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Toronto is about to fall in love with Chandler Levack all over again. The I Like Movies director is making a triumphant return to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with Mile End Kicks, a biting, romantic, semi-autobiographical comedy that dives headfirst into Montreal’s iconic indie music scene. The feature will have its world premiere this September as one of TIFF’s five prestigious Special Presentations, a career milestone Levack has more than earned.

Levack’s sophomore feature stars Euphoria breakout Barbie Ferreira in a role tailor-made for her biting wit and emotional range: Grace, a 24-year-old music critic who moves to Montreal to write a book about Jagged Little Pill. But instead of finishing the book, Grace gets swept into the chaotic orbit of a local indie band and ends up becoming their publicist. Cue heartbreak, self-discovery, and a soundtrack drenched in lo-fi glory.

From Toronto to Montreal, and From Cinephile to Cultural Critic

Levack, who famously turned her video store clerk past into the critically acclaimed I Like Movies, once again mines her own life for this new feature. But Mile End Kicks is not just about nostalgic girlbossing. It’s about the quiet violence of being a young woman in the entertainment world, chewed up by the music scene and spit out with a smirk.

“I left Blockbuster and became a magazine writer in my early 20s,” Levack explains. “I wrote for magazines like Spin and Village Voice. It was tremendously exciting. But looking back, I would think about how all my bosses were men in their 40s, and how maybe there was something weird about that.”

The film explores these uncomfortable dynamics with piercing candor, filtered through the technicolor romance of coming-of-age in one of Canada’s most mythologized neighborhoods: Mile End, Montreal. Known for producing acts like Grimes, Mac DeMarco, and Arcade Fire, the district has long been a creative crucible for the alternative arts and a thorny haven for girls trying to make something of themselves.

The Cast: A New Generation of Indie Royalty

Alongside Ferreira, the film stars Devon Bostick (Oppenheimer), Stanley Simons (The Iron Claw), Juliette Gariépy (Société distincte), Robert Naylor, and Isaiah Lehtinen, the latter a Levack favorite from I Like Movies. The project even features a cameo from Jay Baruchel, further cementing its status as a love letter to Canadian weirdos and dreamers.

Adding to the film’s indie cred, Montreal rock band TOPS composed two original songs for the soundtrack. It’s a sonic match made in heaven.

TIFF’s Artistic Director Speaks: “A Fresh Voice With Something to Say”

Cameron Bailey, TIFF CEO, has been championing Levack since day one. He was floored by an early cut of the film.

“I fell in love with Mile End Kicks after seeing an unfinished version,” Bailey told Deadline. “It tells this incredible story of what it’s like to exist as a young woman in an alternative cultural world, one that still has a lot of hazards. That plays out in the film with great insight, humor, and candor.”

Bailey didn’t stop there. He compared Levack to early-career auteurs like Atom Egoyan, Patricia Rozema, and Denis Villeneuve, cinematic heavyweights whose early work helped define Canadian independent cinema. “Chandler is in that lineage,” he said. “So I want the world to know about her. That’s why we’re giving this film that kind of platform.”

Levack previously worked on TIFF’s editorial team before premiering I Like Movies at the 2022 festival. This full-circle moment, three years later, feels like a coronation.

Why This Film Matters Now

In a cinematic landscape still reckoning with the gendered gatekeeping of art and criticism, Mile End Kicks arrives with a bat in one hand and a bouquet in the other. It’s romantic. It’s irreverent. It’s pissed off. And it’s ready to fight.

“This is a movie that should be of enormous interest to buyers,” Bailey said. “When you look at what’s succeeding in art house distribution and awards season, it’s fresh voices and filmmakers who are connected to where the culture is right now. Mile End Kicks is exactly in line with that.”

And Levack is not just another fresh voice, she’s a scalpel. She cuts through nostalgia, misogyny, and cultural pretension with a sharpness that refuses to play nice.

TIFF 2025: A Star-Studded Lineup

TIFF unveiled a handful of buzzy Special Presentations this week, including Alejandro Amenábar’s The Captive, Steven Soderbergh’s The Christophers, Sung-hyun Byun’s Good News, and Nia DaCosta’s Hedda. The festival opens with the world premiere of John Candy: I Like Me, a documentary tribute to the late Canadian comedy icon.

The full lineup will be announced in August. But already, Mile End Kicks has positioned itself as one of the most anticipated titles of the season.

TIFF 2025 runs from September 4–14 in Toronto.

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