Every year, the streets of downtown Toronto turn into a haven for film lovers during the Toronto International Film Festival aka TIFF. For eleven days, filmmakers, fans, and writers flock to the city to take in one of the largest film festivals of its kind and watch all kinds of cinema together. This year’s festival, running from September 5 to 15, boasts over 260 films touching on various genres, styles, and voices. In the mix are some exciting titles from Latine filmmakers worth highlighting. So check out my selection of these 12 Latine-helmed projects, full of unique features, from documentaries to novel adaptations to drama.

Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here), directed by Walter Salles

Walter Salles, the Brazilian filmmaker behind The Motorcycle Diaries, is back with another biographical work. Ainda Estou Aqui is an adaptation of Ruben Paiva’s memoir about his childhood and his mother, activist and lawyer Eunice Paiva. The film chronicles how she became a voice for change during the dictatorship in 1970s Brazil, proving that politics is always personal.

Horizonte, directed by César Augusto Acevedo

A ghost story that explores deep themes of redemption, loss, and war, César Augusto Acevedo’s Horizonte promises a poetic examination of facing the truth. The film follows a recently reunited mother and son whose souls travel across Colombia, tethered to their earthly connections even after their demise. To find peace, they’ll have to face their truths.

El Jockey (Kill the Jockey), directed by Luis Ortega

Argentinian director Luis Ortega’s latest film, El Jockey looks like a thriller full of intrigue, heart, and horses. The film follows a pair of jockeys, a mobster, and a prize horse that meets an untimely end – so expect a colorful cast of characters to weave a twisty path for us to follow.

Lázaro de Noche (Lázaro at Night), directed by Nicolás Pereda

Mexican-Canadian director Nicolás Pereda’s latest film promises a heady mix of avant-garde sensibilities and desire. Lázaro de Noche follows a love triangle in Mexico City made up of friends and actors. The trio runs into even more tension when they all audition for the same role in an upcoming film. The movie takes this concept and uses it as a lens to examine ideas of identity, realism, and desire.

La Libertad de Fierro (The Freedom of Fierro), directed by Santiago Esteinou

Ten years after The Years of Fierro played at TIFF, director Santiago Esteinou is back with La Libertad de Fierro, a sequel that examines the complications of adjusting to freedom after incarceration. Following César Fierro after his 40-year sentence at a “supermax” prison in Texas, the documentary chronicles Fierro’s release during the pandemic. It promises to serve as a potent reminder of the damage the carceral state inflicts on the people it houses and the journey it takes to be free.

Linda, directed by Mariana Wainstein

When Linda, the titular character of Mariana Wainstein’s latest film decides to work in the house of a wealthy family in Buenos Aires, her mere presence reveals the reality beneath their polished appearances. Power dynamics, female desire, and the mundanity of everyday life loom large in this film.

The Listeners, directed by Janicza Bravo

With 2022’s Zola, filmmaker Janicza Bravo made an indelible impression – and now she’s back with her first limited series, The Listeners. Based on the novel of the same name by Jordan Tannahill, the series is built around an English teacher who begins to hear a low sound that no one else around her can. When she learns one of her students can also hear it, they work together to try and unravel the secrets of the sound. The Listeners looks like an engrossing, compelling mystery.

Monólogo Colectivo, directed by Jessica Sarah Rinland

Monólogo Colectivo uses zoos and animal shelters as a way to examine how human institutions mediate nature. With all kinds of footage, from 16mm to security video of the creatures we share this planet with, Jessica Sarah Rinland takes a look at the intersections between gender, colonialism, and labor and how we interact with the natural world.

Pedro Páramo, directed by Rodrigo Prieto

Pedro Páramo is perhaps one of the most anticipated titles screening at TIFF this year. The film is an adaptation of one of the pillars of the Mexican literary canon and serves as the directorial debut from Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who worked on 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Barbie. In it, a man ventures to the town of Comala to carry out his mother’s dying wish and find his absent father, the movie’s namesake, but it becomes clear that things are not what they seem in the unassuming town. Pedro Páramo promises to deliver a mix of magical realism, drama, and incredible imagery.

Pepe, directed by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias

Using a mix of 16mm, black and white, voiceover, and oral histories, Pepe tells the story of one of Pablo Escobar’s hippopotamuses. Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias has a lot of exciting and interesting ideas at play here, from examining the effects of colonization and forced migration to the voice of Pepe himself telling his story, offering a unique and enticing take on a singular subject.

Querido Trópico (Beloved Tropic), directed by Ana Endara

Documentarian Ana Endara makes her fictional feature debut with Querido Trópico, a drama following a pregnant immigrant and a wealthy matriarch with dementia. In Panama City, Ana María (Jenny Navarrete) and Mercedes (Paulina García) find a delicate relationship as a caregiver and patient respectively, despite their looming differences in age, class, and immigration status. Written and directed by Endara, Querido Trópico offers a heartfelt journey between two women.

Riff Raff, directed by Dito Montiel

In this dark TIFF comedy, director Dito Montiel guides us through a twisty crime family reunion. When an ex-criminal has his quiet holiday ruined by the unexpected appearance of his rowdy son, ex-wife, and other chaotic people from his life, there’s no telling what will happen next. With a stacked cast that includes Jennifer Coolidge and Gabrielle Union, Riff Raff promises a twisty, good time.

With all these titles and more to choose from at TIFF, there’s no shortage of Latine filmmaking to take in.