In Damien Hauser's wholly original Memory of Princess Mumbi, a filmmaker in retro-futuristic 2093 Africa falls for Mumbi, an actress who dares him to make art without AI. Part mockumentary, part epic romance, the film is Hauser's personal meditation on grief, and a provocation on AI's promise and ethical cost.

Lwando (Lawrence Maleka) and Tara (Kristen Raath), a young couple in Cape Town’s grim near-future, take a time-travelling holiday to 1647. But what starts out as a romantic getaway soon becomes a battle for a better future for South Africa in director Jenna Cato Bass’ TIFF-debuting reckoning with genocidal history.

Set in World War 2 France during the early months of the German Occupation, Emmanuel Marre’s Cannes-winning screenplay grapples with the personal and the political at a moment of profound national upheaval. Anchored by Swann Arlaud’s gripping central performance, A Man of His Time is a sly, unsettling meditation on power and opportunism.

As D-Day nears, Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) must trust Scottish meteorologist James Stagg (Andrew Scott), whose forecast contradicts Allied consensus. Based on David Haig's play, Pressure turns the 72 hours before the invasion into a tense chamber piece with the fate of the war resting on the weather.