Written by Nik Mohan

The Toronto International Film Festival returns from September 10–20, bringing another enormous mix of awards contenders, world premieres, major filmmakers, star-driven projects and films seemingly designed to become the next great festival discovery. This year’s lineup stretches from Zack Snyder finally unveiling a passion project more than two decades in the making to new work from Danny Boyle, Werner Herzog, Cristian Mungiu, Chris Rock and Florian Zeller — there’s also some fascinating directorial debuts and genre swings buried throughout the programme.

In no particular order, these are Top Film’s 15 must-see films at TIFF 2026.

1. 'The Last Photograph' — Zack Snyder

Few films arriving at TIFF carry a more fascinating backstory than 'The Last Photograph'. Zack Snyder has been developing the project in various forms for more than two decades, and after years spent making enormous franchise films, he has finally returned to it as a considerably more intimate independent production. Stuart Martin stars as Ethan Black, a former DEA operative who ventures into South America looking for his missing niece and nephew after their parents are murdered. His only guide is a troubled war photographer played by Fra Fee, and the search gradually pushes both men into increasingly psychological and surreal territory. Snyder also served as his own cinematographer, making this one of the most personal films of his career. Its world premiere on September 13 immediately became one of TIFF’s biggest late additions.

2. 'Hope' — Na Hong-jin

Nearly a decade after 'The Wailing', Na Hong-jin returns with a film operating on a dramatically larger canvas. 'Hope' begins in a remote Korean village where a police chief, a young officer and a group of locals attempt to track a mysterious creature — only to discover that they may be the ones being hunted. What follows reportedly expands from small-town panic into something much stranger and more cosmic. Hwang Jung-min, Hoyeon and Zo In-sung lead an impressive international cast that also includes Taylor Russell, Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender. At 160 minutes, 'Hope' is a full-scale genre epic combining monster cinema, black comedy, action and science fiction, while still retaining the unsettling unpredictability that made Na one of Korean cinema’s most exciting filmmakers.

3. 'Fjord' — Cristian Mungiu

One of TIFF’s most prestigious imports arrives already carrying the Palme d’Or. Cristian Mungiu’s 'Fjord' stars Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve as Mihai and Lisbeth, a Romanian-Norwegian couple who relocate with their children to a remote Norwegian community hoping for a fresh start. Their seemingly peaceful life begins to collapse when suspicions surrounding the treatment of their children place the family under intense scrutiny. Mungiu turns the situation into a morally complicated examination of parenthood, institutions, culture and the widening ideological divisions inside modern society. Considering Mungiu previously won Cannes’ top prize for '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days', another Palme d’Or only heightens the feeling that 'Fjord' could become a significant player throughout the coming awards season.

4. 'The Julia Set' — Niki Byrne

One of the more intriguing discoveries in TIFF’s world-premiere slate is Niki Byrne’s feature directorial debut, 'The Julia Set'. Chase Infiniti plays Julia, a gifted young mathematician navigating the intensely competitive world of academia when teaching assistant Pascal recruits her into an elite training programme for the notoriously difficult Putnam mathematics competition. Rather than simply turning mathematics into another inspirational competition story, Byrne appears interested in who gets selected, encouraged and shaped for greatness — and what that pressure does to a young person. The ensemble is unusually stacked for a debut, with Gillian Anderson, Christopher Briney, Jason Isaacs, Nina Hoss, Chloe Bailey and Carmen Ejogo surrounding Infiniti. It could be one of TIFF’s sleeper discoveries.

5. 'Closing Night' — Cody Fern

Actor Cody Fern moves behind the camera with 'Closing Night', a psychological family drama featuring a formidable ensemble led by Sarah Paulson, Naomi Watts and Dianne Wiest. The story centres on a celebrated actress whose life begins falling apart on the eve of what should be her defining performance. The unexpected arrival of her estranged sister, after three decades apart, turns an already volatile evening into a confrontation with the past. Toby Wallace, Odessa A'zion and Julie Le Breton also star. A pressure-cooker drama about performance, resentment, family and identities constructed both on and off stage sounds tailor-made for the festival environment, while seeing Fern make the jump into feature directing gives 'Closing Night' an additional layer of curiosity. The film makes its world premiere at TIFF.

