The Kremlin
Yes! – dir. Nadav Lapid
The Young Mothers’ Home
Noah Baumbach’s film “Jay Kelly” is the only film I’m currently predicting will make a stop at all four major film festivals, similar to what Netflix did with “Marriage Story” in 2019. Not far behind though, with 3 out of 4 predicted stops are Luca Guadagnino’s “After The Hunt” (Venice, TIFF & NFFF), Gianfranco Rosi’s “Below The Clouds” (Venice, TIFF & NYFF), Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF), Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Bugonia” (Venice, Telluride & NYFF), Pietro Marcello’s “Duse” (Venice, TIFF & NYFF), Agnieszka Holland’s “Franz” (Venice, TIFF & NYFF), Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning “It Was Just An Accident” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF), Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” (Venice, TIFF & NYFF), Hlynur Pálmason’s “The Love That Remains” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF), Hasan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF), Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF), Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF), Olivier Assayas’s “The Wizard Of The Kremlin” (Venice, TIFF & NYFF), and the Dardenne Brothers’ “The Young Mothers’ Home” (Telluride, TIFF & NYFF).
Of course, much of this is bound to change, and I’m sure there are films I’ve missed that will pop up as complete surprises. Either way, this is simply a fun predictive exercise to give everyone an idea of what to expect, and get excited about, as announcements start rolling in next week from NYFF and TIFF. We’ll have the full lineup for the 2025 Venice International Film Festival on July 22nd, and from there, it’s off to the races. What do you think? Which festivals or films are you most looking forward to? Is there anything you feel I overlooked? Please let us know in the comments section below or over on our X account and be sure to check out our latest Oscar predictions here. Thank you!
