40 Anticipated Films at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (Part 1)
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) kicks off next month. Advanced ticket presales for festival members began last week, with general public sales opening at the end of the month. Following the 5 TV series highlighted previously, here is the first installment of 14 selected feature films from the top 40 most anticipated lineup:
A Long Winter
Directed and written by Andrew Haigh—winner of Best Film and Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards for All of Us Strangers—the film is an adaptation of a short story by Colm Tóibín. The ensemble cast includes Fred Hechinger (Gladiator II), Kit Connor (Heartstopper), D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (Warfare), two-time Emmy Award winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear), and Caitríona Balfe (Outlander).
A Long Winter follows Mike (Fred Hechinger), a young man on the cusp of adulthood whose life is upended when his mother disappears during the first blizzard of the season. As the search stretches from days into weeks, the onset of winter becomes inseparable from the family’s slow reckoning with the possibility that she may never return.
A Talent for Murder
Production still of “A Talent for Murder”
Directed by Anton Corbijn—winner of Best Film and Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards for Control—the film stars Academy Award Best Actress winner Helen Mirren (The Queen), Tony Award-winning actor Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon), and Olivier Award winner Juliet Stevenson.
It is 1995, and American author Patricia Highsmith (Helen Mirren), now in her seventies and in poor health, has retired to the Swiss Alps, where she largely confines herself to her study, surrounded by her books, her cats, and her collection of antique weapons. Enter Edward Ridgeway (Alden Ehrenreich), emissary for a New York publisher sent to persuade Highsmith to craft one last instalment in her bestselling series of mysteries featuring the murderous antihero, Tom Ripley. Irritated by this youthful, overly eager visitor, Highsmith refuses the offer — unless, that is, Ridgeway can dream up the perfect murder along with her.
All of a Sudden
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, the Oscar-winning director of Drive My Car, this marks his first French-language feature. The film stars César Award winner Virginie Efira (Benedetta) and Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine), who jointly won the Best Actress award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Director of a care facility for the elderly, Marie-Lou strives to introduce an innovative care philosophy based on listening and respecting residents’ dignity, despite resistance from part of her staff. Her encounter with Mari, a Japanese theater director battling cancer, will profoundly reshape her path. By forming a deep, supportive friendship, the two women join forces in a shared struggle to “make the impossible possible.”
All That She Wants
Production still of “All That She Wants”
Directed by Andrew Rhymer and Scarlett Bermingham and written by Schitt's Creek writer David West Read, the film stars Emmy Award winner Annie Murphy (Schitt's Creek), Zosia Mamet (The Flight Attendant), Finn Wittrock (American Horror Story Season 4), Bill Irwin (Legion), and Emmy Award winner Christine Baranski (Mamma Mia! franchise).
Reeling from a painful breakup, thirtysomething Emma (Annie Murphy) decides to nurse her wounds with a night out clubbing. That’s how she meets the cute, charismatic, and notably younger Luke (Cooper Raiff). It isn’t until the next morning that the pair’s age gap fully hits: Emma, it turns out, was once Luke’s babysitter.
After this emphatically one-off hookup, Emma turns a page, forging a new career path and deciding, regardless of her relationship status, that she wants children. Luke, meanwhile, has a funny way of reappearing in Emma’s life on a semi-regular basis. Might he be a sperm donor? Might he be something more?
La bola negra
Production still of “La bola negra”
Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who jointly won Best Director at the festival. The star-studded cast includes Miguel Bernardeau (Elite), two-time Spanish Goya Award Best Actress winner Lola Dueñas (The Sea Inside), Oscar winner Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), and Golden Globe Best Actress winner Glenn Close (The Wife).
At the cusp of the Spanish Civil War, a young man confronts his ideology and sexuality as he is conscripted into the fascist army where he becomes fascinated by a prisoner of war. Another young man in pre-dictatorship Spain finds himself blackballed from his father’s prestigious social club due to rumours about his sexuality. Finally, a young gay historian manoeuvres through his complicated family history and a unique inheritance decades after the dictatorship has ended.