6. 'I Play Rocky' — Peter Farrelly

The story behind 'Rocky' has become almost as legendary as the film itself, and 'I Play Rocky' finally brings Sylvester Stallone’s improbable journey to the screen. Anthony Ippolito plays the young Stallone, then a struggling actor who writes a screenplay about an unknown boxer and refuses to sell it unless he is allowed to play Rocky Balboa himself. Peter Farrelly directs, with Stephan James as Carl Weathers, AnnaSophia Robb as Sasha Czack, Matt Dillon as Stallone’s father, Jay Duplass as director John G. Avildsen and Kiki Seto as Talia Shire. There is something irresistibly meta about watching the creation of cinema’s ultimate underdog story become an underdog movie of its own — particularly as the original 'Rocky' celebrates its 50th anniversary.

7. 'Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother' — Bassam Tariq

Bassam Tariq and Mahershala Ali finally get the opportunity to collaborate after their planned 'Blade' movie never materialised, and the result sounds far stranger — and potentially far more interesting. Ali plays Latif, a highly skilled contract killer who adheres to a strict moral code and devout Muslim faith. When his wife suddenly dies, he is thrown into single parenthood, and a desperate attempt to find breast milk for his infant daughter unexpectedly puts him on a collision course with Hwan Yoon, a far-right religious leader played by John Cho. Giancarlo Esposito, Tramell Tillman, Tiffany Boone and Abubakr Ali round out the cast. Combining action filmmaking with grief, fatherhood, faith and contemporary American extremism, 'Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother' could be one of TIFF’s boldest world premieres.

8. 'Misty Green' — Chris Rock

Chris Rock directs his first feature since 2014’s 'Top Five' with 'Misty Green', and rather than returning with a straightforward comedy, he has made a dark Hollywood satire. Rosalind Eleazar stars as Misty, a once-successful actress whose career has collapsed and who is desperately attempting to engineer a comeback while dealing with financial trouble, an unforgiving industry and her struggling brother, played by Daniel Kaluuya. Rock, Adam Driver, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace and Anthony Anderson fill out an impressive supporting cast. The film takes aim at racism, classism, misogyny and Hollywood’s contradictory obsession with both destroying and celebrating celebrity redemption stories. TIFF has already selected Eleazar for a Tribute Performer Award, making her performance one to watch closely as awards season begins.

9. 'The Debut' — Jesse Eisenberg

After establishing himself as a filmmaker with a knack for turning uncomfortable human behaviour into comedy, Jesse Eisenberg goes bigger — and considerably more theatrical — with 'The Debut'. Julianne Moore plays Mona, a shy middle-aged housewife who impulsively auditions for a community theatre musical despite having virtually no stage experience. She falls under the influence of an intense director played by Paul Giamatti, whose efforts to unlock her potential become increasingly extreme as Mona begins disappearing into the role herself. Halle Bailey, Bernadette Peters and Eisenberg also appear. The premise gives Eisenberg plenty of room to satirise artistic ego and the absurd seriousness of amateur theatre while simultaneously exploring why performance can become such a powerful form of escape and self-discovery.

10. 'The Unknown' — Arthur Harari

Anyone searching for something genuinely strange at TIFF should have 'The Unknown' near the top of their schedule. Arthur Harari’s psychological fantasy stars Niels Schneider as David Zimmerman, an isolated photographer who becomes fixated on a mysterious woman during a party. After following her, David wakes several hours later with one rather substantial problem: he is now inside her body. Léa Seydoux takes centre stage as the film spirals into an increasingly surreal investigation of identity, consciousness and physical existence. Harari, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for 'Anatomy of a Fall', approaches the body-swap premise less as a conventional genre gimmick than an existential puzzle. After competing at Cannes, this could be one of TIFF’s most divisive — and memorable — films.

