FILM FOOD STUFF-TIFF 2026 - Shortlist Picks

FILM FOOD STUFF 

MY TIFF 2026 - SHORTLIST

29 films, 1 Primetime and 1 In Conversation

Getting ready for TIFF—the Toronto International Film Festival—feels a lot like preparing for a marathon. You have to build up enough energy to be everywhere at once, stand in long lines, run up the stairs for rush films, and generally spend a lot of time doing a lot of things before you even get to watch anything. Going into my 26th year of TIFF’s 51-year history, I try to approach it smarter. I’m not sure I’ve ever reached my goal of doing everything I want to during the 11 days.

This is my second year with Media Accreditation, and I’m still trying to volunteer a bit—less than usual, but enough to stay involved. I’m clearing as many festival days as possible so I can do as much as my body will allow. It’s no longer about how many films I can squeeze into a day; it’s about how many my body will tolerate before it starts screaming at me.

This shortlist reflects films I chose based on subject matter, directors I like, or actors whose work I find compelling.

Working on Real to Reel for a couple of years taught me that everyone sees films differently; art is deeply subjective. The hosts agreed on about 70% of their picks, and often I loved a film they disliked—or vice versa. So I always encourage people to develop their own taste. These are my choices, and sometimes they line up with Oscar nominations, and sometimes they don’t get any attention at all. You never really know until you watch the whole film. Sometimes you connect with something, and sometimes you don’t.

Last year felt overwhelmingly heavy—every major Academy-nominated film seemed dark or depressing. This year, I’m hoping for more variety, and I’m optimistic I’ll find it.

I hope you use this list as a starting point when exploring TIFF’s extensive lineup. I can only see so many films, so I tend to skip very experimental selections, Midnight Madness, and some international titles I don’t always connect with. If those are your favourites, you might not agree with my list—and that’s perfectly fine.

01. Drifter — Sung Kang (United States)

02. Bunker — Florian Zeller (France, Spain)

03. Girl Group — Rebel Wilson (United States, United Kingdom)

04. Always Lalisa — Sue Kim (United States)

05. Babies — Lauren Miller Rogen (United States)

06. Misty Green — Chris Rock (United States)

07. Pretenders — Joss Crowley (United Kingdom)

08. Up Against It — Trudie Styler (United Kingdom)

09. Being Heumann — Siân Heder (United States)

10. Evil Genius — Courteney Cox (United States)

11. The Only Living Pickpocket in New York — Noah Segan (United States)

12. In Conversation With… Chris Rock  

13. Slow Horses — Adam Randall (United Kingdom, United States)

14. Alpha Gang — David Zellner, Nathan Zellner (United States)

15. Bitter Christmas — Pedro Almodóvar (Spain)

16. I Play Rocky — Peter Farrelly (United States)

17. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother — Bassam Tariq (United States)

18. Closing Night — Cody Fern (Australia, Canada)

19. The Debut — Jesse Eisenberg (United States)

20. Everybody Wants to Fck Me* — Jonathan Schey (United Kingdom, France)

21. The Stunt Driver — Michael Dowse (Canada)

22. Whatcha Want — Mina Shum (Canada)

23. Bucking Fastard — Werner Herzog (United States)

24. Faith — Paul Andrew Williams (United Kingdom)

25. The Housewife — Ben Shirinian (United States)

26. Ink — Danny Boyle (United Kingdom, France, United States)

27. Neil Peart: No One’s Disciple — Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn (Canada)

28. Wild Horse Nine — Martin McDonagh (United States, Chile)

29. Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been — Barry Avrich (Canada)

30. Low Lies the Land — Emanuele Gerosa (Denmark, Italy)

31. Musk — Alex Gibney (United States)

TIFF Runs from September 10th to the 21st this year.

Check out www.tiff.net for more info and all the film schedules and tickets.