The lineup announcements for the 51st Toronto International Film Festival are coming fast and furious. The Great White North’s annual cinematic event has revealed its galas and centerpieces, which include new films from Chris Rock, Rachel Morrison, Sian Heder, and Anton Corbijn, among others. Over the past two days, TIFF has unveiled both its competition Platform slate and its Discovery slate.
As you might expect, the Discovery slate focuses on new filmmakers such as John Early, who wowed critics and audiences with “Maddie’s Secret” at last year’s festival. This year, Theo Rhys’s “Stuffed,” starring Jodie Comer and Harry Melling, will open the program. While most of the section is world premieres, TIFF’s programmers are giving some love to former NFL player Deantè Gray’s “Voices,” an under-the-radar musical that debuted at the 2026 American Black Film Festival as well as Stephanie Ahn’s “Bedford Park,” which debuted at Sundance in January. Other notable debut titles include Alexandra Pechman’s “Magazine” and Tom Nicoll’s “Salvation.”
This year’s Discovery slate is as follows:
A Common Story | Anna Foglietta | Italy
International Premiere
Ancestors | David Turpin | Ireland, United Kingdom
World Premiere
Arne Goes to Space | Lars Vega | Sweden
World Premiere
Bedford Park | Stephanie Ahn | USA
International Premiere
Drifter | Sung Kang | USA
World Premiere
Head to Head | Ghasideh Golmakani | Iran, Germany
World Premiere
I Am Mario | Sharon Kleinberg | Mexico
International Premiere
In Waves | Phuong Mai Nguyen | France, Belgium
International Premiere
Krux | Tony Vahl | Germany, Poland
World Premiere
Magazine | Alexandra Pechman | USA
World Premiere
Memories of a Forest | Katharina Rabl | Germany, Austria
International Premiere
Nosotros | Joaquín Ruano | Guatemala, Mexico
World Premiere
Purgatory | Lindsay Lanzillotta | Canada, USA
World Premiere
Salvation | Tom Nicoll | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Seventeen | Justin Ducharme | Canada
World Premiere
Sisters | Ione Hernández | Spain
World Premiere
Strong Son | Ian Bawa | Canada
World Premiere
Stuffed | Theo Rhys | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Discovery opening film
The Daughters of Abraham | Hanaël El Yousfi | France
International Premiere
The Fortunate Isles | Helena Girón, Samuel Delgado | Spain, Greece
World Premiere
Voices | Deantè Gray | USA
International Premiere
We Are Born Good | Leung Chuen Yeung | Hong Kong
World Premiere
What Lies Between Us | Amalie Næsby Fick | Denmark
World Premiere
Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and The Burdens of Excess | Christine Boateng, Hajara Musah Chambas | Ghana
World Premiere
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In a little over a decade, TIFF’s Platform slate has provided a spotlight for filmmakers such as Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”), Darius Marder (“Sound of Metal”), and William Oldroyd (“Lady Macbeth”), among others. This year’s lineup has expanded to 12 films, including Theja Rio’s “Angh,” Amanda Kernell’s “Brace Your Heart,” Ferit Karahan’s “Djinn Wedding,” Irene Dionisio’s “Idda,” Nyla Innuksuk’s “In the Heart of the South,” Bertil Nilsson’s “Masc,” Gabriel Martins’ “On Behalf of My Son,” Lawrence Fajardo’s “Silenced Nights,” John Trengove’s “The Smell of Apples,” Yoon Dan-bi’s “The World Before,” and Jan Holoubek’s “Wild Wild East. Children Untold.” Japanese filmmaker Miwa Nishikawa will open the program with “Children Untold.”
Pablo Trapero, Platform Jury President for 2026, remarked, “It is a true honour to return to Toronto as President of the Platform Jury, having had all of my films screened here over the years. TIFF has always felt like home to me. Every time I’ve come back, I’ve been warmly welcomed, and I’ve always felt that my films have found a special connection with TIFF audiences. I’m delighted to return in this new role as a way of giving back to TIFF, to its audiences, and to the wonderful films it champions. I’m deeply grateful for everything the Festival has given me over the years, and for all that it continues to give filmmakers from around the world as one of cinema’s most important annual meeting places — a festival where audiences, artists, and extraordinary films come together year after year.”
Trapero is joined on the jury by British writer and director Amma Asante, Taiwanese actor and filmmaker Sylvia Chang, French Canadian producer Luc Déry, and Hong Kong film industry executive Albert Lee. The winning filmmaker will receive a $20,000 CAD cash prize at a ceremony on the last day of the Festival on Sunday, September 20. Along with similar categories at Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes, any non-English language winner of the Platform competition will automatically qualify to submit for the Academy Award for International Feature Film this year. This is a new twist on that particular Oscar race, which was announced in May.
This year’s complete Platform selections are as follows:
Angh| Theja Rio | India
World Premiere
Set in the remote jungles of Nagaland near the Indo–Burma border in the early 1960s and shot in richly textured 16mm, Angh follows Anghba, the last surviving chief of an abandoned Indigenous Naga village, who lives in isolation with his ailing wife and mute young son after being deserted by his people.
Riois a London-based writer and director from Nagaland, India. He wrote and directed the short films Checkpost (2018), Angh (2021), Remains (2024), and Ade (On a Sunday) (2024). Angh is his feature directorial debut and an expansion of his short by the same name.
Brace Your Heart | Amanda Kernell | Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria
World Premiere
Kernell’s luminous third drama is a quietly devastating portrait of love, resilience, and the enduring strength of Sámi women.
