Toronto film festival 2026 preview: Screen’s guide to the Gala titles

Screen International rounds up the world and international premieres in the Toronto International Film Festival’s Gala programme, with details on each title including sales contacts.

TIFF runs September 10-20.

Always Lalisa (US)

Dir. Sue Kim
After winning the Netpac prize at TIFF in 2024 for The Last Of The Sea Women, Kim dives into the very different world of K-pop with this documentary about Blackpink member Lisa (real name Lalisa Manobal) as the Thai singer takes a break from the popular group to launch a solo career and pursue acting (in season three of HBO’s The White Lotus). Sony Music Vision produced the film with RCA Records, the singer’s label, and Morgan Neville’s Tremolo Productions. Kim and Courtney Crockett produced for their Salt Water Productions.
Contact: Sony Music Vision 

The Assassin(s) (S Kor)

Dir. Hur Jin-ho
Set in 1974, this thriller follows a detective, an editor and a reporter who investigate the attempted assassination of Korean president Park Chung-hee. The cast is led by Yoo Hae-jin of box-office smash The King’s Warden, Park Hae-il (Decision To Leave) and Lee Min-Ho (Pachinko). Veteran director Hur’s most recent film was A Normal Family, which premiered at TIFF in 2023. Set for a local release in September, The Assassin(s) is produced by Hive Media Corp, the studio behind hits 12.12: The Day and Harbin.
Contact: KT Studio Genie 

Babies (US)

Dir. Lauren Miller Rogen
Longtime actress Rogen wrote and directed this comedy drama, her second outing as feature director after 2018 Netflix drama Like Father. Anna Kendrick, Seth Rogen, Issa Rae and Dan Stevens star in the tale of a couple exploring parenthood whose divorced friend and toddler move in. Babies received support from California Film Commission’s Film and Television Tax Credit and is co-financed by AGC Studios and Monarch Media, which produced alongside Lylas Pictures. AGC has a good track record at Toronto, where it sold Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman Of The Hour and Richard Linklater’s Hit Man in 2023. AGC and CAA Media Finance jointly represent worldwide rights.
Contact: AGC International

Being Heumann (US)

Dir. Sian Heder
Heder and Apple return after the filmmaker’s last feature Coda debuted at Sundance 2021 before storming to the best picture Oscar the following year. Being Heumann is TIFF’s opening night selection and stars UK actress Ruth Madeley as accessibility advocate Judy Heumann, who led a weeks-long sit-in at San Francisco’s Federal Building in 1977. Madeley earned a Bafta nomination for 2015 BBC drama Don’t Take My Baby and stars here opposite Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O’Brien. Gravity Squared Entertainment, Permut Presentations and The Walsh Company produced.
Contact: Apple

Diary Of A Mad Old Man (US-Japan-Switz)

Dir. Wayne Wang
Asian American cinema pioneer Wang — a TIFF regular since the 1980s with films such as Dim Sum, The Joy Luck Club and, most recently, 2019’s Coming Home Again — returns to the festival with an epony­mous adaptation of a celebrated 1961 Japanese novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. Fan Bingbing and Lily Franky lead the cast in the Tokyo-set tale about an ageing widower drawn into an intimate relationship with his caregiver daughter-in-law. Production companies include Switzerland’s Cinetrain, Japan’s Fourier Films and Los Angeles-based Friendly Giant Pictures.
Contact: Rediance

Evil Genius (US)

Dir. Courteney Cox
Cox’s true crime film is inspired by the 2018 Netflix series of the same name from Barbara Schroeder and Trey Borzillieri recounting the 2003 Pizza Bomber case in Pennsylvania, where delivery driver Brian Wells was forced to rob a bank with an explosive collar locked around his neck. Patricia Arquette and David Harbour star. August Night Pictures is financing and producing alongside Aggregate Films’ Jason Bateman, Michael Costigan and John Buderwitz. Cox’s directing credits including 2012 TV movie Talhotblond, also based on a Schroeder documentary, and 2014’s Just Before I Go.
Contact: August Night Pictures  

Girl Group (UK)

