TIFF 2026 Rounds Out Its Lineup: McDonagh, Herzog, Moretti and 11 More Films Join the Bill
The 51st Toronto International Film Festival has added 11 films to its 2026 schedule, bringing the full lineup to 293 titles. The announcement, made on 11 August, fills out a programme that already spanned documentaries, shorts, galas and special presentations across the festival's 11-day run from 10 to 20 September. (Deadline)
Two of the most notable additions arrive from the Venice Film Festival, which runs just before Toronto each September. Martin McDonagh's Wild Horse Nine, distributed by Searchlight, will screen as a Canadian premiere at TIFF after its world premiere on the Lido. Werner Herzog's Bucking Fastard follows the same path — Venice first, then a Canadian premiere in Toronto. Both films were confirmed for the 2026 Venice lineup in late July. (Deadline; The Playlist)
McDonagh's film brings a packed cast: John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Parker Posey, Steve Buscemi and Tom Waits. The story follows two CIA agents on a trust-testing mission from Santiago, Chile to Easter Island during 1973 — the year of the Chilean coup. Herzog's Bucking Fastard stars Rooney Mara and Kate Mara as sisters Jean and Joan Holbrooke, who speak in unison, love the same man and share the same dreams. Herzog based the screenplay on a true story. (Deadline)
Nanni Moretti's It Will Happen Tonight, a co-production of Italy, France and Spain, joins the Special Presentations programme with an international premiere. The film centres on four tenants in the same building in an Israeli city, each grappling with personal problems and emotional voids. (Deadline)
Oscar winner Guy Nattiv's The Liberation lands as a Canadian premiere in the same strand. The ensemble includes Carrie Coon, Lily James, Bella Ramsey, Odessa Young, Tracy Letts and Jaime Ray Newman, with Coon playing a woman who leaves her family to follow a spiritual leader to an all-female commune. (Deadline)
Several titles in the new batch carry premiere designations that signal where they sit in the autumn festival calendar — a film's premiere label (world, international, North American or Canadian) tells buyers and distributors how many earlier festival screenings have already taken place, which affects the film's marketability as it moves toward theatrical release. The Idiot(s), starring Aimee Lou Wood, Johnny Flynn, Vicky Krieps and Christian Friedel, receives a Canadian premiere. The story follows newlyweds on a European honeymoon that detours to Baden and stretches into a years-long stay as one of them, Fyodor, writes his masterpiece. (Deadline)
Michelle Yeoh headlines Bai Xue's It's My Time, a Gala presentation with a North American premiere. Cody Fern makes his directorial debut with Closing Night, starring Naomi Watts, Sarah Paulson and Odessa A'zion, receiving its world premiere in Special Presentations. Peter Ho-Sun Chan's The Road Not Taken also gets a world premiere at the festival. (Deadline)
Two more titles round out the announcement. Stéphane Brizé's A Good Little Soldier, from France, screens as a North American premiere in Special Presentations. And Neil Peart: No One's Disciple, directed by Scot McFadyen, joins the slate — a nod to the late Rush drummer that is likely to resonate strongly with Toronto audiences. (Deadline)
The broader 2026 TIFF programme was already taking shape before this final wave. Earlier announcements confirmed 21 documentary titles in the TIFF Docs programme and a Short Cuts lineup featuring world premieres of short films by Shamier Anderson, Fala Chen and Camille Summers-Valli. World premieres for Chris Rock's Misty Green, Anton Corbijn's A Talent for Murder and the Margaret Qualley-starring Love of Your Life had also been confirmed. (TIFF; TIFF; Buffalo Spree)
Presented by Rogers, the 51st TIFF runs 10–20 September 2026 across Toronto. With 293 titles now locked, the festival's role as a launch pad for the autumn awards season is set. (TIFF)
