Helen Mirren, Laura Linney, Rhys Ifans, Erin Doherty and James McAvoy star in three of the biggest U.K. titles world premiering at Toronto and making Variety’s 2026 selection of 20 International Titles to Track at this year’s Toronto.Jodie Comer sings (very creditably Variety suggests), in a fourth U.K. package, gothic rom-com “Stuffed” as romance takes unpredictable turns at Toronto.
Ancestors
Leanne Sullivan
“Ancestors,” (David Turpin, Samson Films, Lunatica, Ireland, U.K., Discovery)Beau, a young gay man in 1980s London, searches for missing friend Tiny. Featuring Éanna Hardwicke, Jack Wolfe, Jessica Reynolds, Rupert Everett and Christina Hendricks, tenderly scored and shot with many scenes of seeming dreamlike revery, a mystery which soon becomes deeper charting the phantasmagoric emotional landscape and aftermath of the AIDs crisis. “Often when there is an event like this, our instinct is not to look back at it, then sort of not to be aware of the ways in which it’s continuing to haunt us,” Turpin tells Variety. Sold by Mister Smith Entertainment. JH
Angh
Jungle Book Studio
Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo
Neon
Brace Your Heart
Credit: Sophia Olsson
“Brace Your Heart” (Amanda Kernell, Nordisk Film Production, Forest People, Compass Films, Invictus, Nordisk Film Production Denmark, Filmpool Nord, SVT, Film i Väst, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria, Platform)“Sámi Blood” director Amanda Kernell talks about responsibility – and how heavy that burden can be. Her protagonist, Ejva, has been harmed but also has her family, and her Sámi community, to consider. Kernell told Variety: “What can be forgiven? And what if you live in a place where everything has to be, because it can be a matter of survival?” It’s not easy, but there’s a way out of the trauma. Speaking up, however terrifying, might be just what you need to heal. MB
Children Untold
K2 Pictures
The Daughters of Abraham
Courtesy of TIFF
Djinn Wedding
Courtesy of TIFF
“Djinn Wedding” (Ferit Karahan, Ferit Karahan Films, Royal Pictures, Maya Films, Arya Yapim, Turkey, Platform)“Can a person who denies their own darkness truly change their fate?” is the question that drove director Ferik Karahan to make his third feature film. A story about family, history and Anatolian folk tales, the film follows four siblings across three periods of time as their dark secrets and traumas begin to unravel during a family wedding. Dealing with the universal themes of loss, guilt and mourning, this is Karahan’s follow-up feature to “Brother’s Keeper,” which won the Fipresci’s Berlin Panorama Award. RP
Faith
Courtesy of TIFF
Le Faux Soir
Courtesy of Goodfellas
Four Seasons in Java
Future Tense
Courtesy of TIFF
Glaxo
Courtesy of RT Features, Rei Pictures
Growth of the Soil
Courtesy of 4 ½ Fiction
Happily Ever After
Happily Ever After Toronto Film Festival
“Happily Ever After,” (Feng-I Fiona Roan, Splash Pictures, Taiwan, Special Presentations)Feng-I Fiona Roan’s sophomore feature follows two sisters pulling in opposite directions: Kitty, the family favorite, is riding a promotion and an engagement to a wealthy man, while Claire keeps disappointing their parents chasing a life of her own. An abandoned cat that lands in their laps cracks open old wounds. Shuhua of K-pop group i-dle makes her acting debut opposite Xuan Chen, with Kuei-Mei Yang and Jack Kao rounding out the cast. Roan became the Golden Horse Awards’ first female Best New Director winner for her 2021 debut “American Girl,” and this world premiere is one of the fest’s most anticipated follow-ups from a filmmaker on the rise. NR
Idda
Credit: Simona Pampallona
“Idda” (Irene Dionisio, Kino Produzioni, Rai Cinema, Andromeda Film, EDI, Wise Pictures, Italy, Platform)A TIFF Platform buzz title, praised for its charm and sensuality, this is a portrait of friendship between two childhood friends who decide to climb Mount Etna, an active volcano on the Eastern Coast of Sicily. Carefree Sofia and the more restrained Adele couldn’t be more different, but they share an unbreakable bond that will be tested when confronted with bottled-up resentment, past secrets and the fear of change as they make their way up the treacherous mountainside. This is Irene Dionisio’s sophomore feature following her 2016 debut “Le Ultime Cose.” RP
On Behalf of My Son
Courtesy of Filmes de Plástico
Onwards and Sideways
BBC/Jonathan Birch
Purgatory
Courtesy of TIFF
Liam Harkins as Danny in Salvation
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives
Courtesy of TIFF
The Smell of Apples
Stuffed
Courtesy of TIFF
“Stuffed,” (Theo Rhys, Agile Films, Fresh Fish Films, BFI, Ffilm Cymru Wales, U.K., Discovery)A taxidermy musical. Finally! But much more, starring Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”) and opening TIFF’s Discovery program. “Odd and oddly touching,” says Variety. A macabre comedy, love story and musical – song no dance, though Comer does prance in one show-stopping turn as she belts out a song. She plays a wild haired anti-social taxidermist dreaming of stuffing a human specimen, Harry Melling, of “Harry Potter” and “Pillion” fame, is Bernie, an anonymous factory worker who volunteers for embalming. A Gothic but tender, especially when they begin JH
Sunburn
Courtesy of TIFF
Talent for Murder
Courtesy of TIFF
Toy Gun Bandit
Courtesy of TIFF
Wild Wild East
Courtesy Madants
