After several years of a reduced festival experience, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) returns this September with a splash.

Hundreds of films, dozens of A-listers on the Red Carpet, and tens of thousands of fanatic cinephiles and celebrity hounds will descend to the intersection of King and John streets to celebrate in person.

Here are ten of the buzziest films screening at TIFF 2022.

The Whale

Who would have guessed that Brendan Fraser in a fat suit would make for one of the most anticipated films of the year? Based on Samuel D. Hunters' play, this latest film from Darren Aronofsky-helmed drama joins a long line of his works that have played to great acclaim here in Toronto, with many of them generating attention come Oscar season.

My Policeman

Expect absolute mayhem when Harry Styles lands in town to help promote this  film. The British romance is based on Bethan Roberts' novel and takes place over two historic periods. Directed by Michael Grandage, with a strong ensemble cast, this one's guaranteed to get plenty of attention at this year's fest.

Devotion

With Top Gun showing that there's an appetite for fighter films this summer, one of that film's stars Glen Powell joins Jonathan Majors in this story about the U.S. Navy's first black aviator. Set during the Korean war and helmed by JD Dillard that promises to fuse aerial action sequences with an important historical drama.

The Wonder

Chilean director Sebastián Lelio has long been a TIFF favourite, as has star Florence Pugh. The two combine to tell a rich and moving period story of an Irish nurse tasked with investigating what appears to be a miraculous sustaining an 11-year-old girl through starvation but may in fact have far more earthly but no less dramatic explanation.

The Banshees of Inisherin

Martin McDonagh returns to TIFF after his People's Choice-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri wowed local crowds back in 2017. With Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson helping tell this friendship fable, along with the ever welcome Barry Keoghan, this is sure to a film as chilly and beautiful as the windswept Irish coastline.

The Son

I absolutely adored Florian Zeller's Oscar-winning The Father, the first in a series of adaptations of his trilogy of plays, and the follow-up looks to be equally impressive. Anthony Hopkins returns, this time joined by Hugh Jackman, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, and the ever excellent Laura Dern.

The Menu

Successions's Mark Mylod directs Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, John Leguizamo, Janet McTeer and Nicholas Hoult in this sardonic satire about high-end cuisine consumption. Set in a destination restaurant, this droll film is likely to be very sour yet tasty indeed.

Butcher's Crossing

I'm a big fan of Gabe Polsky's documentaries that have played TIFF over the years, and everyone seems to be in love with this stage of Nicholas Cage's career. Put the star on a horse, tell the tale of long Western journey with sweeping vistas and moments of human conflict, and you've got the makings of a wild ride indeed.

Empire of Light

Come for the Roger Deakins cinematography, stay for the performance by Oscar Winner Olivia Colman. The director Sam Mendes will be receiving the prestigious TIFF Ebert Director Award (his Best Picture-winning American Beauty debuted here in 1999) during the fest, and his latest film looks to be visually lush and emotionally rich.

Causeway

It feels strange that Jennifer Lawrence is making a comeback of sorts, but that simply speaks to her ubiquity over the first part of her career. Here she's joined by Brian Tyree Henry in Lila Neugebauer's debut feature, a moving story about the complex culture of New Orleans and the challenges of finding connection after surviving life-altering events.