Toronto Film Festival Reveals 2026 Short Cuts Program Lineup

The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its 2026 Short Cuts program, showcasing 45 short films from 30 countries across seven curated programs, spanning live-action narrative, documentary, animation, and hybrid filmmaking.

Entering its third year, Strange Cuts — the Midnight Madness–adjacent wild child of the Short Cuts program — embraces genre- and mind-benders from bizarre animation and eccentric comedies to culturally distinct horror and downright disturbing dramatic work.

Highlights include MAMMALIA from Elia Kalogianni, a visually stunning study of pathological depravity, and Quebec-based Daniel «Tètèl» Chérubin’s mood-driven horror Koden’n, rooted in inherited spiritual traditions.

Among this year’s World Premieres are Camille Summers-Valli’s meticulously composed character study starring Julianne Nicholson and Charles Melton, Untitled Woman; Fala Chen’s spine-chilling Bloodline, produced by Colin Farrell; Michael Del Monte’s astute and emotionally layered Fight Kid, executive produced by Derek Cianfrance; and Academy Award–nominated director Shaunak Sen’s quiet, evocative drama starring Faisal Malik and Vipin Sharma, Termite.

Additional standouts include The Spectacular Death of Prisca, a love letter to Nollywood from TIFF Filmmaker Labs 2025 alum Kaelo Iyizoba; and Ophelia Harutyunyan’s first TIFF appearance with the unforgettable sibling drama Fried Chicken & Strip Checkers.

With TIFF’s Best Animated Short Film Award in its second year, the program features eight animated shorts, including Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s latest stop-motion animated comedy, The End, executive produced by and starring Noomi Rapace, with a starry cast led by Denis Lavant and Alexander Skarsgård. Stellan Skarsgård stars in the Annecy award-winning stop motion Please from Anna Mantzaris. Another highlight in the animation lineup is the World Premiere of The Day I Smoked a Cigarette with my Father, co-directed by Sameh Alaa (2020 Cannes Short Film Palme d’Or winner) and Robin Vouters.

Canadian films make up 20 of Short Cuts’ 45 selections, with one of Canada’s most prominent voices in documentary cinema, Yung Chang (This is Not a Movie, TIFF ’19), making his fiction debut with the World Premiere of The Highway. Canadian wit is also on full display, with standout comedies from homegrown filmmakers including Cannes Critics’ Week award-winner Skinny Bottines from Romain F. Dubois; rom-com The Lion Does Not Concern Himself from Zarrar Kahn (In Flames, TIFF ’23, Pakistan’s entry to the Oscars); Logan Graham Greene’s boisterous and sharply scripted The Episode; Christian Smith’s dark comedy Fivehead, anchored by Maddy Foley’s singular writing and performance; and Shamier Anderson’s directorial debut, the mockumentary Call Me Tim.

Films in the Short Cuts programme are eligible for three jury-selected Short Cuts Awards: Best International Short Film, Best Canadian Short Film, and Best Animated Short Film. These awards provide each winner with a bursary of $10,000 CAD. This year’s jury: Joecar Hanna, Chris Lavis, and Iris Ng.

2026 TIFF Short Cuts program

Short Cuts Programme 01

Skinny Bottines | Romain F. Dubois | Canada
North American Premiere

Untitled Woman | Camille Summers-Valli | United Kingdom, USA
World Premiere

When the Ground Paused | Jess Barclay Lawton | Australia
International Premiere

The End | Niki Lindroth von Bahr | Sweden, France, Denmark
North American Premiere

The Highway | Yung Chang | Canada, China
World Premiere

Fried Chicken & Strip Checkers | Ophelia Harutyunyan | Armenia, France
World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 02

Leftover Women | Atalanta Swire | United Kingdom
World Premiere

The Comet | Julie Charette | Canada
North American Premiere

Forgotten Spaceman | Elham Ehsas | Afghanistan, United Kingdom
North American Premiere

Between Late April and Early May | Sophia Smith | Canada
World Premiere

Termite | Shaunak Sen | India
World Premiere

The Lion Does Not Concern Himself | Zarrar Kahn | Canada
World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 03

A Tenderness | Sabrine Khoury | Netherlands, Palestine
World Premiere

Dough Man | Brittney Gavin, Amy Mielke | Canada
World Premiere

Fight Kid | Michael Del Monte | Canada
World Premiere

Terminal | Alexandre Siqueira | Portugal, Spain, France
World Premiere

Under the Same Clouds | Jérémi Roy | Canada
World Premiere

Patronymic | Mariia Ponomarova | Netherlands, Ukraine
World Premiere

The Episode | Logan Graham Greene | Canada
World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 04

El Aumento | Maria Belen Poncio | Argentina, USA
World Premiere

BID16 | Mick Robertson, Margaret Rose | Canada
World Premiere

Beans and Belief | Tenzin Sedon | USA, Canada, China
World Premiere

Yek Rooz-e Shirin | Omid Abdollahi | Iran
North American Premiere

(Haboolm Ksinaalgat) Soul Catcher | Amanda Strong, Pamela Post | Canada
World Premiere

Fivehead | Christian Smith | Canada
World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 05

Bloodline | Fala Chen | USA
World Premiere

Driftwood | A.C. Birch | Canada
World Premiere

Till The Milk Runs Dry | Kalainithan Kalaichelvan | Canada
World Premiere

Almost Pink | Justine Prince | Canada
World Premiere

2:Love | Ronni Shalev | Belgium, France, Israel
World Premiere

Buddies | Fraser Wolfe | Canada
World Premiere

The Spectacular Death of Prisca | Kaelo Iyizoba | Nigeria
World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 06

Aman | Rahul Roye | India, United Kingdom, USA, France

World Premiere

The Day I Smoked a Cigarette with my Father | Sameh Alaa, Robin Vouters | France, Egypt, Belgium
World Premiere

Call Me Tim | Shamier Anderson | Canada
World Premiere

Pacific Spirit | Antoine Bourges | Canada
World Premiere

Imichki | Yza Nouiga | Canada
World Premiere

Please | Anna Mantzaris | Sweden, France, Czech Republic, Norway, Finland
North American Premiere

Moongirl | Victor Boccard | Japan
World Premiere

Strange Cuts

Melk | Filip Anthonissen | Belgium
North American Premiere

Koden’n | Daniel «Tètèl» Chérubin | Canada
World Premiere

MAMMALIA | Elia Kalogianni | Greece, Netherlands
World Premiere

Into The Betaverse | Varun Raman, Tom Hancock | United Kingdom
World Premiere

Madrugada | Sebastián Lojo | Guatemala
North American Premiere

The Dream Is A Snail | Thien An Nguyen | Vietnam, South Korea
North American Premiere