It’s the most wonderful time of the year! There will be parties for toasting and TIFF Galas for roasting, but it’s the hap-happiest season of all.
Our writers are navigating the onslaught of screener links, pitches, and circle-backs as we gear up for the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival. This year’s line-up requires some extra elbow grease as the Festival gets back to its full scale and then some with the much ballyhooed Market. This year once again provides an embarrassment of riches as cinephiles choose their own adventure among award season contenders, Canadian content, documentaries, world cinema gems, and fresh voices waiting to be discovered.
In anticipation of the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival kicking off next week for its 51st edition and the battle royal of Single Ticket Day quickly approaching, That Shelf asked its writers to share their picks for the three films atop their TIFF wish lists. There’ll be scary ghost stories in Midnight Madness, plus holiday greetings and gay happy meetings from La Bola Negra to A Long Winter to the Coward premiere, and tales of the glories of TIFFmases long, long ago…it’s the most wonderful time of the year! – Pat Mullen
Emma Badame
Elsinore
Programme: Special Presentations
The story of Ian Charleson is an emotional one, and it’s perhaps surprising that it hasn’t been brought to the screen before now. Andrew Scott plays the Scottish actor, best known for his roles in Chariots of Fire and Gandhi, who challenged himself to play Hamlet at London’s National Theatre while dying of AIDS. Looked at as one of the best stage actors of his generation by his fellow thesps, Charleson took on the role of a lifetime at a time when he knew he was losing his own. Scott is always mesmerizing on-screen and has played Hamlet himself to raves, but there’s something about him taking on a role that pays tribute to Shakespeare, the pain of the AIDS crisis, and acting itself that is destined to be something special. Add Olivia Colman to the mix as Charleson’s doctor, and Elsinore is irresistible.
The Surgeon
Programme: Centrepiece
With Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, Michelle Yeoh decisively reminded the world she is a force to be reckoned with. One of her two films at TIFF this year (It’s My Time is the other), certainly sounds like the polar opposite of the multi-dimensional Oscar winner, and casts her as a kidnapped doctor forced to perform an operation in less-than-ideal circumstances. We all know that Yeoh excels in thrillers, and is particularly fun to watch on-screen when she’s sparring with an equally adept scene partner. Here she faces off against the talented (and oft underused) Martin Freeman, playing against type as the leader of the criminal gang at the centre of it all. Canadian Roshan Sethi, a practicing oncologist, wrote and directed The Surgeon, bringing a sense of medical verisimilitude to the proceedings that few others could. This one is flying under the radar, but is worth keeping an eye on.
A Long Winter
Programme: Special Presentations
Few working filmmakers have a record of success as strong as Andrew Haigh’s. From Weekend to All of Us Strangers, he consistently brings audiences stories that are both completely unique and fully relatable emotional explorations. His latest adapts Colm Tóibín’s short story about a snowy Montana winter, where the disappearance of a mother (Caitríona Balfe) forces her teen son (Fred Hechinger) to confront a fractured relationship with his stoic father (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). It looks like another gentle but unmissable character piece, and no one does those better than Haigh.
Sarah Gopaul
Drifter
Programme: Discovery
There’s a large contingent of Fast & Furious fans who believe the second sequel, Tokyo Drift, is the best of the series. But demands for a return never materialized. Instead, Sung Kang (who played Han in the franchise) made his own standalone film. Drifter follows a custodian (Kang) who has a chance to fulfill his dream of competing in a pro drifting event. But first, he has to come to terms with his past.
Girl Group
Programme: Gala Presentations
Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut, The Deb, had its world premiere at TIFF in 2024. After years of starring in women-forward comedies, she made one of her own and it was hilarious. Now she returns to the festival with her second picture. Wilson plays Tassie Young, a pop star sentenced to community service mentoring girls who also have ambitions to be in the spotlight. The supporting cast includes several comedians and entertainers, such as Jennifer Coolidge, Randall Park, Nicole Scherzinger, Judi Love, and Sally Hawkins.
Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend
Programme: Gala Presentations
In spite of having races around the world, Formula One didn’t really gain popularity with North American audiences until Netflix’s 2019 documentary Drive to Survive. Consequently, some people may not be aware that Canada was home to a rising F1 star, Gilles Villeneuve, in the 1970s. TIFF’s Closing Night Gala traces Villeneuve’s humble beginnings in Quebec to his Formula One debut. Villeneuve’s life would be tragically cut short, but he first achieved a list of significant accomplishments, cementing his status as a legend in the sport.
Honourable mentions: Alpha Gang, HALF, Pretenders, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Stuffed, and The Surgeon.