11. 'Bucking Fastard' — Werner Herzog

A new Werner Herzog film is almost automatically worth seeing, but 'Bucking Fastard' sounds eccentric even by Herzog standards. Real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara play Jean and Joan Holbrooke, two inseparable women who speak in unison, fall for the same man and share the same seemingly impossible dreams. Their pursuit of an imagined place where perfect love might exist eventually leads them toward the distinctly Herzogian task of attempting to tunnel through a mountain. Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson also star. Filmed across Ireland, the movie moves between absurd comedy, striking landscapes and Herzog’s enduring fascination with outsiders who refuse to accept the limits imposed upon them by ordinary life. Few films at TIFF are likely to be quite as unpredictable.

12. 'Ink' — Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle turns his frenetic filmmaking style toward the British press in 'Ink', an adaptation of James Graham’s acclaimed stage play. Guy Pearce plays Rupert Murdoch, while Jack O’Connell stars as editor Larry Lamb, chronicling Murdoch’s 1969 acquisition of the struggling newspaper 'The Sun' and its transformation into the provocative tabloid that would permanently alter Britain’s media landscape. Claire Foy also stars. Rather than treating the story simply as a Murdoch biopic, Boyle explores the excitement surrounding the paper’s original challenge to Britain’s establishment before gradually confronting the ethical compromises and power structures that followed. Given today’s debates surrounding journalism, misinformation, technology and media influence, 'Ink' arrives at TIFF feeling considerably more contemporary than its period setting might suggest.

13. 'Inherit' — Banjong Pisanthanakun

TIFF’s horror lineup gets a major boost from 'Inherit', the latest feature from Banjong Pisanthanakun, the Thai filmmaker behind 'Shutter' and 'The Medium'. Based on the novel 'The Demon’s Heir', the film follows the wealthy and seemingly perfect Manasvanich family, whose glamorous existence hides something considerably more disturbing. At its centre is Woranart, an unnaturally youthful family matriarch surrounded by mysterious deaths and linked to an ancient centipede spirit seeking youth and beauty through possession. Davika Hoorne leads the cast. After five years away from feature filmmaking, Pisanthanakun returning with a lavish supernatural story about wealth, vanity and the terror of ageing feels like exactly the kind of crowd-pleasing midnight discovery festivals thrive on.

14. 'Bunker' — Florian Zeller

Florian Zeller, director of 'The Father', reunites two of Spain’s biggest stars for a much darker examination of marriage and modern anxiety. Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz play a couple whose seemingly stable 17-year marriage begins to fracture after the husband, an architect, accepts a controversial commission to design an extravagant survival bunker for a tech billionaire. What initially sounds like an architectural job gradually exposes divisions involving wealth, morality, fear and the future. Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger also star. Zeller describes the film as examining ecological threats, widening inequality and rampant individualism through the intimate deterioration of a relationship, giving 'Bunker' the potential to function simultaneously as a marriage drama and a disturbing portrait of the super-rich preparing for catastrophe.

15. 'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York' — Noah Segan

John Turturro gets the kind of leading role that immediately makes a film worth seeking out in Noah Segan’s 'The Only Living Pickpocket in New York'. He plays Harry Lehman, an ageing Bronx pickpocket discovering that his carefully honed profession has become nearly useless in a cashless world. After stealing and selling a USB drive belonging to the wrong person, Harry suddenly finds himself racing across New York to recover it before a vengeful crime family catches up with him. Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany, Steve Buscemi and Jamie Lee Curtis join the ensemble. Beneath the crime-thriller setup is a melancholic story about ageing, disappearing trades and a city transforming faster than its protagonist can adapt — all packed into a lean 88 minutes.

TIFF 2026 runs September 10–20 in Toronto. With established auteurs sitting alongside first-time filmmakers, huge performances competing with unexpected genre discoveries, and several films beginning serious awards campaigns, this year’s festival offers far more than can reasonably fit into a single schedule. But if you are looking for somewhere to start, these 15 should be difficult to ignore. (The Guardian)

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