2025 TIFF People’s Choice predictions are here. I’m calling Rental Family as the frontrunner, with Christy and The Smashing Machine close behind. TIFF’s 50th edition also brings world premieres like Hedda and The Lost Bus, alongside Venice and Telluride favorites Hamnet, The Testament of Ann Lee, and The Ballad of a Small Player.
Venice 82 is here, and with it the unofficial start of Oscar season. The lineup is stacked with auteurs, bold debuts, and a few films already stirring Best Picture talk. Here are my bold predictions from the Lido — gut calls that could shape the race ahead.
Park Chan-wook returns to Venice with No Other Choice, a 139-minute dark comedy twisting layoffs into survival satire. Could this be his long-awaited Golden Lion—and the Oscar breakthrough that’s eluded him?
For the first time since 2001, BAFTA nominations will arrive after the Oscar nominations — a rare calendar flip that could reshape the 2026 awards season race.
Four Best Picture winners started in Venice. Here’s why the 2025 Venice lineup could launch the next Oscar frontrunner.
Before Venice even begins, The Smashing Machine is already lacing up the gloves. Benny Safdie’s first solo directing effort takes Dwayne Johnson into the bruised, chaotic world of UFC legend Mark Kerr — and Oscar history says transformations like this often get more than one nomination.