Toronto opens 51st edition and launches a film market

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival opened on September 10, 2026 and will close on the 20th, with a program of 293 feature films, 45 short films and 32 premieres. The structural novelty is not a film but a structure: TIFF: The Market, the industry market hosted at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, joined by the John Bassett Theatre as a new festival venue. The picture is reconstructed by the Deadline editorial team based on the official program and by Screen Daily’s analysis of the selection.

The addition of a market is the most significant move of this edition. A festival without a market is a showcase; with a market, it becomes a place where films are sold, and this changes the type of professionals who attend. Toronto arrives at this transition from an already strong position on the calendar: its People’s Choice Award, voted on by the public, is traditionally considered an indicator of the Oscar race.

The program. The opening film is “Being Heumann” by Siân Heder, with Ruth Madeley in the role of disability rights activist Judith Heumann, screened at Roy Thomson Hall. The closing film is “Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend” by Yan Lanouette Turgeon. On the first day, the musical horror “Stuffed”, with Jodie Comer and Harry Melling, and the documentary “Rapinoe” by Rebeca Huntt about soccer player Megan Rapinoe were presented.

Among the world premieres announced by the festival are “The Last Photograph” by Zack Snyder, scheduled for September 13, “A Talent for Murder” by Anton Corbijn, “Evil Genius” directed by Courteney Cox with David Harbour, “Onwards and Sideways” by John Madden, “Diary of a Mad Old Man” by Wayne Wang and “Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo” by Takashi Miike (Gold Derby, Deadline).

The handover between festivals. Toronto also welcomes titles that have already had their premiere elsewhere: the Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Fjord” and “Ink” by Danny Boyle, the opening film of Venice. This is the mechanism that governs the autumn film season: the European festivals award the prizes, the North American one presents them to audiences and buyers, and from there the U.S. awards season begins.

The composition of the lineup confirms the festival’s dual nature: directors with marquee names — Snyder, Corbijn, Miike, Wang — alongside an opening film about a figure from the disability rights movement and a sports documentary. It is a selection built to hold the attention of both the local audience, which votes for the main award, and the buyers who now have a market in which to negotiate.

What we don’t know. The available material does not indicate how many works in the selection are seeking international distribution, nor how TIFF: The Market is organized in terms of accreditation and participants. It contains no attendance figures for the first days, nor the date for the People’s Choice Award announcement. No critical reactions to the films presented on the first day are available.

The first verifiable date on Toronto’s calendar is September 13, with the world premiere of Zack Snyder’s film; the closing, with Yan Lanouette Turgeon’s film, is set for the 20th.