TIFF 2026 First Lineup: World Premieres Of ‘I Play Rocky’, Chris Rock’s ‘Misty Green’, Anton Corbijn’s ‘A Talent For Murder’, John Madden’s ‘Onwards And Sideways’ & More

The 51st Toronto Film Festival on Monday revealed 64 titles across its Gala and Special Presentations sections, which include 30 premieres from such filmmakers as Anton Corbijn (A Talent for Murder), Shakespeare in Love‘s John Madden (Onwards and Sideways), Chris Rock (Misty Green), as well as the return of two-time Oscar winner Peter Farrelly with the anticipated Amazon MGM Studios Sylvester Stallone biopic, I Play Rocky (opening Nov. 6). It was here at TIFF where Farrelly lit the wick on 2018’s Green Book, which after winning the festival’s Oscar bellwether People’s Choice Award went on to win three Oscars including Best Picture. A Talent for Murder, on which FilmNation reps international sales, stars Helen Mirren as Ripley author Patricia Highsmith. In the crime drama thriller, a mysterious young man from a New York publisher is sent to Switzerland to persuade her to pen one final installment of the Ripley anthology. Olivia Cooke, Alden Ehrenreich and Juliet Stevenson star. Watch on Deadline Onwards and Sideways stars three-time Oscar nominee Laura Linney, Rhys Ifans and Rory Kinnear in a story about a man and woman who are battling Parkinson’s. Mistry Green, repped by CAA Media Finance for domestic and Neon for foreign, stars Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick (doing double duty at this year’s TIFF), Adam Driver and Topher Grace, in pic about a gifted actress who struggles with vices hindering her career revival. A director with a perfect role presents a golden opportunity complicated by their turbulent history. Chase Infiniti stars in Niki Byrne’s coming-of-age drama ‘The Julia Set’ about freshman of considerable talent who is drafted into a math competition, where she’s swept off her feet by a dashing young mathematician There’s also the second feature directorial of Friends star Courteney Cox (the pizza bomber movie Evil Genius starring Oscar winner Patricia Arquette); Tim Blake Nelson’s Amanda Seyfried and Scott McNairy prison thriller The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd which is generating some pre-festival sales buzz; Chase Infiniti’s next feature after her breakout in One Battle After Another, The Julia Set; and the return of Rebel Wilson in the director’s chair with the Jennifer Coolidge-Randall Park comedy Girl Group following her 2024 TIFF world premiere The Deb. Among the notable pics arriving at TIFF, which are premiering elsewhere is Jesse Eisenberg’s Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti community theater dramedy, The Debut, which is getting an international premiere, in addition to the Canadian Premiere of Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care starring Kate O’Flynn, Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson; the North American premiere of Florian Zeller’s Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Stephen Graham, Paul Dano, and Patrick Schwarzenegger thriller Bunker; and Danny Boyle’s Ink which was recently announced as the Venice opener. There’s also a number of Cannes’ greatest hits from back in May here at TIFF: Palme d’Or winner Fjord, as well as La Bola Negra, All of a Sudden, Bitter Christmas, Club Kid, Coward, and Ira Sack’s The Man I Love to name a few. The closing night film on Sept. 19 is Yan Lanouette Turgeon’s sports drama Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend about the early years of Canadian racing legend Gilles Villeneuve. One of the pillars in the fall film festival troika alongside Venice and Telluride, TIFF is not only a place that’s prime to launch awards season fare, but also mainstream fare given the cinephile sentiment of the city, i.e. Lauren Miller Rogen’s second movie as a feature director, Babies, starring hubby Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Dan Stevens, Ed Helms, David Strathairn, Issa Rae, Ashely Park and Sharon Stone. There’s a new film festival sales market launching with this year’s edition which follows in the wake of the biggest acquisition at last year’s fest, Curry Barker’s $750K indie financed Obsession which played in the TIFF Midnight section, was snapped up by Focus Features for $15M for stateside and most foreign, and went on to gross $442.6M at the global box office; the most successful film festival acquisition at the box office besting 1999’s Blair Witch Project. The Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs from Sept. 10-20 2026 Gala Presentations (in alphabetical order):*previously announcedA Talent for Murder | Anton Corbijn | United