40 Anticipated Films at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (Part 2)
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) kicks off next month. Following the first 14 selections introduced previously, here is the second installment featuring 13 more highly anticipated titles:
The Final Act
Production still of “The Final Act”
This documentary is directed by Sophie Deraspe. With growing access to medically assisted dying in jurisdictions worldwide, many of us are facing the kind of moral and ethical questions we may prefer to avoid lest they challenge us too deeply. And however we may answer those questions, there’s no denying the choices that we or our loved ones make about how to depart the world of the living carry profound weight.
The film is a philosophical enquiry into humankind’s attitudes toward death and dying, with invaluable contributions by big thinkers like American social psychologist Sheldon Solomon. Also, Deraspe’s film brings viewers into the lives and final moments of a variety of subjects who have decided to undertake medically assisted death.
Fjord
This film won the 2026 Cannes Film Festival's highest honor, the Palme d'Or. It was written and directed by Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, marking his second Palme d'Or win following 2007's 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The film stars Marvel Cinematic Universe Winter Soldier actor and A Different Man Golden Globe Best Actor winner Sebastian Stan, alongside Renate Reinsve, the Cannes Best Actress winner for The Worst Person in the World.
Lisbet (Renate Reinsve) and Mihai Gheorghiu (Sebastian Stan) are a conservative Christian couple who’ve relocated from Romania to an isolated Norwegian town with their five children. Unlike their new neighbours, the Gheorghius enforce daily bible study and don’t allow trappings like smartphones and YouTube. The family’s rigid beliefs cause a stir when one of the children is accused of introducing religious bias into their school by criticizing another student’s sexual orientation. This, however, is just the beginning of the family’s problems. When a teacher notices a bruise on another of their kids, a cascade of events — mimicking the avalanches we see behind the schoolyard in the icy locale — is set in motion.
Unlike her strong-willed husband, Lisbet, Norwegian by birth, is fluent in the local language and adept at navigating cultural nuances. Meanwhile, Mihai, steadfast in what he sees as his right to educate his offspring as he sees fit, admits to the occasional spanking. This triggers a storm of controversy.
La Gradiva
Production still of “La Gradiva”
This film is directed by French filmmaker Marine Atlan. A group of French high-school students travel to Naples on a school trip to discover the ruins of Pompeii and the bodies petrified by Vesuvius. There, they are drawn into a dizzying descent. One by one, they are swept up in desire and anger, until they surrender to them completely.
The Idiot(s)
Production still of “The Idiot(s)”
Directed by Berlin International Film Festival Silver Bear for Best Director winner Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert, the film stars BAFTA TV Award Best Female Comedy Performance winner Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), Johnny Flynn (Ripley), European Film Award Best Actress winner Vicky Krieps, and Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest).
The Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky is renowned as one of the greatest writers and most influential thinkers of his time. However, behind the monolithic image of the literary giant is a lesser-known story and next to the man through his most tumultuous times was the wife who supported him.
Fyodor (Johnny Flynn) is a gambling addict, struggling to make money, delaying any type of creative spark, and generally lacking ambition to create his next work. The motivation he needs comes from Anna (Aimee Lou Wood), who believes in him, his vision, and his art. With her backing he’s finally able to make something of himself and put out a new novel — The Idiot.
Iron Boy
Production still of “Iron Boy”
Written and directed by Louis Clichy, the film won the Special Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at this year's Cannes Film Festival and the Jury Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
For young Christophe, life on a rural French farm comes with a lot of hard work, not a lot of passion, and precarious health. Dizzy spells sabotage his day-to-day activities. In need of balance, he gets fitted with an iron back brace which helps with his posture but draws derision from outsiders. Coming of age is not an easy road for anyone, let alone someone feeling a literal and figurative weight on his back.
Pushing through that, Christophe discovers new passions including playing the church organ and connecting with those around him. Putting his pain into newfound forms of expression permits Christophe to transcend his limitations.
Ink
Production still of “Ink”
This biographical drama is directed by Academy Award Best Director winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire). The screenplay is written by James Graham (The Crown), adapted from his own Tony-nominated 2017 stage play of the same name. The cast features a trio of heavy-hitting British and Australian talent:
Emmy winner Guy Pearce (Mildred Pierce) stars as the young, ambitious Rupert Murdoch;
Jack O'Connell (Sinners) plays Larry Lamb, the rogue editor Murdoch recruited to transform The Sun into a populist tabloid; and
Emmy Outstanding Lead Actress Claire Foy (The Crown)
Rupert Murdoch (Guy Pearce) persuades newspaper editor Larry Lamb (Jack O’Connell) to oversee his newly acquired but flagging daily, The Sun. But how to grab readers in the highly competitive British media market? Be extreme, throwing anything onto the page that will make a splash, the more titillating, the better. The tactic works, and soon the notorious Sun sees a massive spike in circulation.
The goal of casting a wide net for new readers creates just enough space for one woman (Claire Foy) to break through and pitch articles with a modern woman’s perspective. It’s not long before she starts to brush against the limits of the prevailing boys’ club culture within the industry. And as readership numbers rise, so do the paper’s detractors.
Josephine
Written and directed by Beth de Araújo, Josephine stars Channing Tatum (Deadpool & Wolverine), Gemma Chan (Eternals), and Philip Ettinger (First Reformed). The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, sweeping both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award—a double-win previously achieved by Oscar Best Picture nominees and winners Minari and CODA.
