TIFF 2026: The Latest Wave of Announcements — What's Screening in Toronto This September
The Toronto International Film Festival is deep into its summer rollout, and this week's "TIFF Takeover 2" round of reveals has filled in some of the biggest remaining blanks in the 51st edition's program. With the festival running September 10–20 in Toronto, here's a look at everything TIFF has unveiled in its latest batch of announcements — and why several of these selections should be on Cup of Soul Show's radar for diaspora and global-culture coverage.
Centrepiece: 54 Films, 50 Countries
TIFF's main slate, Centrepiece — presented by Intrepid Travel — is the festival's broadest showcase of global cinema, and this year's edition spans films from 50 countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, the Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Hong Kong, Nigeria, and Thailand. Ten world premieres headline the section, among them Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini's Four Seasons in Java (Andini won TIFF's Platform Award in 2021 for Yuni) and Karthik Subbaraj's Dorothy, produced by Oscar winner Guneet Monga.
The section also brings several buzzy titles fresh off their Cannes premieres, including Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo's Camera d'Or-winning Ben'Imana (Rwanda/Gabon/France/Norway) and Rafiki Fariala's Congo Boy, a co-production spanning the Central African Republic, France, DR Congo, and Italy — two films that put African filmmaking squarely in the festival's international-premiere spotlight.
Wavelengths & TIFF Classics
For audiences chasing more experimental and archival work, TIFF unveiled its Wavelengths and Classics lineups this week too. Wavelengths — the festival's home for artist-driven, boundary-pushing cinema — features 11 features from names like Angela Schanelec, Radu Jude, Denis Côté, and Lisandro Alonso, whose Double Freedom extends the world of his 2001 breakout La Libertad. TIFF Classics, meanwhile, anchors its restoration slate with a 4K director's-cut presentation of Ken Russell's 1971 film The Devils in TIFF's flagship Cinema 1.
TIFF Docs: Rapinoe, Darlene Love, and Edward Said
The documentary slate opens with the world premiere of Rapinoe, Rebecca Huntt's portrait of soccer star Megan Rapinoe, and includes Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been, director Barry Avrich's profile of the 20 Feet From Stardom singer stepping into her own spotlight. Also newly announced: Edward Said: Between Worlds, Maiken Baird's examination of the Palestinian-born scholar and activist — a film TIFF doc programmer Thom Powers has compared to the impact I Am Not Your Negro had when it premiered at the festival a decade ago.
Primetime, Short Cuts, and the Rest of the Wave
TIFF's Primetime section — spotlighting episodic and auteur-driven television — includes world premieres led by François Arnaud, Bérénice Bejo, Jon Hamm, and Gary Oldman, alongside new seasons of established IP like Carrie and Crystal Lake. The Short Cuts program rounds out the week with 45 short films from 30 countries across live-action, documentary, animation, and hybrid work — including the genre-leaning "Strange Cuts" strand entering its third year.
All of this builds on the Gala and Special Presentations lineup TIFF announced earlier in the summer, which brought in nearly 30 countries' worth of films, Cannes hits like Cristian Mungiu's Palme d'Or winner Fjord, and the previously confirmed opening-night film, Siân Heder's Being Heumann, starring Ruth Madeley and Mark Ruffalo.
Why It Matters for Cup of Soul Show
Between Ben'Imana, Congo Boy, the Edward Said documentary, and Darlene Love finally getting her own feature-length spotlight, this year's TIFF slate has real depth for the diaspora-and-culture storytelling Cup of Soul Show has been building toward. We'll be tracking these titles — and the filmmakers behind them — as our TIFF 2026 coverage plan comes together ahead of the festival's September 10 kickoff.
TIFF 2026 runs September 10–20 in Toronto. Full program details are available at tiff.net.