Bucking Fastard
Production still of “Bucking Fastard”
Written and directed by Werner Herzog—Cannes Best Director winner for Fitzcarraldo—the film stars real-life sisters Kate Mara (House of Cards) and Cannes Best Actress winner Rooney Mara (Carol), alongside Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings franchise) and IFTA-winning actor Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars sequel trilogy).
The Holbrookes speak in unison, dress alike, have shared dreams, and, consequentially, fall in love with the same man (Orlando Bloom). The sisters’ obsession with their lover reaches a boiling point which ultimately must be resolved in court. Jean and Joan passionately defend themselves side by side as they have their whole lives, showing their unusual bond. A media frenzy, driven by the sisters’ strange and inextricably bound lives, inevitably ensues.
Bunker
Production still of “Bunker”
Written and directed by Florian Zeller—Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director of The Father—the film stars real-life married couple and Academy Award winners Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), alongside Emmy Award winner Stephen Graham (Adolescence), Paul Dano (The Batman), and Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus Season 3).
In 17 years of marriage, literary agent Sofia (Penélope Cruz) has never resented her “starchitect” husband Miguel (Javier Bardem) for uprooting the family from Madrid to London, where he rose to prominence. Fissures appear in their foundation, however, when a mysterious billionaire (Paul Dano) asks Miguel to design a luxury bunker where a tiny cluster of the ultra-wealthy can take shelter in an apocalypse.
The offer appeals to Miguel’s vanity as much as his pocketbook: this is an opportunity to furnish a pyramid for a modern-day pharaoh. But for Sofia, the proposal reeks of the gross inequality that is destroying the world. As tensions mount, Miguel becomes preoccupied by what he deems as a neighbour’s violation of his privacy, while Sofia seeks a promotion at work — and is disarmed by the attention of an attractive young author.
Clarissa
Production still of “Clarissa”
Directed by Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri, the film is adapted from Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs. Dalloway. The ensemble cast stars Sophie Okonedo (Death on the Nile), David Oyelowo (Selma), India Amarteifio (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso), and Golden Globe Best Actress winner Ayo Edebiri (The Bear).
While preparing for a big reception, Clarissa recalls her teenage years (with the younger Clarissa played in these scenes by India Amarteifio). At that time, her heart was torn between Richard and Peter, a promising young writer (Toheeb Jimoh and played as an older man by David Oyelowo) who has suddenly reappeared in Clarissa’s life.
The harmful impacts of World War I are ingeniously transposed onto the fight against Boko Haram, which has been ravaging northern Nigeria since 2009. Septimus (Fortune Nwafor), a soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, crosses paths with one of Clarissa’s guests who is distraught over what happened to him.
Club Kid
Written, directed by, and starring Jordan Firstman (I Love LA), the film co-stars Cara Delevingne (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets), Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Killing Eve) and Diego Calva (Babylon). The creative team features cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra, the Creative Arts Emmy winner for The Studio, and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer, the three-time Creative Arts Emmy winner for The White Lotus.
For Peter Green (Jordan Firstman), a promoter and purveyor of… shall we say… stimulating party favours in the queer New York club scene, the party never stops. Each revelry blurs into the next, with restraint and responsibility perpetually foisted upon others, especially his fed-up business partner Sophie (Cara Delevingne). But on the precipice of losing another decade to the rhythm of the night, reality bites in the form of his surprise parentage to 10-year-old Arlo (Reggie Absolom), the result of a half-remembered hookup. When his mother unexpectedly dies, the boy is thrust straight into Peter’s carousing care.
The Diary of a Chambermaid
Written and directed by Radu Jude—winner of the Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Bear and Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn and Kontinental '25—the film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau. It stars Mélanie Thierry (Da 5 Bloods) and Vincent Macaigne (Irma Vep).