When eight-year-old Josephine (Mason Reeves) and her father Damien (Channing Tatum) walk through Golden Gate Park one morning, they witness a disturbing incident. Though her father manages to stop the attack, the event leaves Josephine emotionally scarred. In the aftermath, Damien enrolls Josephine in martial arts to help her reclaim her sense of power, while her mother Claire (Gemma Chan) advocates for therapy and insists she testify in court. Caught between her parents’ conflicting approaches and still struggling to process her trauma, Josephine begins acting out violently at school and becomes hypervigilant, constantly scanning her surroundings for threats.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney
Production still of “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney”
Directed by Matthew Rankin (Universal Language), the winner of Canadian Screen Awards for Best Direction, this kaleidoscopic culture jam details the rise of Canada’s 18th prime minister through a satirical collage of archival footage, television nostalgia, and national mythmaking.
Through an episodic remix that transforms thousands of hours of archival footage, Rankin astutely tracks the political maneuvering that took place during the 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership convention and into the 1980s Canadian landscape right before Mulroney’s clinching the title of prime minister. Only he infuses this political soup with nostalgic intrusions of Canadian television and outlandish dramatizations, from Mulroney conferencing with a former PM’s pickled brain to Pierre Trudeau despotically ruling the country as a floating head like TRON’s Master Control Program.
The Liberation
Production still of “The Liberation”
Directed by Guy Nattiv, the winner of Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, the film stars Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), AACTA Award-winning actress Odessa Young, and Lily James (Baby Driver).
For Rita, a workaday life as an assistant bank manager, wife, and mother of two approaching empty-nest status has just collided with the re-emergence of a very painful chapter of her family history. She finds various ways, all frustratingly temporary, to cope with her anxieties — that is, until a mysterious new client, Ricki, walks into Rita’s bank.
In addition to making a large deposit, Ricki tenders a more interesting offer: to join a group of women that night in a sunset ritual and perhaps find the gateway to newfound purpose. Much to her family’s dismay, Rita immerses herself into an organization with many skeletons in its proverbial closet and eventually leaves to help Ricki establish a rural all-woman commune.
Look Back
Directed, written and edited by three-time Japan Academy Film Prize Best Director winner Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), the film is adapted from the acclaimed one-shot manga of the same name by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man).
Fourth-grader Fujino (Furi Nanase) is admired for the comics she makes for her school newspaper. Her world is upended when asked to share the space with her reclusive classmate Kyomoto (Rokka Okada), whose stunning artwork is better than anything she can make. When the girls finally meet, Fujino discovers Kyomoto has been idolizing her from afar all along. Her one-sided rivalry abates, and the two are pulled into an all-consuming love of drawing that carries them into adulthood as aspiring manga artists. The adult Fujino (Natsuki Deguchi) and Kyomoto (Aju Makita) embark on a shared journey where the joys of artistic expression collide with the unpredictability of life.
The Man I Love
Production still of “The Man I Love”
Directed by Ira Sachs (Love Is Strange), the film features Oscar Best Actor winner Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Tom Sturridge (The Sandman), Luther Ford (The Crown season 6), Rebecca Hall (Godzilla x Kong series), and two-time Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear).
Set in the vibrant era of late 80s New York, the film follows Jimmy George, a Downtown performance artist in an extraordinary moment between great illness and death when, still, all beauty and love is possible.
Minotaur
Production still of “Minotaur”
This film won the Grand Prix, the 2026 Cannes Film Festival's second-highest prize. It is directed by Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev, who previously won the Venice Film Festival's highest honor, the Golden Lion, for The Return. Mikhail Krichman, who won a European Film Award for his work on the director's previous feature Loveless, serves as the director of photography.
Gleb (Dmitriy Mazurov) is a successful company director, whose high-pressure corporate life is balanced by a picture-perfect family — including his wife Galina (Iris Lebedeva) — and a luxurious dacha on the outskirts of a medium-sized town.
But when the Russian invasion of Ukraine begins, pressure mounts on employers to fill draft quotas for the notorious miasorubka (meat grinder) of relentless front-line warfare. With desperate workers fleeing to avoid conscription, Gleb finds an inventive — yet deeply sociopathic — way to secure the 14 "tributes" demanded from his company, echoing the Greek myth of the Minotaur's labyrinth.
Meanwhile at home, Gleb and Galina — mirrored in their shallowness — barely look at each other, with her gaze focussed on someone else. Upon realizing what’s happening right under his nose, Gleb snaps into action — and this time, the blood on his hands will be much harder to cover-up.
Misty Green
Written, directed by, and starring Emmy Award-winning comedian Chris Rock (Spiral: From the Book of Saw), the film's ensemble cast includes Rosalind Eleazar (Slow Horses), Venice Film Festival Best Actor winner Adam Driver (Star Wars sequel trilogy), Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah), Anna Kendrick (Pitch Perfect series)franchise, and Topher Grace (Spider-Man 3).
Misty (Rosalind Eleazar) is on the verge of a comeback, if only she could curb her worst habits. In a narcotic-fuelled mania, she went from winning an Emmy to losing a big project helmed by ace director Jordan (Chris Rock). Jordan, however, is ready to give Misty another chance with his forthcoming remake of Dreamgirls. It’s a coveted opportunity, but Misty has competing concerns, such as her looming eviction and her brother (Daniel Kaluuya), navigating life with bipolar disorder, who gets into serious trouble. As pressure to procure funds mounts, Misty finds herself considering an offer by her former flame (Adam Driver) that’s simultaneously heinous and lucrative beyond her wildest dreams.
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