While some festivalgoers expressed concern that the cautious state of the industry might could cool the nightlife at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF 2026 proved that party city was officially back. The party side of TIFF 2026 was about as busy as the first weekend of the press and market schedule. Hopping from venue to venue, one could see all the celebrities bumping elbows and getting their award season campaigns into gear.

Festivities kicked off with the Toronto Film Critics Association’s annual pre-festival party. This year’s event was at Mercer Lounge in Le Germain Hotel Toronto Mercer, just a few quick steps from TIFF Lightbox and a regular hotspot throughout the festival. (The NFB also held its Redefined celebrations at Le Germain.) The intimate but lively setting gathered local critics, visiting press, plus publicists and industry folks as they compared notes about everything they had seen so far and were excited to see. The buzz builder event generally had strong word of mouth for The Debut—admittedly I was talking it up as a favourite—with lots of love for All of a Sudden, Club Kid, and Minotaur, and some passionate debates on either side for Fjord.

The party was generously sponsored by Redbreast Irish Whiskey, which will doubtlessly be making encore rounds of savoury cocktails come everyone’s Oscar soirée. The whiskey’s poster boy Andrew Scott was the toast of the festival for his incredibly moving performance in Elsinore as actor Ian Charleson as he readies to play Hamlet for the last time while battling AIDS. Buzz over drinks and snacks generally had the crowd high to see films like Wild Horse Nine and Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother with a wide spread of support for the Canadian titles.

Celebrities and critics were social butterflies from morning to midnight, as noted by the jam-packed crowd at the Apple brunch. The streamer was riding high on the enthusiasm for Being Heumann, which opened the festival the previous evening. Much of the Being Heumann team was in attendance, especially star Ruth Madeley, whose performance as disability rights activist Judith Heumann highlights the impressive casting that was generally a talking point of the festival. Also there from the team was director Sîan Heder (CODA) and Twinless star Dylan O’Brien.

But the man of the hour on the Apple front was easily Gary Oldman, who was being fêted for his work on Slow Horses, the sixth season of which is now streaming. Oldman regaled press with stories about his masterful turn as spy Jackson Lamb prior to the event, along with some words about career highlights and roles that got away. (Stay tuned for our interview with Oldman.)

Even the documentary crowd was toasting the festival. Gathering at the Deauville Club with delicious cocktails and some very good red wine to salute Low Lies the Land, the non-fiction crowd had surprisingly high spirits for a corner of the industry that’s doing slower business. Everyone had their elevator pitches ready, and while non-fiction filmmakers might not seem like the “sexiest” TIFF party crowd, they’re actually far and away the most interesting ones to talk to given their passion for their subjects and being well-versed in making tough stories easy to tell.

For the third year in a row, meanwhile, Saturday night was roaring at the Four Seasons with the annual Road to the Golden Globes party. This is the must-attend party of TIFF. The event arguably brings one of the largest, if not the biggest, lists of celebrities as everyone with an awards season push goes to this party to take pride in their in films and performances.

The full house included festival favourites using TIFF as a launchpad for the season, including Andrew Scott and the Elsinore team, Club Kid’s Jordan Firstman, Coward’s Lukas Dhont, Possible Love stars Cho Yeo-jeong and Jeon Do-yeon (with the latter attending the Globes party, but not the TIFF premiere), Josephine’s Gemma Chan, The Julia Set and The Testaments star Chase Infiniti, and the crew from La Bola Negra. Everyone from I Play Rocky was also in the house, including director Peter Farrelly, star Anthony Ippolito, and Toronto’s own Stephan James and Shamier Anderson, all of whom were on a high from the enthusiastic response to the film earlier that evening.

Also working the room was Colman Domingo, who was at TIFF to moderate a Market panel with the Sing Sing team. Domingo was reminding voters and festivalgoers about his scene-stealing turn in box office hit Michael, which is riding its enthusiastic audience response into the season where it’s arguably the wild card of the year. Obsession star Inde Navarette and director Curry Barker were among the celebs with the busiest receiving line, having returned to the festival with one of the biggest success stories of TIFF 2025.

Also present were teams of films looking for a home and to potentially enter the race, either this year or next. Closing Night director Cody Fern was in the room with stars Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts, while Evil Genius director Courtney Cox and star Patricia Arquette were repping their film, and the team of Laika’s upcoming Wildwood was also in full swing, including Jacob Tremblay, who, at 19 years old, has grown into a great sense of style. Also in the room as former prime minister turned movie maker Justin Trudeau, although there were no signs of Katy Perry.

The festival also had some intimate affairs with a stylish reception for All of a Sudden star Virginie Efira at Le Select Bistro. The French actress was flying solo for the film, which arguably put her in a good position for an upcoming campaign given the complexity of her role that juggles French and Japanese, which she learned for the part.

Party-hopping that night and having little but grapes for dinner, I made my way to the Debut party where spirits were high after the premiere. Admittedly, I only stayed for a quick drink since Monday included eight solid hours of junketing beginning with The Debut, but I’ll salute the best film of the festival all year long. (On that note, stay tuned for interviews with The Debut team, Coward’s Lukas Dhont with stars Emmanuele Macchia and Valentin Campagne, Closing Night’s Cody Fern and Devon Bostick, and A Talent for Murder’s Helen Mirren, among others.)

Finally, the buzz for La Bola Negra was riding high on Tuesday night following the film’s thunderously enthusiastic premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre. After the standing ovation wrapped, directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi hit up posh sushi joint Nobu with the film’s cast (minus Penélope Cruz). The guys from La Bola Negra were clearly on cloud nine with the outpouring of love for the sweeping gay romance. Los Javis were working the crowd as were stars including Miguel Bernardeau, Guitarricadelafuente, and Milo Quifes between bites on sushi.

Spirits were highest at Netflix’s party as the electricity of the screening carried into the party and the team was eagerly awaiting news coming overnight about whether Spain would submit La Bola Negra for Best International Feature. It did, so there’s very good chance that TIFF’s People’s Choice Award win will translate to another Oscar victory. Cheers to that.