Kingdom, ItalyWorld PremiereAll About Corinne | Marc Fitoussi | FranceNorth American Premiere Always Lalisa | Sue Kim | USAWorld PremiereAtonement | Reed Van Dyk | USANorth American PremiereBabies | Lauren Miller Rogen | USAWorld Premiere *Being Heumann | Siân Heder | USAWorld PremiereOpening Night Film Bunker | Florian Zeller | France, SpainNorth American PremiereDiary of a Mad Old Man | Wayne Wang | USAWorld PremiereEvil Genius | Courteney Cox | USAWorld Premiere Girl Group | Rebel Wilson | United KingdomWorld Premiere Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story | Adrian Buitenhuis | CanadaWorld Premiere Misty Green | Chris Rock | USAWorld Premiere Onwards and Sideways | John Madden | United KingdomWorld PremierePretenders | Joss Crowley | United KingdomWorld Premiere*Prima Facie | Susanna White | Australia, United KingdomWorld PremiereRun Terry Run | Sean Menard | CanadaSpirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor | Nguyen Phan Quang Binh | VietnamInternational PremiereTenzing | Jennifer Peedom | USA, AustraliaCanadian Premiere*The Assassin(s) | Hur Jin-ho | South KoreaWorld Premiere The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd | Tim Blake Nelson | USAWorld Premiere The Only Living Pickpocket in New York | Noah Segan | USACanadian Premiere Up Against It | Trudie Styler | United KingdomWorld PremiereVilleneuve: The Rise of a Legend | Yan Lanouette Turgeon | CanadaWorld PremiereClosing Night Film 2026 Special Presentations (in alphabetical order):*previously announcedA Long Winter | Andrew Haigh | Canada/United KingdomCanadian PremiereAll of a Sudden | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | France/Japan/Germany/BelgiumNorth American PremiereAll That She Wants | Scarlett Bermingham, Andrew Rhymer | USA/CanadaWorld Premiere *Alpha Gang | David Zellner, Nathan Zellner | USAInternational PremiereBitter Christmas | Pedro Almodóvar | SpainNorth American Premiere Clarissa | Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri | Nigeria/USANorth American PremiereClub Kid | Jordan Firstman | USACanadian Premiere Coward | Lukas Dhont | BelgiumNorth American PremiereElsinore | Simon Stone | United KingdomCanadian Premiere Everest: The Other Side | Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | USACanadian Premiere Everybody Wants To F*** Me | Jonathan Schey | United Kingdom, France, USAWorld PremiereFjord | Cristian Mungiu | Romania, France, Norway, Sweden, DenmarkCanadian PremiereGentle Monster | Marie Kreutzer | AustriaCanadian Premiere*Glaxo | Benjamín Naishtat | Argentina, BrazilWorld PremiereGrowth of the Soil | Hans Petter Moland | NorwayWorld PremiereHappily Ever After | Feng-I Fiona Roan | TaiwanWorld Premiere Hombre al agua | Gael García Bernal | MexicoNorth American Premiere Anthony Ippolito as a young Sylvester Stallone in ‘I Play Rocky’ Amazon MGM I Play Rocky | Peter Farrelly | USAWorld Premiere In Alaska | Jaap van Heusden, Vinnie Karetak | Netherlands, CanadaWorld Premiere Ink | Danny Boyle | United Kingdom, France, USACanadian Premiere Josephine | Beth de Araújo | USACanadian Premiere La Bola Negra. Penélope Cruz as Nené in La Bola Negra Carla Oset/Netflix © 2026. La Bola Negra | Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi | Spain, FranceCanadian Premiere Le Faux Soir | Michaël R. Roskam | BelgiumWorld Premiere Look Back | Hirokazu Kore-eda | JapanNorth American Premiere *Love of Your Life | Rachel Morrison | USAWorld Premiere Minotaur | Andrey Zvyagintsev | France, Germany, LatviaCanadian Premiere Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? | Shinya Tsukamoto | JapanNorth American Premiere Paradise Lost | Yeon Sang-ho | South KoreaWorld PremierePhoolan | Richie Mehta | IndiaWorld Premiere Possible Love | Lee Chang-dong | South KoreaNorth American PremiereTender Loving Care | Mike Leigh | United KingdomCanadian PremiereThe Age of Goodbyes | Edmund Yeo | Taiwan, MalaysiaWorld Premiere The Beloved | Rodrigo Sorogoyen | SpainNorth American Premiere The Debut | Jesse Eisenberg | USAInternational Premiere *The Housewife | Ben Shirinian | USAWorld Premiere The Julia Set | Niki Byrne | USAWorld Premiere The Man I Love | Ira Sachs | USANorth American Premiere The Stunt Driver | Michael Dowse | CanadaWorld Premiere The Unknown | Arthur Harari | FranceNorth American PremiereWhatcha Want | Mina Shum | CanadaWorld Premiere*Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother | Bassam Tariq | USAWorld Premiere The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September10–20, 2026. The inaugural edition of TIFF: The Market takes place the first week of Festival,September 10–16, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.