The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled its 2026 Platform program, now expanded to 12 films.
Children Untold, from Japanese filmmaker Miwa Nishikawa, will open the program. Set in Tokyo during WWII, the film follows a 12-year-old orphaned girl who disguises herself as a boy to survive the underworld.
Now in its eleventh year, named after Jia Zhang-ke’s second feature, the Platform lineup also includes Theja Rio’s Angh, Amanda Kernell’s Brace Your Heart, Ferit Karahan’s Djinn Wedding, Irene Dionisio’s Idda, Nyla Innuksuk’s In the Heart of the South, Bertil Nilsson’s Masc, Gabriel Martins’ On Behalf of My Son, Lawrence Fajardo’s Silenced Nights, John Trengove’s The Smell of Apples, Yoon Dan-bi’s The World Before, and Jan Holoubek’s Wild Wild East.
“Platform was created to spotlight directorial voices and this year’s 12-film selection is an imaginative reflection of new auteur cinema now,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “We are honoured to welcome a jury of distinguished artists and industry leaders to inspire and support with their expertise and commitment to global cinema.”
For the first time, a non-English-language* winning film in TIFF’s Platform lineup will now have a direct pathway for Best International Feature Film at the 99th Academy Awards, making TIFF one of only six international film festivals to qualify worldwide.
Platform selection is led by Robyn Citizen, Director of Programming. The 12 Platform titles are eligible for the Platform Award, which will be decided this year by an expanded five-member international jury. Argentinian producer, director, and writer Pablo Trapero will serve as Jury President, joining British writer and director Amma Asante, Taiwanese actor and filmmaker Sylvia Chang, French Canadian producer Luc Déry, and Hong Kong film industry executive Albert Lee.
“It is a true honour to return to Toronto as President of the Platform Jury, having had all of my films screened here over the years. TIFF has always felt like home to me. Every time I’ve come back, I’ve been warmly welcomed, and I’ve always felt that my films have found a special connection with TIFF audiences.
I’m delighted to return in this new role as a way of giving back to TIFF, to its audiences, and to the wonderful films it champions. I’m deeply grateful for everything the Festival has given me over the years, and for all that it continues to give filmmakers from around the world as one of cinema’s most important annual meeting places — a festival where audiences, artists, and extraordinary films come together year after year.” —Pablo Trapero, Platform Jury President 2026
Platform has launched global auteurs like Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, TIFF ’16), Darius Marder (Sound of Metal, TIFF ’19), William Oldroyd (Lady Macbeth, TIFF ’16), Sarah Gavron (Rocks, TIFF ’19), Anthony Shim (Riceboy Sleeps, TIFF ’22), and Yoon Ga-eun (The World of Love, TIFF ’25).
The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10–20, 2026.
2026 Platform Program
(in alphabetical order)
Angh | Theja Rio | India
World Premiere
Set in the remote jungles of Nagaland near the Indo–Burma border in the early 1960s and shot in richly textured 16mm, Angh follows Anghba, the last surviving chief of an abandoned Indigenous Naga village, who lives in isolation with his ailing wife and mute young son after being deserted by his people.
Rio is a London-based writer and director from Nagaland, India. He wrote and directed the short films Checkpost (2018), Angh (2021), Remains (2024), and Ade (On a Sunday) (2024). Angh is his feature directorial debut and an expansion of his short by the same name.
Brace Your Heart | Amanda Kernell | Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria
World Premiere
Kernell’s luminous third drama is a quietly devastating portrait of love, resilience, and the enduring strength of Sámi women.
Kernell was born in Umeå, Sweden, to a Sámi father and Swedish mother. She holds a degree from the National Film School of Denmark. Her directorial credits include the short film Stoerre Vaerie (Northern Great Mountain) (2015) and the features Sami Blood (2016), which played the Festival, and Charter (2020).
Children Untold | Miwa Nishikawa | Japan
World Premiere
Opening film
A longtime collaborator of Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nishikawa adapted Children Untold from her own unpublished novel. It follows a 12-year-old girl who disguises herself as a boy to survive in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Tokyo. Featuring Ami Koyae, Fumi Nikaido, and Koji Yakusho.
Nishikawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. Her writing and directing credits include the feature films Wild Berries (2003), Dear Doctor (2009), and the Festival Official Selections Dreams for Sale (2012) and Under the Open Sky (2020).
Djinn Wedding | Ferit Karahan | Turkey
World Premiere
Set in a remote Anatolian village, Karahan’s Djinn Wedding is an impressive family drama that unravels family secrets and conflicts across three periods of time. Carried by a supreme cast including Demet Özdemir, Kaan Yildirim, İlhan Şen, and Sarp Bozkurt, the film swings between belief, hope, and dissolution.
