TIFF 2026: Reviews and Rankings
Saulo and Michelle review and rank the films of the 51st Toronto International Film Festival as they screen. To be updated during the festival.
The 51st Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 to September 20, 2026, with 23 Gala Presentations, 43 Special Presentations and films from close to 30 countries.
THE FESTIVAL
Toronto has run this festival every September since 1976, when it opened as the Festival of Festivals with 127 films from 30 countries and 35,000 people through the doors. It is now the largest publicly attended film festival in the world, and the place where the fall awards season takes its first real shape in front of an audience. The People’s Choice Award is voted by the crowd rather than a jury, which is why its winner gets read as an early signal of the Best Picture race. Hamnet took it in 2025.
The lineup splits across Galas and Special Presentations for the big premieres, Platform for the competitive strand, and Discovery, Midnight Madness, Wavelengths and Centrepiece for everything else, which is usually where the festival hides its best films. Platform expanded to twelve titles this year, and its prize now gives a non-English winner a direct path to Academy consideration for international feature. The 51st edition also launches a formal film market alongside the public festival and brings in Fantasia’s Frontières for the genre side. Reviews On Reels covers all of it, so this ranking mixes the galas with what turns up at midnight.
HOW THE RANKING WORKS
Only films with a published review make the list, ordered worst to best. Every row links to the full review and, once a film opens in Canada, to where it can be watched.
Top 10
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Ranking Everything We Saw
Updated September 8, 2026
