TIFF Announces Star-Studded Gala and Special Presentations, Led by ‘Rocky’ Biopic ‘I Play Rocky’ and Chris Rock’s ‘Misty Green’

On Monday, the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival announced its hotly anticipated Gala and Special Presentations programs, showcasing feature films from close to 30 countries along with celebrated directors such as Danny Boyle, Pedro Almodóvar, Cristian Mungiu, Chris Rock, Mike Leigh, Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda and many more. Some of the highlights of the Special Presentations program include “I Play Rocky,” a biographical sports drama about the making of Sylvester Stallone’s 1976 film “Rocky,” starring Anthony Ippolito as the punchy actor/screenwriter and directed by Peter Farrelly, whose film “Green Book” debuted at TIFF and went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture, and “Misty Green,” a drama written, directed by and starring Chris Rock alongside a loaded cast, including Rosalind Eleazar, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Topher Grace and Anthony Anderson. Popular on Variety The 51st edition of TIFF will run Sept. 10-20 in Downtown Toronto. TIFF further announced that its closing night film will be “Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend,” and no, it’s not about the acclaimed Canadian filmmaker behind “Dune” and “Incendies” but rather a sports drama following the early years of Canadian racer Gilles Villeneuve. That screening will take place on Sept. 19. Here are all the Gala and Special Presentations films: GALA PRESENTATIONS A Talent for Murder | Anton Corbijn | United Kingdom, Italy World Premiere All About Corinne | Marc Fitoussi | France North American Premiere Always Lalisa | Sue Kim | USA World Premiere Atonement | Reed Van Dyk | USA North American Premiere Babies | Lauren Miller Rogen | USA World Premiere Being Heumann | Siân Heder | USA World Premiere Opening Night Film Bunker | Florian Zeller | France, Spain North American Premiere Diary of a Mad Old Man | Wayne Wang | USA World Premiere Evil Genius | Courteney Cox | USA World Premiere Girl Group | Rebel Wilson | United Kingdom World Premiere Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story | Adrian Buitenhuis | Canada World Premiere Misty Green | Chris Rock | USA World Premiere Onwards and Sideways | John Madden | United Kingdom World Premiere Pretenders | Joss Crowley | United Kingdom World Premiere Prima Facie | Susanna White | Australia, United Kingdom World Premiere Run Terry Run | Sean Menard | Canada Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor | Nguyen Phan Quang Binh | Vietnam International Premiere Tenzing | Jennifer Peedom | USA, Australia Canadian Premiere The Assassin(s) | Hur Jin-ho | South Korea World Premiere The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd | Tim Blake Nelson | USA World Premiere The Only Living Pickpocket in New York | Noah Segan | USA Canadian Premiere Up Against It | Trudie Styler | United Kingdom World Premiere Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend | Yan Lanouette Turgeon | Canada World Premiere Closing Night Film A Long Winter | Andrew Haigh | Canada, United Kingdom Canadian Premiere All of a Sudden | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | France, Japan, Germany, Belgium North American Premiere All That She Wants | Scarlett Bermingham, Andrew Rhymer | USA, Canada World Premiere Alpha Gang | David Zellner, Nathan Zellner | USA International Premiere Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo | Takashi Miike | USA, United Kingdom, Japan World Premiere Bitter Christmas | Pedro Almodóvar | Spain North American Premiere Clarissa | Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri | Nigeria, USA North American Premiere Club Kid | Jordan Firstman | USA Canadian Premiere Coward | Lukas Dhont | Belgium North American Premiere Elsinore | Simon Stone | United Kingdom Canadian Premiere Everest: The Other Side | Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi | USA Canadian Premiere Everybody Wants To F*** Me | Jonathan Schey | United Kingdom, France, USA World Premiere Faith | Paul Andrew Williams | United Kingdom World Premiere Fjord | Cristian Mungiu | Romania, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark Canadian Premiere Gentle Monster | Marie Kreutzer | Austria Canadian Premiere Glaxo | Benjamín Naishtat | Argentina, Brazil World Premiere Growth of the Soil | Hans Petter Moland | Norway World Premiere Happily Ever After | Feng-I Fiona Roan | Taiwan World Premiere Hombre al agua | Gael García Bernal | Mexico North American Premiere I Play Rocky | Peter Farrelly | USA World Premiere In Alaska | Jaap van Heusden, Vinnie Karetak | Netherlands, Canada World Premiere Ink | Danny Boyle | United Kingdom, France, USA Canadian Premiere Josephine | Beth de Araújo | USA Canadian Premiere La Bola Negra | Javier Calvo, Javier Ambrossi | Spain, France Canadian Premiere Le Faux Soir | Michaël R. Roskam | Belgium, France World Premiere Look Back | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan North American Premiere Love of Your Life | Rachel Morrison | USA World Premiere Minotaur | Andrey Zvyagintsev | France, Germany, Latvia Canadian Premiere Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? | Shinya Tsukamoto | Japan North American Premiere Paradise Lost | Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea World Premiere Phoolan | Richie Mehta | India World Premiere Possible Love | Lee Chang-dong | South Korea North American Premiere Tender Loving Care | Mike Leigh | United Kingdom Canadian Premiere The Age of Goodbyes | Edmund Yeo | Taiwan, Malaysia World Premiere The Beloved | Rodrigo Sorogoyen | Spain North American Premiere The Debut | Jesse Eisenberg | USA International Premiere The Housewife | Ben Shirinian | USA World Premiere The Julia Set | Niki Byrne | USA World Premiere The Man I Love | Ira Sachs | USA North American Premiere The Stunt Driver | Michael Dowse | Canada World Premiere The Unknown | Arthur Harari | France North American Premiere Whatcha Want | Mina Shum | Canada World Premiere Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother | Bassam Tariq | USA World Premiere