Karahan was born in Muş, Turkey. His writing and directing credits include The Fall from Heaven (2013), Brother’s Keeper (2021), which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale, and The Death of Black Horses (2025).
Idda | Irene Dionisio | Italy
World Premiere
This is Dionisio’s sophomore feature, which she co-penned alongside Marco Borromei. Idda takes an epic approach to unearthing the packed layers of a stewing friendship. When childhood friends Adele and Sofia reunite to fulfill the broken promise of climbing Mount Etna, they realize that like the mountain, old wounds loom over everything.
Dionisio was born in Torino, Italy. She is a filmmaker and visual artist whose credits include the short films Le storie che saremo (2020) and Murmur (2025). Her feature-length films include the documentaries The factory is full (2012) and Shores (2015), and the fictional feature Pawn Street (2017).
In the Heart of the South | Nyla Innuksuk | Canada
World Premiere
A surprising and exciting swerve away from Innuksuk’s 2022 debut feature Slash/Back. In the Heart of the South is what Single White Female would be if it were set in Toronto, with an Inuk protagonist and a dash of supernatural elements, starring North of North’s Anna Lambe as Yura Ivalu, the latest darling of the Toronto art world, whose virtual reality piece promises to blow your mind.
Innuksuk was born in Igloolik, Nunavut, and studied film at Toronto Metropolitan University. She co-wrote and co-produced the short film Kajutaijuq (2015), which screened at the Festival and was named to Canada’s Top Ten. Her other directorial credits include the short film Breaths (2016) and debut feature Slash/Back (2022).
Masc | Bertil Nilsson | United Kingdom
World Premiere
Nilsson’s debut feature is a tender, unflinching portrait of self-performance, identity, and learning to exist as oneself in an often prescriptive world. The film draws on the filmmaker’s experiences as a neurodivergent gay man navigating the contradictory demands of masculinity.
Nilsson is an award-winning Swedish artist and filmmaker based in London. He has directed numerous short films, including Repair (2023) and Alfie’s Island (2023), and has exhibited internationally with solo shows in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA.
On Behalf of My Son | Gabriel Martins | Brazil
World Premiere
Anchored by a deeply affecting performance from Rejane Faria, Martins’ moving drama follows a grieving mother seeking forgiveness from the families of a tragic bus accident, unfolding as a profoundly humane meditation on guilt and whether forgiveness is even possible.
Martins is a Brazilian writer-director and co-founder of Filmes de Plástico. His debut feature Mars One (2022) was Brazil’s selection for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards. He also directed the shorts Nada (2017), In the Heart of the World (2019), and Pelas Mãos (2021).
Silenced Nights | Lawrence Fajardo | Philippines
World Premiere
For some, staying silent is the only way to survive. Fajardo’s bleak sociopolitical drama Silenced Nights follows a witness to an extrajudicial killing in a Philippines slum as he seeks to make the truth known. The film takes a raw cinema verité approach and echoes the director’s previous works, including The Hearing.
Fajardo is a Filipino director from Bacolod City in the Philippines. His writing and directing credits include Amok (2011), Posas (2012), and Invisible (2015), which screened at the Festival.
The Smell of Apples | John Trengove | South Africa, Netherlands, Chile
World Premiere
In Trengove’s relentless third feature, a sheltered 11-year-old white South African boy gradually comes to realise the horrors of the apartheid system. Adapted from South African writer Mark Behr’s 1993 bestselling novel of the same name.
Trengove is an award-winning South African writer and director who holds an MFA from New York University. His features include The Wound (2017), which was South Africa’s selection for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, and Manodrome (2023).
The World Before | Yoon Dan-bi | South Korea
World Premiere
In her second narrative feature, Dan-bi (Moving On) turns her attention from childhood to adolescence with a tender, sharply observed portrait of first love and growing up. This coming-of-age story follows two teenagers, childhood best friends, who reunite for a summer on a small rural island in Korea.
Dan-bi is a South Korean filmmaker who holds a BFA in Theatre and Film from Kookmin University. Her film credits include the short film Fireworks (2015) and the feature film Moving On (2019), which debuted in Busan and won the NETPAC and DGK Awards.
Wild Wild East | Jan Holoubek | Poland
World Premiere
Set in occupied Poland in the middle of the Second World War, Holoubek’s tour de force is part suspenseful western, part gritty wartime noir.
Holoubek was born in Warsaw, Poland. His directing credits include the series The Mire (2018–2024) and High Water (2024), as well as the feature 25 Years of Innocence (2020).
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