Kernellwas born in Umeå, Sweden, to a Sámi father and Swedish mother. She holds a degree from the National Film School of Denmark. Her directorial credits include the short film Stoerre Vaerie (Northern Great Mountain) (2015) and the features Sami Blood (2016), which played at the Festival, and Charter (2020).
Children Untold | Miwa Nishikawa | Japan
World Premiere
Opening film
A longtime collaborator of Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nishikawa adapted Children Untold from her own unpublished novel. It follows a 12-year-old girl who disguises herself as a boy to survive in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Tokyo. Featuring Ami Koyae, Fumi Nikaido, and Koji Yakusho.
Nishikawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. Her writing and directing credits include the feature films Wild Berries (2003), Dear Doctor (2009), and the Festival Official Selections Dreams for Sale (2012) and Under the Open Sky (2020).
Djinn Wedding | Ferit Karahan | Turkey
World Premiere
Set in a remote Anatolian village, Karahan’s Djinn Wedding is an impressive family drama that unravels family secrets and conflicts across three periods of time. Carried by a supreme cast including Demet Özdemir, Kaan Yildirim, İlhan Şen, and Sarp Bozkurt, the film swings between belief, hope, and dissolution.
Karahan was born in Muş, Turkey. His writing and directing credits include The Fall from Heaven (2013), Brother’s Keeper (2021), which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale, and The Death of Black Horses (2025).
Idda | Irene Dionisio | Italy
World Premiere
This is Dionisio’s sophomore feature, which she co-penned alongside Marco Borromei. Idda takes an epic approach to unearthing the packed layers of a stewing friendship. When childhood friends Adele and Sofia reunite to fulfill the broken promise of climbing Mount Etna, they realize that like the mountain, old wounds loom over everything.
Dionisio was born in Torino, Italy. She is a filmmaker and visual artist whose credits include the short films Le storie che saremo (2020) and Murmur (2025). Her feature-length films include the documentaries The factory is full (2012) and Shores (2015), and the fictional feature Pawn Street (2017).
In the Heart of the South | Nyla Innuksuk | Canada
World Premiere
A surprising and exciting swerve away from Innuksuk’s 2022 debut feature Slash/Back. In the Heart of the South is what Single White Female would be if it were set in Toronto, with an Inuk protagonist and a dash of supernatural elements, starring North of North’s Anna Lambe as Yura Ivalu, the latest darling of the Toronto art world, whose virtual reality piece promises to blow your mind.
Innuksukwas born in Igloolik, Nunavut, and studied film at Toronto Metropolitan University. She co-wrote and co-produced the short film Kajutaijuq (2015), which screened at the Festival and was named to Canada’s Top Ten. Her other directorial credits include the short film Breaths (2016) and debut feature Slash/Back (2022).
Masc | Bertil Nilsson | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Nilsson’s debut feature is a tender, unflinching portrait of self-performance, identity, and learning to exist as oneself in an often prescriptive world. The film draws on the filmmaker’s experiences as a neurodivergent gay man navigating the contradictory demands of masculinity.
Nilsson is an award-winning Swedish artist and filmmaker based in London. He has directed numerous short films, including Repair (2023) and Alfie’s Island (2023), and has exhibited internationally with solo shows in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA.
On Behalf of My Son | Gabriel Martins | Brazil
World Premiere
Anchored by a deeply affecting performance from Rejane Faria, Martins’ moving drama follows a grieving mother seeking forgiveness from the families of a tragic bus accident, unfolding as a profoundly humane meditation on guilt and whether forgiveness is even possible.
Martins is a Brazilian writer-director and co-founder of Filmes de Plástico. His debut feature Mars One (2022) was Brazil’s selection for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards. He also directed the shorts Nada (2017), In the Heart of the World (2019), and Pelas Mãos (2021).
Silenced Nights | Lawrence Fajardo | Philippines
World Premiere
For some, staying silent is the only way to survive. Fajardo’s bleak sociopolitical drama Silenced Nights follows a witness to an extrajudicial killing in a Philippines slum as he seeks to make the truth known. The film takes a raw cinema verité approach and echoes the director’s previous works, including The Hearing.
Fajardo is a Filipino director from Bacolod City in the Philippines. His writing and directing credits include Amok (2011), Posas (2012), and Invisible (2015), which screened at the Festival.
The Smell of Apples | John Trengove | South Africa, Netherlands, Chile
World Premiere
In Trengove’s relentless third feature, a sheltered 11-year-old white South African boy gradually comes to realise the horrors of the apartheid system. Adapted from South African writer Mark Behr’s 1993 bestselling novel of the same name.
Trengove is an award-winning South African writer and director who holds an MFA from New York University. His features include The Wound (2017), which was South Africa’s selection for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, and Manodrome (2023).
The World Before | Yoon Dan-bi | South Korea
World Premiere
In her second narrative feature, Dan-bi (Moving On) turns her attention from childhood to adolescence with a tender, sharply observed portrait of first love and growing up. This coming-of-age story follows two teenagers, childhood best friends, who reunite for a summer on a small rural island in Korea.
Dan-bi is a South Korean filmmaker who holds a BFA in Theatre and Film from Kookmin University. Her film credits include the short film Fireworks (2015) and the feature film Moving On (2019), which debuted in Busan and won the NETPAC and DGK Awards.
Wild Wild East | Jan Holoubek | Poland
World Premiere
Set in occupied Poland in the middle of the Second World War, Holoubek’s tour de force is part suspenseful western, part gritty wartime noir.
Holoubek was born in Warsaw, Poland. His directing credits include the series The Mire (2018–2024) and High Water (2024), as well as the feature 25 Years of Innocence (2020).
The 2026 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10-20. Look for complete coverage on the ground on The Playlist.
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