Jason Gorber
The Stunt Driver
Programme: Special Presentations
Michael Dowse has already crafted my pick for the greatest Canadian film of all time with Goon, so at a time of geopolitical turmoil, his latest team-up with Jay Baruchel feels as much a patriotic obligation as it promises to be a thrilling ride.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney
Programme: Midnight Madness
Another unabashedly CanCon romp, this psychedelic doc sees Matthew Rankin warp the minds of TIFF’s Midnight Madness crowd with a deliciously insane portrait of our former Prime Minister.
Everest: The Other Side
Programme: Special Presentations
Snagging my preferred seat in the IMAX venue for Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s latest film may feel like a tortuous expedition with so many stairs to climb, but this latest from the team behind Free Solo promises sheer vertiginous fun.
Pat Mullen
Elsinore
Programme: Special Presentations
Is Andrew Scott the man of the hour this year? Awards whisperers are buzzing that this performance will have us saluting Scott with Redbreast Whiskey. The Irish actor looks to continue a terrific streak in his body of work on screen and stage. Early word is very strong for his performance that combines the two. Scott plays Chariots of Fire star Ian Charleson as he prepares to take the stage for a final time playing Hamlet. Expect a touching tribute as Scott inhabits the actor who lived a private life and died at age 40 following complications with AIDS and the posthumous revelation of the diagnosis making him one of the UK’s first stars to come out with the illness amid the epidemic.
Although a rewatch of Chariots of Fire shows that Charleson’s look and mannerisms just scream Jonathan Bailey, playing the Scottish actor could allow Scott to mine emotional depths that consistently make his work so powerful. The role penned by Pride scribe Stephen Beresford promises to intimately explore a life of a talent taken too soon and looks to continue a run of major from Scott after All of Us Strangers, Blue Moon, and Ripley. Many pundits are placing their bets that this performance could be a major awards contender. It would be funny if Scott’s turn as Charleson won the Oscar race on a Sunday.
Union Town
Programme: TIFF Docs
Barbara Kopple deservedly won Oscars for the labour rights documentaries Harlan County USA (which screened at the inaugural Festival of Festivals in 1976) and American Dream (1990), so a return to the picket lines promises the event of the year for rabble-rousing doc fans. After capturing the coals miners fighting for their lives with their wives rallying beside them, and then the Homel Ham employees picketing in the freezing cold, Kopple closes her union doc trilogy by observing contract workers at UPS and Amazon, plus deliveristas peddling food app orders around the Big Apple. Expect a fiery fight for fair wages in the age of the gig economy and widening inequality. Harlan County is my pick for the best documentary ever made, and American Dream easily has its rightful place in the top ten, too, so Kopple’s late career completion of an unofficial trilogy really should be something to be seen. Pay your dues and buy a ticket.
Closing Night
Programme: Special Presentations
I love movies where the Acting chomps with a capital A. Closing Night sounds like just the ticket in that regard. Sarah Paulson stars as an actress who invites her family to her Broadway show following years of estrangement and nobody quite knows how to receive the gesture. Add to the mix some powerhouse players in the ensemble including Naomi Watts, Dianne Wiest, and Marty Supreme breakout Odessa A’zion and the film has all the ingredients for an actors’ showpiece that offers a substantial palette cleanser amid heavier festival fare. This feature directorial debut from Australian actor Cody Fern (American Horror Story, The Assassination of Gianni Versace) and co-written by Canadian actor Devon Bostick has encouraging early buzz and could be among the bigger sales titles. Plus: three cheers to any film that lets Dianne Wiest make rent.
Honourable mentions: The Debut, Musk (maybe?), Ancestors, Everest: The Other Side, and [best Glenn Close voice] La Bola Negra. Plus, those guys in Coward have insane chemistry… get them a hockey series!
Hailey Passmore
Ink
Programme: Special Presentations
I find the way that Danny Boyle directs to be so interesting, unique, and yet somehow distinct with each film. There might recognizable elements across his work, but unlike other auteurs, he changes it up project by project. Perhaps it comes down to the fact that the pieces he directs but does not write give him a new perspective. Either way, with Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell and Claire Foy announced for his newest feature, Ink, what reason is there not to be excited? It’s an intriguing story about a group of misfits and dreamers coming up with one idea for news that could change the world.
Julián
Programme: Centrepiece
I am a sucker for Cartoon Saloon films since discovering them just a few short years ago. The studio behind Wolfwalkers and Song of the Sea are now bringing what feels like a touching coming of age piece about a young boy who wants to be a mermaid. Focusing on finding ways to be accepted for who you truly are in a form of art can bring more emotions to the forefront.
