The poster for this edition, created by Péter Árpád Loránt, envisions a film screening in Cluj’s Union Square (Piața Unirii) in a highly futuristic, ultra-technologized setting where robots watch over TIFF audiences.
The visual campaign anticipates an eclectic and generous retrospective — Tomorrow is Fear — made up of films that either imagine the future, mostly through a sci-fi and dystopian lens, or explore current anxieties triggered by technological advancements (especially AI) and ideological doctrines. Symbols from the section’s films are subtly (or not-so-subtly) embedded in the edition's poster.
The selection is "bookended" by Things to Come (dir. William Cameron Menzies, 1936), in which writer and screenwriter H.G. Wells offers a brilliant vision of the future extending all the way to 2036, and the very recent cautionary documentary In the Belly of AI (dir. Henri Poulain, 2025), which exposes the hidden faces of the “AIceberg.”
Audiences will also be able to watch on the big screen masterpieces such as Brazil (1985), Terry Gilliam’s dystopian satire about a bureaucrat trying to escape an oppressive society; Blade Runner (dir. Ridley Scott, 1982), presented in the restored Final Cut version; the cult sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey (dir. Stanley Kubrick, 1968); and the faithful adaptation of George Orwell’s novel on totalitarianism, 1984 (dir. Michael Radford, 1984).
The program also includes other collector’s titles: Fahrenheit 451 (dir. François Truffaut, 1966), Soylent Green (dir. Richard Fleischer, 1973), Until the End of the World (dir. Wim Wenders, 1991) — in its nearly five-hour full version — and the incredibly prophetic fable Her (dir. Spike Jonze, 2013).
The Tomorrow is Fear anthology is rounded out by new films:
U Are the Universe (dir. Pavlo Ostrikov, 2024), about a space transporter of nuclear waste who becomes the last human on Earth;
The House with No Address (dir. Hatice Aşkın, 2024), a dystopian thriller exploring public surveillance and the notion of cancel culture;
Electric Child (dir. Simon Jaquemet, 2024), a haunting tale about technology, parenting, and AI;
And the Berlin-awarded The Blue Trail (dir. Gabriel Mascaro, 2025), which follows a woman’s journey through the Amazon in a future where the elderly are no longer welcome in society.
Also featured in the section are:
About a Hero (dir. Piotr Winiewicz, 2024), a mockumentary almost entirely generated by an AI “fed” with the work and personality of director Werner Herzog;
And, last but not least, the apocalyptic musical The End (dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2024), starring Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon.