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Toronto International Film Festival · 2026

Toronto International Film Festival 2026

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Programme

23 films · 1 review

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Ancestors

A gay Irishman searches Eighties London for his missing friend.

(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2026; Director: David Turpin; Writer: David Turpin; Stars: Éanna Hardwicke, Jack Wolfe, Jessica Reynolds, Rupert Everett, Christina Hendricks)

Arne Goes To Space

An extraterrestrial visitor upends the lives of two elderly brothers in northern Sweden.

(Country: Sweden; Year: 2026; Director: Lars Vega; Writer: Lars Vega, Theodor Österberg; Stars: Rolf Lassgård, Lennart Jähkel, Kiran Shah)

Bedford Park

Haunted by an abusive childhood, Audrey, a Korean American woman in her 30s, faces her emotional past. When her mother’s car accident brings her back to her parents’ home, she meets the man responsible for the accident. Their relationship builds, passions ignite, and they form a loving connection.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Stephanie Ahn; Writer: Stephanie Ahn; Stars: Choi Hee-seo, Son Suk-ku, Won Mi-kyung, Kim Eung-soo, Jefferson White, Taylor Kowalski, Vin Vescio, Cindy Hogan, Ferin Bergen, Toni D'Antonio, Paco Lozano, Simon Kim, Ian Oh, Joohong Jung, Mia Love Kwon)

A Common Story (Una Storia)

Erika and Mauro, a seemingly solid couple, see their equilibrium falter when their daughter decides to leave home for her studies and a sense of emptiness begins to surface.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2026; Director: Anna Foglietta; Writer: Anna Foglietta, Tania Pedroni, Matteo Ferri; Stars: Alba Rohrwacher, Guido Caprino, Elio De Capitani, Caterina Casini)

The Daughters Of Abraham (Les Filles d'Abraham)

A young Muslim woman raised in Marseille reunites with a young Jewish woman after a period of estrangement, reconnecting as friends over summer break. When a sudden tragedy disrupts their carefree holiday, the pair face the similarities and differences which strengthen and threaten their relationship.

(Country: France; Year: 2026; Director: Hanaël El Yousfi; Writer: Hanaël El Yousfi, Mia Grace Brown; Stars: Mélissa Guers, Ava Baya, Gabrielle Cohen, Bilel Chegrani, Syrus Shahidi)

Drifter

A solitary custodian at Rosamond, California’s Willow Springs Raceway, is haunted by a tragic past and saddled with generational debt, but gets the chance to enter a professional drifting contest in his battered but beloved vintage Toyota AE86 Corolla.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Sung Kang; Writer: Sung Kang, Aaron Strongoni, Ted Chung; Stars: Sung Kang, Tamara Braun, Michael Nehring, Grant Sullivan, McCaleb Burnett, Gregory Cruz, James Pumphrey, Adam LZ, Shane Johnson, Rutledge Wood, Jully Lee, Jo Sung, Taeon Chung, Ilia Smolov, Nikita Rushmanov)

The Fortunate Isles (Las Islas Afortunadas)

In the 16th century, on the newly conquered Canary Islands, colonial misgivings intersect with personal desperation. Fátima, an enslaved and pregnant woman, must struggle to survive both the landscape and the other inhabitants.

(Country: Spain, Greece; Year: 2026; Director: Helena Girón, Samuel Delgado; Writer: Helena Girón, Samuel Delgado; Stars: Luisa Ahl Laabiad, Lou Castel, Grégoire Colin)

Head To Head (Sar Beh Sar)

A female director forces male actors to wear skirts and headscarves.

(Country: Iran, Germany; Year: 2026; Director: Ghasideh Golmakani; Writer: Ghasideh Golmakani; Stars: Mehrnoosh Satari, Saeed Naderi, Ebrahim Azizi, Amir Hajimohammadi, Reza Mohseni, Saman Mazloomi, Lili Farhadpour)

In Waves

In Los Angeles, AJ, a shy teenager, meets Kristen. She lives for surfing; he loves skateboarding and drawing. They fall madly in love, and a happy future seems within reach. But everything changes when Kristen faces a sudden illness.

(Country: France, Belgium, US; Year: 2026; Director: Phuong Mai Nguyen; Writer: Samuel Doux, Fanny Burdino; Stars: Rio Vega, Lyna Khoudri, Paul Kircher, Birane Ba, Gauthier Battoue)

I Am Mario (Soy Mario)

A transgender taxi driver’s dream of fatherhood becomes a reality when he gets pregnant, forcing him to confront his own notions of masculinity while navigating unexpected social, moral, and emotional consequences.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2026; Director: Sharon Kleinberg; Writer: Sharon Kleinberg; Stars: Oustin De León, Héctor Kotsifakis, Mayra Batalla, Ruth Ramos, Krystian Ferrer, Fermín Martínez, Fernanda Rivera, Mercedes Hernández)

Krux

As World War Two nears its end, the women, children and elderly and disabled men remaining in a small German village discover that their right wing neighbours have been told to leave no German alive for the advancing Russian army.

(Country: Germany, Poland; Year: 2026; Director: Tony Vahl; Writer: Tony Vahl; Stars: Jella Haase, Frida-Lovisa Hamann, Clemens Schick, Lukas Miko)

Magazine

A publishing house intern and aspiring poet with a crush on an assistant manager comes to understand why she has been told that the most important thing for interns to know is when to leave the party.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Alexandra Pechman; Writer: Alexandra Pechman; Stars: Lily McInerny, Joshuah Melnick, Lukita Maxwell, AnnaSophia Robb, Daniel Zolghadri, Ruby Cruz, Jake Lacy, Iris Apatow, Delaney Rowe, Alex Edelman, Sasha Bhasin)

Memories Of A Forest (Erinnerungen Eines Waldes)

A postgraduate student inherits 15 hectares of forest beside her ancestral village, and must decide what to do with her future.

(Country: Germany, Austria; Year: 2026; Director: Katharina Rabl; Writer: Katharina Rabl, Karla Cristóbal; Stars: Julia Windischbauer, Johanna Orsini, Linde Prelog, Lukas Walcher, Dominik Warta)

Nosotros

After leaving his Indigenous family for work in Guatemala City, a lonely security guard falls for a business owner at the mall he patrols, discovering an unexpected refuge and a new sense of self in a world not yet ready to make space for them.

(Country: Guatemala, Mexico; Year: 2026; Director: Joaquín Ruano; Writer: Joaquín Ruano; Stars: Lola Vásquez, Josef Coxaj, Mayra Salvador)

Purgatory

A scrappy 13-year-old is left questioning family structures, the Catholic church, and basically everything else, after her mother chooses to take some time away from her family to find herself.

(Country: Canada, US; Year: 2026; Director: Lindsay Lanzillotta; Writer: Christine Speer; Stars: Ruby McGurrin, Abby Elliott, John Reynolds, Lauren MacRae, J.K. Simmons, Jack Innanen, Mary Walsh, Marcus Ngo, Gemma Rosaria Rae, Julianne Arrieta)

Salvation

Review preview for Salvation

Nicoll also shows skill at balancing the mood; black comedy is employed but never allowed to put the tension out of business.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
An overly confident man pursues a career as a life coach, but the road to wealth proves more treacherous than expected, particularly in Inverclyde.

(Country: UK; Year: 2026; Director: Tom Nicoll; Writer: Tom Nicoll; Stars: Liam Harkins, Steven McMillan, Kathleen McDermott, Tom Carter, Daniel Cameron, Kevin McLoughlin)

Full review

Seventeen

The lives of three young, queer, Indigenous sex workers in gritty downtown Vancouver intersect across 17 hours as they face significant challenges.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2026; Director: Justin Ducharme; Writer: Justin Ducharme; Stars: Aalayna, Nizhonniya Austin, Taio Gélinas, Shannon Baker, Renae Morriseau, Kaniehtiio Horn)

Sisters (Hermanas)

Outside of Madrid, two sisters unite their families on a summer weekend, celebrating milestones and the solstice-heralding San Juan Festival. However, joy quickly turns to horror when a serious allegation of sexual abuse surfaces from one of their children.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2026; Director: Ione Hernández; Writer: Ione Hernández; Stars: Elena Anaya, Emma Suárez, Josean Bengoetxea, Carlota Keiko, León Martínez, Nora Otxoteko, Aritz Kortabarria)

Stuffed

A musical about an isolated mortician-cum-taxidermist with a dream who falls for a lonely factory worker.

(Country: UK; Year: 2026; Director: Theo Rhys; Writer: Theo Rhys, Joss Holden-Rea; Stars: Jodie Comer, Harry Melling)

Voices

A starry-eyed bellhop enlists his friends to help him exploit an unsavoury opportunity that could secure them fame and fortune inthis Sixties-set musical chamber thriller.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Deanté Gray; Writer: Sam Buckner III, Charlie T Savage; Stars: Francis Edemobi, Ezekiel Ajeigbe, Raél Ba, Pedro Louis, Joe Maye, Jamal Averett)

We Are Born Good

A struggling actress and an ex-con restaurant owner turn a petty dispute into an unlikely bond.

(Country: Hong Kong; Year: 2026; Director: Leung Chuen Yeung; Writer: Leung Chuen Yeung; Stars: Suet Ying Chung, Wai Lun Yeung)

What Lies Between Us (Dobbeltfejl)

In a well-to-do suburb, a realtor and shop owner enjoy a close friendship that’s deeply intertwined with their respective family lives. The single mother of a newcomer to the tennis club is eager to get connected. But when details emerge about a possible sexual assault involving the three women’s sons, lines are swiftly drawn.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2026; Director: Amalie Næsby Fick; Writer: Sara Jønsson, Nikolaj Arcel; Stars: Sidse Babett Knudsen, Sofie Gråbøl, Asta Kamma August)

Zjili: A Story Of Sisterhood And The Burdens Of Excess

Three Ghanaian women eke out a living as kayayei or porters in the trenches of the world’s largest second hand clothing market.

(Country: Ghana; Year: 2026; Director: Hajara Musah Chambas, Christine Boateng; Writer: Marcia Abdul-Korah, Daphne M Atsutse, Denzel Owoo; Stars: Esinam Semordzi, Zaharawu Fuseini, Rahana Abdallah)