Gianina (Ana Dumitrașcu), a Romanian migrant (whose own life is paralleled with the original novel’s heroine Célestine) is a live-in housekeeper for an upper-class, pseudo-intellectual couple. In the evenings, she prepares for an amateur production of The Diary of a Chambermaid at the behest of her hoity-toity employers. On her own time, she FaceTimes with her crestfallen tween daughter who lives with her grandma while her mother supports the family from abroad. Everything is going according to Gianina’s plan, until one day, it isn’t.
The Debut
The film is written, directed by, and stars Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain). The high-profile ensemble cast features Oscar Best Actress winner Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Golden Globe Best Actor winner Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid).
Mona Friedman (Julianne Moore) feels stuck in her tedious suburban housewife life. When a role with a community theatre company arises, she jumps at the chance to try out. To her surprise, she lands a spot in the production.
Hard-headed theatre director Jerry (Paul Giamatti) sees a spark in Mona and pushes her to test the limits of what she can bring to the role. Which she does, obsessing over nailing her first performance.
Elsinore
Directed by Simon Stone (The Dig), the film stars Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear winner Andrew Scott (Blue Moon) and Academy Award winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite).
Ian Charleson is widely known as the real-life star of TIFF ’81’s Chariots of Fire, the first People’s Choice Award winner to receive the Oscar for Best Picture. Its piano-led ubiquity in pop culture follows the Scottish actor everywhere, making him yearn less for Hollywood and more for his theatre roots. When Daniel Day-Lewis walks off stage as Hamlet at London’s National Theatre, the role of a lifetime appears for Charleson — but so does an AIDS diagnosis. Dream and nightmare collide as Charleson strives to command the stage and survive as long as possible.
Everest: The Other Side
Production still of “Everest: The Other Side”
The film is directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, directors of the Academy Award-winning documentary Free Solo. Thousands of people have ascended Mount Everest from the southeast ridge in Nepal. But only five had ever summited from the more daunting direct North Face route from China. This became a quest for Jim Morrison and Hilaree Nelson, who sought not only to summit, but then to ski down through the near vertical Hornbein Couloir. It’s a test of athleticism that only a few have attempted with a zero success rate. The last person to try disappeared on the descent.
In this new work, made for the IMAX screen, the directors enable us to witness a history-making endeavour, while revealing the interior lives of risk takers. Opinions may vary on whether these acts are courageous or crazy. Even the two directors have differing viewpoints that arise in a raw moment in the film.
What’s undeniable is the determination shared by Morrison and Nelson. They gained recognition separately for their outdoor adventuring, then came together each having been in a prior marriage. As they both approach age 50, they’ve already set records and are well acquainted with tragedy. Their goal for the North Face will require many exhausting days of climbing, followed by a descent on skis that will take several hours. One false move is the difference between mortality and immortality.
Everytime
Production still of “Everytime”
Written and directed by Sandra Wollner, the film stars Berlin International Film Festival Best Actress winner Birgit Minichmayr and won the Un Certain Regard Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Jessie (Carla Hüttermann) is packing for an upcoming Spanish vacation with her single mother, Ella (played by the mesmerizing Birgit Minichmayr), and her younger sister, Melli (Lotte Shirin Keiling). On the eve of the trip, Jessie sneaks out to be with her boyfriend Lux (Tristan Lopez) and this, unfortunately, ends in tragedy. One year later, despite their persistent heartbreak, Ella and Melli cling to a fragile routine and on the surface, appear to get by. But when Lux re-enters the family portrait, the wounds are reopened and, while the matriarch can’t seem to concede to her unspoken blame, Lux can’t seem to cope with his longing for forgiveness. Driven by a strange impulse, Ella takes Lux and Melli to Tenerife on the holiday that never happened. Under the blazing sun, the newly formed unit wades through rough emotional waters, as if in a hallucinatory state. Perhaps because they have no choice, perhaps because it’s the only way to survive.
If you are interested in upcoming movies to be released in Canada, please visit the Movie Release Schedule page on this website!
Photo and Source: TIFF