What to know
- Ah Girl is a Singaporean coming-of-age drama about a seven-year-old forced to navigate an unstable family life and grow up before she is ready.
- Always Lalisa documents BLACKPINK star Lisa’s journey from childhood and her K-pop debut to launching her own label and pursuing the Western music market.
- A Girl Unknown explores the emotional consequences of China’s one-child policy through a young girl repeatedly sent to live with different families.
- Light Pillar is an animated feature about a lonely caretaker at a struggling film studio who escapes into a virtual virtual reality world.
- We Are All Strangers is the final film in Anthony Chen’s “Growing Up” trilogy, which explores class divides and complicated family relationships through the parallel romances of a father and son.
The 2026 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is set to take over the city on September 10 and Asian cinema is having a moment, with nearly three dozen films on this year’s schedule.
From resilient coming of age stories set under China’s one child policy to melancholic animated features about hope and technology, there’s a screening for every film lover.
Here are 5 presentations, documentaries and centrepieces featuring the Asian diaspora at this year’s film festival.
Ah Girl
Hailed as Singaporean director Ang Geck Geck Priscilla’s feature debut, Ah Girl paints a painful picture of a young girl who is forced to figure out adulthood before she’s ready.
The film follows Ah Girl, a curious seven-year-old who lives with her sister, dad and grandmother in a small apartment. On weekends, she visits her needy and unpredictable mom, who tries to make up for her absence in Ah Girl’s life with presents. But life comes at her fast, and without the healthy guidance from the adults in her life, Ah Girl is forced to rely only on herself.
Ah Girl will make its North American premiere at TIFF 2026. There will be three screenings at Scotiabank Theatre available for the public to attend: Sept. 16 at 12 p.m., Sept. 17 at 6:20 p.m. and Sept. 20 at 10:15 a.m.
Always Lalisa
Lalisa Manobal is one of the world’s biggest pop stars. Her career as one-quarter of K-Pop girl group BLACKPINK has skyrocketed her to a level of global reach and recognition that few artists can compare to.
A new documentary Always Lalisa showcases what got her to superstar status. The doc follows Lisa through her childhood, K-Pop debut, and creating her own record label — all while she attempts to break into the Western music market.
Always Lalisa will make its world premiere at Roy Thomson Hall on Sept. 11 at 9:30 p.m. The documentary will have a second showing Sept. 12 also at Roy Thomson Hall.
A Girl Unknown
A Girl Unknown follows one girl’s journey as she navigates through China’s restrictive one-child policy. Selected as one of the films in TIFF’s Next Wave lineup, A Girl Unknown is director Zou Jing’s solo feature directorial debut.
When her mom becomes pregnant by a new partner in the aftermath of her father’s death, Wang Juan is sent to live with a childless couple in the city. Although Juan is expected to become this couple’s daughter, tensions slowly chip away at her sense of belonging and she is eventually sent to live with a second family. A Girl Unknown highlights the emotional weight of being abandoned and the pressure to conform to new surroundings.
A Girl Abandoned makes its North American premiere at TIFF, with public screenings set at Scotiabank Theatre for Sept. 16 at 3 p.m., Sept. 17 at 8:30 p.m., and Sept. 20 at 1:25 p.m.
Light Pillar
In a neverending winter set in a future that feels both distant and near, Light Pillar follows a financially struggling Chinese film studio grappling with the death of traditional cinema. In its heyday, the studio was a bustling production studio, with replicas of some of the world’s most well-known monuments.
The animated film follows Lao Zha, the film studio’s lonely caretaker who is one of its last remaining employees. When the studio’s owner can’t afford to pay Lao Zha’s salary, he gifts him a virtual reality headset instead, causing Lao Zha to retreat into a captivating digital world.
Light Pillar is Xu Zao’s directorial debut feature film. Public screenings will be held at TIFF Lightbox on Sept. 16 at 10 p.m. and at Scotiabank Theatre Sept. 16 and 17 at 10 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. respectively.
We Are All Strangers
The third and final film in the director Anthony Chen’s “Growing Up” trilogy, We Are All Strangers follows a family grappling with class divides in a changing world. The film showcases the parallel romances of Boon Kiat and his son Jungyang. Book Kiat is drawn to Bee Hwa, a beer auntie, while Jungyang is in love with Lydia, a model student. When Lydia gets unexpectedly pregnant, all hell breaks loose with her strict mom.
We Are All Strangers proceeds Chen’s first two films in the trilogy — Ilo Ilo and Wet Season — which both premiered at TIFF. Although each film is its own standalone story, the trilogy features the same two lead actors, shot over the span of 13 years.
TIFF will be showing public screenings of We Are All Strangers at Scotiabank Theatre on Sept. 15 at 11:15 a.m., Sept. 16 at 2:50 p.m., and Sept. 19 at 5:30 p.m.
