The TIFF 50th anniversary lineup is heavy with global hits, but these seven AAPI selections cut through the noise with bold stories, inventive direction, and emotional punch. Unfortunately, I will not be attending. But there are plenty of films I’m looking forward to. From iconic auteurs to breakout debuts, here’s what I’m most hyped to watch:
Amoeba World Premiere @ TIFF
Directed by Siyou Tan
Set in early-2000s Singapore, this coming-of-age film follows tomboy Choo Xin Yu as she transfers into a strict all-girls school and bonds with three other teenage misfits. Together they form a makeshift gang as an act of rebellion, but when their actions are exposed, everything unravels.
Siyou Tan nails the intensity of adolescent loyalty and rebellion, and the trailer promises hazy visuals, bruised knuckles, and a lot of heart.
Good Fortune World Premiere @ TIFF
Directed by Aziz Ansari
Aziz Ansari returns to the director’s chair and co-stars alongside Keanu Reeves and Sandra Oh in this metaphysical comedy about fate, privilege, and identity. Ansari plays Arj, a man down on his luck, who swaps lives with a tech billionaire thanks to the intervention of a guardian angel played by Reeves.
Will this be Ansari’s redemption arc or a missed shot? Either way, the cast is stacked and I’m intrigued.
Left-Handed Girl
Directed by Shih-Ching Tsou
Co-written with Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine), this film follows a single mother in Taipei juggling debt, depression, and parenting while running a noodle stall in a night market.
Quiet desperation and intimate realism are the pulse of Tsou’s work, and this marks her long-overdue solo feature debut.
Lucky Lu
Directed by Lloyd Lee Choi
A buzzy debut from Korean Canadian director Lloyd Lee Choi, Lucky Lu follows a Chinese food delivery driver in NYC whose life spirals when his e-bike is stolen just days before his family arrives from China.
What starts as a logistical crisis becomes a gripping odyssey through the city’s underground immigrant economy. Think Safdie Bros., but with even more stakes.
No Other Choice
Directed by Park Chan-wook
Park Chan-wook returns with this razor-sharp satire starring Lee Byung-hun as a laid-off salaryman who fakes a startup and starts killing his competitors. The setup sounds wild, but with Park at the helm, expect slick visuals, pitch-black humor, and a little existential dread.
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It’s American Psycho meets Parasite, and it’s one of TIFF’s most anticipated films for good reason.
A Pale View of Hills
Directed by Kei Ishikawa
An adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s haunting debut novel, this film moves between postwar Nagasaki and 1980s England. It’s about trauma, displacement, and the quiet ghosts we carry.
If handled right, this could be one of TIFF’s most emotionally devastating entries. Ishiguro adaptations don’t come often, and rarely this quietly explosive.
Rental Family World Premiere @ TIFF
Directed by HIKARI
Brendan Fraser plays an American actor in Tokyo who gets hired by a company offering surrogate “family members” for grieving or isolated clients. Directed by Beef’s HIKARI, the film explores performance, identity, and emotional labor in a way that feels both surreal and painfully relevant. This one feels tailor-made to wreck me in the best way.
Which of these AAPI films are on your TIFF 2025 watchlist? Do you think Aziz Ansari’s return will land, or are you most excited for Park Chan-wook’s latest twist? Let me know your picks in the comments or @ me with your top AAPI titles from the fest.
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