#TIFF25: MIDNIGHT MADNESS PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED FOR 2025 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Midnight Madness, presented by Intrepid Travel, returns to TIFF with its signature slate of wicked wonders that are sure to delight and disturb the Festival’s devoted and raucous late-night crowd. The section closes out each night of the Festival with 11:59pm screenings at the (possibly) haunted Royal Alexandra Theatre, where the nocturnal faithful gather to bear witness to the very best and most bizarre in contemporary genre and shock cinema. The 2025 edition features seven World Premieres and is bookended by two of the year’s most acclaimed midnight comedies courtesy of some seriously funny Canadians.

Midnight Madness opens with the Canadian Premiere of Matt Johnson’s Toronto-set Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. Based on Johnson’s cult Viceland series, this hysterical, death-defying time-travel caper earned a standing ovation and a coveted Midnighter Audience Award at this past spring’s SXSW. Deeply steeped in late-aughts Toronto lore, its hometown screening is anticipated to levitate audiences into high orbit from the infectious laughter alone.

The closing film is Dead Lover, a zany, macabre horror-comedy from Canadian director Grace Glowicki. This madcap phantasmagoria has been celebrated in festival midnight sections around the world, and fittingly concludes its tour in Toronto as a welcome addition to the Midnight Madness canon.

The Festival’s wild side also features World Premieres of Normal, the latest shoot-’em-up from 2016 Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award recipient Ben Wheatley; Dust Bunny, the darkly whimsical directorial debut of prolific television showrunner Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies); and Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious, a frenetic martial arts thriller that assembles some of the genre’s fiercest fighters (whose combined credits include The Raid, Chocolate, and Everything Everywhere All at Once). Midnight Madness devotees can expect these star-studded genre thrills to complement the lineup’s bold independent visions, including Curry Barker’s terrifying Obsession, Aleksandar Radivojević’s profane thriller Karmadonna, Takahide Hori’s imaginative stop-motion fantasia JUNK WORLD, and perhaps the two most berserk alt-comedies to ever play the section: Nick Corirossi and Armen Weitzman’s The Napa Boys and Todd Rohal’s Fuck My Son!

Here’s programme hype man Peter Kuplowsky with a breakdown of the Midnight Madness experience:

2025 Midnight Madness (in alphabetical order):

Dead Lover | Grace Glowicki | Canada | Closing Film
Canadian Premiere

Dust Bunny | Bryan Fuller | USA
World Premiere

Fuck My Son! | Todd Rohal | USA
World Premiere

JUNK WORLD | Takahide Hori | Japan
International Premiere

Karmadonna | Aleksandar Radivojević | Serbia
World Premiere

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie | Matt Johnson | Canada | Opening Film (still seen above)
Canadian Premiere

Normal | Ben Wheatley | USA/Canada
World Premiere

Obsession | Curry Barker | USA
World Premiere

The Furious | Kenji Tanigaki | Hong Kong/China
World Premiere

The Napa Boys | Nick Corirossi | USA
World Premiere

Tickets go on sale to TIFF Members by level beginning on Friday, August 15. For more details, visit tiff.net/join. The full Festival schedule will be released on Tuesday, August 12. The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 4–14, 2025.

About TIFF:

TIFF is a not-for-profit cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world through film. A global leader in film and entertainment, TIFF initiatives include the annual Toronto International Film Festival® in September; TIFF Lightbox, which features five cinemas, learning and entertainment facilities; the Donald Shebib TIFF Film Circuit, an innovative national distribution program; and TIFF: The Market launching in 2026. The organization generates an estimated annual economic impact of $240 million CAD. TIFF Lightbox is generously supported by contributors including the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Reitman family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel, and Susan Michaels), The Daniels Corporation, and RBC. For more information, visit tiff.net.

#FIRSTLOOK: “NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE” AWARD MIDNIGHTER AUDIENCE AWARD AT SXSW ’25

Nirvanna The Band the Show the Movie has been awarded the SXSW 2025 Midnighter Audience Award after making its highly anticipated world premiere at SXSW last week. The film has been met with overwhelming praise from both longtime fans and newcomers alike, currently holding a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The long-awaited follow up from Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and Jay McCarrol delivers the signature offbeat comedy and chaotic energy that made the cult-hit series a fan favorite—only bigger, bolder, and more ridiculous than ever.

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE
Director: Matt Johnson
Producers: Matthew Miller, Matt Greyson
Screenwriters: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

#FIRSTLOOK: MATT JOHNSON’S “NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE” TO PREMIERE AT SXSW ’25

Matt Johnson’s highly anticipated follow-up to ‘BlackBerry’ is set to premiere in Austin this March as part of the festival’s Midnighter section!

Synopsis:

When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008. Blah blah blah blah blah.

Starring: Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol
Director: Matt Johnson
Producers: Matthew Miller, Matt Greyson
Screenwriters: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

Elevation Pictures to release the Film, more to come.