Ken Russell’s The Devils
Programme: TIFF Classics
You had me at “TIFF Classics.” There is truly nothing better than watching such a highly acclaimed film on the big screen, especially with a film festival audience. Russell’s film is a frantic account of a witchcraft trial, the Loudun possessions, from 17th-century France. Bring me a 4K restoration, witchcraft, historical fiction-esque films and let me watch them on the big screen for the first time: that is how cinema is meant to be experienced.
Andrew Roberts
Ken Russell’s The Devils
Programme: TIFF Classics
In the realm of heavily stylized sexual explorations of faith, Ken Russell has always been an inspiring filmmaker to me. However, The Devils, known to be Russell’s masterpiece, has long been an elusive film to track down since it was never given a physical media release. The only time I have seen it was on an awful standard definition stream through the Criterion Channel in 2024. So for TIFF to be premiering a new restoration of the director’s cut, Russell’s fans have been given justice and will be breaking bread at this year’s festival.
All of a Sudden
Programme: Special Presentations
Filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi has a perfect track record at TIFF. From his Oscar-winning Drive My Car in 2021 to his epic environmental treatise Evil Does Not Exist in 2023, Hamaguchi’s soft and patient outlook on interpersonal strife has become a staple in any festival lineup when he comes to town. Although the over-three-hour runtime of All of a Sudden may seem like a big ask, Hamaguchi has certainly earned our attention at this point.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney
Programme: Midnight Madness
If the title of the film didn’t pique your interest already, the details of this political biopic on former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney have been closely kept under wraps. The word on the street says it is a totally bizarre project from Winnipeg native Matthew Rankin, whose last feature Universal Language married provincial pride with dry satirical indifference. Who doesn’t love a mysterious whatzit around festival time?
Honourable mentions: Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, Fjord, and The Unknown
Courtney Small
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother
Programme: Special Presentations
The story of a Muslim hitman who is a family man with a strict moral code, Bassam Tariq’s latest film Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is high on my must-see list. Sounding like a mixture of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai and Lone Wolf and Cub and centered around a contract killer who refuses to use a gun and only kills those who are truly evil, Tariq’s film is too intriguing to pass up. Throw in Mahershala Ali in the lead and you have the makings of a thriller that should deliver plenty of style and substance.
Union Town
Programme: TIFF Docs
The TIFF Docs programme has consistently produced many of the festival’s best works but is often overshadowed by the glitz and glamour associated with the star-driven works. However, when one of the masters in documentary filmmaking has a new film out, one should immediately run to the theatre. 50 years after capturing the fight for rights by labour workers In Harlan County USA, Barbara Kopple is back with Union Town, a work that explores the various battles workers at Amazon, UPS, Door Dash and Grub Hub in the quest for better pay and working conditions.
In the Heart of the South
Programme: Platform
An Inuk-led film that has shades of Single White Female? Take my money now! A psychological thriller set within the Toronto art world, Nyla Innuksuk’s latest film about two long-estranged childhood friends reuniting unexpectedly sounds like an awkward and uncomfortable ride that I want to a front seat for.
Rachel West
Wild Horse Nine
Programme: Special Presentations
A new dark comedy from Martin McDonagh is what we both need and deserve. His signature sense of humour (and swearing) mixed with violence is evident in first looks at the film, which stars Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich as two CIA members sent to Easter Island in 1973, shortly before the Chilean coup to overthrow Salvador Allende. Looking like it was cut from the same cloth as In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, this is guaranteed to be not just a hot TIFF ticket but a potential Oscar contender for its screenplay and stars.
Toy Gun Bandit
Programme: Centerpiece
A simple prank launches 15-year-old Félix (Félix Munger) into an unexpected life of crime when he joins a motley crew of clueless bank robbers in Rémi St-Michel’s Toy Gun Bandit. The gang’s ineptitude draws attention from the real criminals of Quebec City’s underbelly, unwittingly trusting the ragtag group into some serious criminal activities. Fresh, fast-paced, and disarmingly charming, this Quebecois film promises a wild ride for audiences, while never sacrificing the heart of its lead character.
The Daughters of Abraham
Programme: Discovery
One of the best things about TIFF is discovering new filmmakers from around the world, and one to watch this year is Hanaël El Yousfi and her film The Daughters of Abraham. After one wild night has repercussions that ripple through friendships and families, The Daughters of Abraham is a compelling and engaging film that TIFF audiences – especially young women – are sure to connect with.
