Best of the Fest: Toronto International Film Festival 2026

‘La Bola Negra,’ courtesy of TIFF

After 11 days and nearly 300 movie premieres from around the globe, the 51st Toronto International Film Festival came to a close on Sunday, September 20. Cannes breakout La Bola Negra from directing duo Los Javis walked away with the festival’s renowned People’s Choice Award, while Simon Stone’s Elsinore scored the International People’s Choice Award, launching both movies into the awards conversation that will dominate cinema for the next six months.

While I am unsurprised by La Bola Negra’s major victory (the extended standing ovation after the movie’s TIFF premiere screening gave Cannes and Venice a run for its money), my reaction to Los Javis’ big breakout film is not quite as rapturous as the TIFF audiences: the film has some truly incredible visual compositions and an audacious screenplay that boldly explores the Queer experience across modern Spanish history. Still, over the movie’s 155-minute runtime, it ultimately lacks the nuanced character development that I was hoping for, spreading itself a bit too thin to really resonate. I think La Bola Negra has plucked the heartstrings of many on the festival circuit since its Cannes premiere because of its huge, sweeping story and digestible insights into the Queer experience.

I was much more shocked to learn of Elsinore’s TIFF win for the International People’s Choice Award, not only because it is an English-language production (the TIFF rulebook clearly deems any non-Canadian film “international,” which I find rather puzzling). Elsinore in many ways feels like an Oscar-bait movie, built around the triumph of Andrew Scott’s leading performance as Ian Charleson, the closeted star of Chariots of Fire whose last role found him playing Hamlet at London’s National Theatre mere months before he passed away from HIV-AIDs in 1990. While Scott does indeed wow in the role, the rest of the film feels unabashedly manipulative, with unrelenting editing and a sentimental, overused score.

From my perspective on the ground at TIFF, this year’s edition felt extra chaotic: press and public lines were longer, screenings ran behind schedule, and warmer-than-usual temperatures in Toronto made for sweaty treks between screenings, not to mention the inevitable growing pains with the introduction of the TIFF Market this year, which brought over 7,000 new delegates to Toronto. Nevertheless, I pulled through and managed to have (another) great festival, and I left feeling very happy with many of the new movies I caught. Continue reading to check out some of the new titles that had me most excited at this year’s TIFF:

‘A Long Winter’

Director: Andrew Haigh

Special Presentations

MUBI

Adapted from a 2006 short story of the same name, A Long Winter finds the British Haigh working within an American milieu for the first time since 2017’s Lean on Pete, transplanting his source material from the Pyrenees Mountains to the soaring peaks of the Colorado Rockies while still exploring his typical auteurial fascinations with loneliness, longing, and self-realization through the meticulous narrative and craftsmanship we have come to expect from his creative projects. The 1951-set movie stars Fred Hechinger as Mike, or Mikey, whose sweet, rosy cheeks and strapping, muscular physique betray his place between adolescence and adulthood. Mikey lives high in the mountains of Colorado with his family, in a modest cabin built by his father, Lester (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), whose outward callousness gradually gives way to deep insecurity. Miles away from the nearest town, or neighbor, for that matter, the family virtually only has one another for company, rounded out by matriarch Louise (a scorned yet heartbreaking Caitríona Balfe) and youngest child, Tommy (Kitt Connor). When an unexpected mystery—or tragedy—descends on the family of four, Mikey must finally contend with becoming the person he truly wants to be. While the film earned much chiller reactions following its world premiere in Telluride over Labor Day weekend, the TIFF crowds seemed much more appreciative of its elegant restraint and incredible sceneries.

‘Bucking Fastard’

Director: Werner Herzog

Special Presentations

TIFF

“There must be a better world out there,” say the central sisters of Herzog’s latest feature, in exact unison, I might add. The German auteur’s latest foray into fiction stars real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara in their first project together, loosely based on a pair of obsessive sisters who became tabloid stars in 1980s England and seemed to share the same mind. Moving, speaking, and laughing as one, the Mara sisters play Jean and Joan Holbrooke, whose lives are dedicated to their unstoppable search for love. Beginning as an off-kilter courtroom comedy before transforming into something as poetic as the verdant Irish hills where the movie was shot, Bucking Fastard stands out as another idiosyncratic work straight from Herzog’s mind, a true cinematic blessing from the 84-year-old filmmaker. There is something incredibly invigorating about witnessing the Mara sisters bring these characters to life together, as well as the film’s themes of overcoming impossibilities, an idea Herzog has been known to explore throughout his influential filmmaking career.

‘Possible Love’

Director: Lee Chang-dong

Special Presentations

TIFF

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival and runner-up for TIFF’s International People’s Choice, Possible Love is another deeply impactful work from Director Lee that explores the socio-economic class divides in his native Korea. The film pivots around the increasingly intertwined lives of two very different couples, who come together when one of them decides to make a documentary about factory layoffs and the resulting employee strikes that shape almost an entire community. Possible Love runs almost three hours and is deeply rooted in the nuanced dialogue between its characters. Yet, it feels like a demanding but wholly engrossing page-turner to watch, reflecting the director’s background as a novelist. Elegant, intellectual, and ultimately deeply moving, Possible Love has stuck with me ever since I watched it nearly a week ago at TIFF. Netflix handles the film’s distribution, so hopefully the company’s huge audience will appreciate this one as much as I do.

‘Tender Loving Care’

Director: Mike Leigh

Special Presentations

TIFF

Perfectly balanced between its heartbreaking and comedic moments, plus a stacked cast to boot, Tender Loving Care feels like the perfect swan song for Leigh, should this be his final work, as much of the press has speculated. Kate O’Flynn stars as Amy, a London-based social worker who leans on her best friend (Alice Bailey Johnson) when it becomes clear her parents’ health is beginning the inevitable downward spiral that comes with growing older. The movie essentially works in a series of vignettes that follow Amy throughout her day-to-day life, including the tribulations of working within a flawed system, the woes of dating as middle age approaches, and the increasing callousness that life’s heavy moments impress upon us. Simplistic yet impactful, Tender Loving Care played like gangbusters at TIFF and will hopefully continue to gain steam as the fall festival season continues.

‘The Debut’

Director: Jesse Eisenberg

Special Presentations

TIFF

I have never laughed out loud as much at any TIFF screening as I did at The Debut! Hilarious, accessible, and covertly moving, The Debut solidifies Eisenberg as an exceptionally talented writer and director who can shift genre gears between projects while still retaining a personal connection to his creative output. Julianne Moore (who will receive many Best Actress nods for this role) stars as meek housewife Mona Friedman, who on a whim decides to audition for a role in an upcoming musical at her local New Jersey community theater. When she lands the part, rather unexpectedly after a lackluster audition, the musical’s director (played by a caustic but kind-hearted Paul Giamatti) decides to break Mona out of the shell she has been sequestered to for much of her life, leading to an absolutely riotous transformation that includes smoking unlit cigarettes, sporting a toolbelt, and learning to never take “no” as the final answer. The Debut is a kooky but whip-smart crowd-pleaser; more movies should be made in this fashion. Eisenberg is an absolutely brilliant writer/director.

Visit TIFF’s website for more information about the festival.