Dir. Rebel Wilson
Australian actress and filmmaker Wilson returns to TIFF with her second feature as director following The Deb, which premiered as last year’s closing night film. Jennifer Coolidge, Nicole Scherzinger, Randall Park, Melanie C, Ashley Roberts and Shaznay Lewis star alongside Wilson in the musical comedy, in which she plays a pop star ejected from the reunion tour of her once chart-dominating girl group and sentenced to community service. Wilson also produces through her company Camp Sugar alongside Matt Williams of Future Artists Entertainment.
Contact: United Talent Agency 

It’s My Time (China)

Dir. Bai Xue
Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh stars in her first Chinese-language film for almost a decade, playing a 70-year-old woman who becomes a TV sensation when a young man (played by Liu Haoran) discovers her rare talent for solving the Rubik’s Cube. Director Bai’s 2018 feature debut The Crossing also played at Toronto. It’s My Time receives its North America premiere at the festival after opening in China, Malaysia and Singapore over the summer. The film is produced by Wen Muye, with General Dream (Shanghai) Film, Shanghai Maoyan Pictures and Media Asia Film Production.
Contact: Vanessa Lo, Media Asia  

The Life And Deaths Of Wilson Shedd (US)

Dir. Tim Blake Nelson
More than a decade after his previous feature as writer/director, busy character actor Nelson, whose early directing projects Leaves Of Grass and The Grey Zone both premiered at TIFF, is back behind (and in front of) the camera for a drama about a teacher in an abusive marriage who falls for a charismatic inmate at a maximum security prison. Amanda Seyfried and Scoot McNairy star. WME Independent, V42 and D Squared Films co-rep North American sales.
Contact: WestEnd Films

Man In Motion: The Rick Hansen Story (Can)

Dir. Adrian Buitenhuis
Canadian Paralympic athlete Rick Hansen, whose 1985 Man in Motion tour was a wheelchair journey around the world to raise money and change public perception of people with disabilities, is the focus of this documentary. (Hansen was partly inspired by Terry Fox, subject of Run Terry Run, another entry in this year’s TIFF lineup.) Buitenhuis, known for his I Am… series of TV biodocs on Burt Reynolds, Heath Ledger, Patrick Swayze and others, directs for Vancouver and Los Angeles-based Network Entertainment.
Contact: Network Entertainment 

Misty Green (US)

Dir. Chris Rock
The UK’s Rosalind Eleazar stars as a talented actress who tries to revive her stalled career in the latest directorial outing for Rock, who also features in the cast alongside Anna Kendrick, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya and Topher Grace. The most recent of Rock’s three previous features as director, romantic comedy Top Five, premiered at Toronto in 2014. The filmmaker and comedian also served as producer on the A24, Macro and Confluential Films production alongside David Worthen Brooks and Peter Rice. Eleazar has been selected for a TIFF tribute performer award this year recognising her performance in Misty Green.
Contact: A24 

Onwards And Sideways (UK)

Dir. John Madden
Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love director Madden explores the lives of two people united by their recent Parkinson’s diagnoses, played by Laura Linney and Rhys Ifans. The script is by Paul Mayhew-Archer, writer of BBC comedy series The Vicar Of Dibley, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2011. Further cast includes Monica Dolan and Rory Kinnear. Hilary Bevan Jones produces for Hilltop Screen, part of John Gore Studios, with fellow John Gore label Icon Film Distribution releasing in the UK and Ireland. Madden played at Toronto with 2010’s The Debt and 2005’s Proof. CAA Media Finance is co-repping North America rights.
Contact: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution 

Pretenders (UK)

Dir. Joss Crowley
Musician Chrissie Hynde, founder of The Pretenders, takes centre stage in this documentary about her rise to fame in the English rock band. Crowley has directed several music documentaries including 2022’s Shania Twain: Not Just A Girl and 2023’s Simple Minds: Everything Is Possible as well as producing Bafta-nominated Freddie Mercury doc The Great Pretender in 2013. Pretenders is produced by Dan Braun, Ian Grenfell and Crowley with UK-based outfit Cross Keys Films.
Contact: Submarine Entertainment 

Prima Facie (Australia-UK)

Dir. Susanna White
Cynthia Erivo leads the adaptation of Suzie Miller’s Tony and Olivier award-winning play as a London defence lawyer whose confidence in the legal system begins to waver after a devastating assault. Miller has also written the script, with the drama marking UK director White’s return to Toronto after 2017’s Woman Walks Ahead. Prima Facie’s further cast includes Daniel Ings, Elizabeth Dulau and Toheeb Jimoh. Greer Simpkin and David Jowsey produce for Bunya Productions alongside Kevin Loader for Embankment Films. Funders include Australia’s Minderoo Pictures and Screen Australia.
Contact: Embankment Films 

Run Terry Run (Can)

Dir. Sean Menard
The backstory to the 1980 Marathon of Hope — a cross-Canada fundraising run for cancer research, taken by athlete Terry Fox after his leg was amputated due to the disease — is explored in the latest documentary from Canadian filmmaker Menard. The documentarian, whose basketball film The Carter Effect was a TIFF premiere in 2017, also produces. Elevation Pictures has set a Canadian release for October 9 and is also selling the project internationally.
Contact: Elevation Pictures 

Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret Of The First Emperor (Viet)

Dir. Nguyen Phan Quang Binh
This period epic follows seven loyal warriors who escort 99 coffins to various locations, so keeping the final resting place of the Dinh Dynasty’s first emperor a secret. The ensemble cast is toplined by Tuan Tran (local hit Mai), Johnny Tri Nguyen, Thien Tu and Tu Long. BHD and Vietnam Studio are producers in association with TV360. Toronto hosts the international premiere following a local theatrical release on August 28.
Contact: Tran Phuong Thao, Vietnam Media 

A Talent For Murder (UK-US-Australia-It)

Dir. Anton Corbijn
Helen Mirren plays novelist Patricia Highsmith in the story of a literary agent sent to Switzerland to persuade the author to write one final instalment in her Ripley series. Producers include Gabrielle Tana’s Magnolia Mae and LD Entertainment. The latter co-releases with Bleecker Street in the US. Corbijn’s credits include 2007’s Control and 2015’s Life.
Contact: FilmNation Entertainment 

Tenzing (US-Australia)

Dir. Jennifer Peedom
Premiering in Telluride, Apple’s Tenzing, produced by See-Saw Films, stars Genden Phuntsok as Tenzing Norgay, the Nepalese Indian Sherpa mountaineer who accompanied Edmund Hillary on the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. The cast includes Tom Hiddleston as Hillary, Willem Dafoe and Caitriona Balfe. Australia’s Peedom directed Bafta-nominated 2015 doc Sherpa. Producers are Liz Watts, Emile Sherman and Iain Canning for See-Saw, alongside Desray Armstrong, Peedom and the film’s screenwriter Luke Davies.
Contact: Apple

Up Against It (UK)

Dir. Trudie Styler
Antonio Banderas and Eva Birthistle play a divorced couple compelled to reunite when their teenage daughter faces a major medical issue. Forest Whitaker and Richard E Grant also star. Styler and Celine Rattray produce through Maven Screen Media alongside Tempo Productions’ Piers Tempest. UK-US filmmaker Styler played at Toronto with 2002 documentary The Sweatbox, about her husband Sting’s turbulent creative journey on Disney animation The Emperor’s New Groove. CAA Media Finance handles domestic rights.
Contact: Beta Cinema (international)

Villeneuve: The Rise Of A Legend (Can)

Dir. Yan Lanouette Turgeon
The festival’s closing night gala is a mostly French-language drama about the early years of Canadian Formula One driver Gilles Villeneuve, who died after a track accident in 1982. Rémi Goulet and Rosalie Bonenfant star for Quebecois director Lanouette Turgeon and producer Christian Larouche’s Christal Films.
Contact: Le Pacte

Profiles by: Ellie Calnan, Ben Dalton, Elaine Guerini, John Hazelton, Jeremy Kay, Geoffrey Macnab, Lee Marshall, Thea Middleton, Cecilia Neri, David Opie, Michael Rosser, Matt Schley, Mona Tabbara, Silvia Wong

• The lowdown on the 2026 Toronto lineup