What to know
- La Bola Negra won TIFF’s 2026 People’s Choice Award, with the film receiving a public screening at TIFF Lightbox on Sunday.
- Smudge the Blades won Best Canadian Discovery, while Sunburn took home Best Canadian Feature Film.
- Ancestors won the FIPRESCI Prize, while Thirteen in Gaza received the 2026 NETPAC Award.
- Angh won the Platform Prize, while Into The Betaverse, Mammalia and Fight Kid won the three Short Cuts awards.
- TIFF wraps Sunday, Sept. 20, with final screenings continuing across Toronto and mainly cloudy weather, a high of 20ºC and an overnight low of 10ºC.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is coming to an end, but festival goers still have a last chance to catch a screening, and celebrate this year’s award winners.
Although there are no official red carpets happening on Sept. 20, sighting a celebrity might still be possible, with several screenings still underway as well as an award ceremony for TIFF’s best titles.
TIFF has also already announced this year’s award winners, including titles like La Bola Negra, Smudge the Blades, and Sunburn.
Final TIFF screenings
With the festival coming to an end, screenings are also ending a bit earlier today. However, there’s still a chance to catch some of this year’s favourites, with some titles including:
- Diary of a Mad Old Man at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 11:50 a.m.
- Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 12:50 p.m.
- Everest: The Other Side at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 2:15 p.m.
- Bucking Fastard at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 3 p.m.
- Elsinore at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 4 p.m.
- Always Lalisa at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 4:45 p.m.
- Alpha Gang at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 5 p.m.
- Evil Genius at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 6 p.m.
- Carrie at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 7 p.m.
- The Beloved at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 7 p.m.
- All That She Wants at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto at 7:30 p.m.
TIFF Award winners
As always, the festival holds its traditional TIFF Awards on its last day, crowning its best cinematic works of the year.
‘La Bola Negra’ wins People’s Choice Award
The jewel of the festival’s awards is the People’s Choice Awards, which allows the audience to pick their favourite titles presented at the festival. The prize is meant to highlight the pivotal role of audiences throughout the festival, and has awarded some amazing titles over the last five decades.
A celebration of acclaimed Spanish writer Federico García Lorca’s legacy, La Bola Negra is a reflection on repressed identity and sexuality, following the story of a young man who confronts questions about his sexuality while being conscripted into the fascist army during the Spanish Civil War.
The film will be screened for the public starting at 12:45 p.m. at TIFF Lightbox.
Canadian films take home major prizes
The 2026 Best Canadian Discovery celebrates emerging filmmakers’ works, with winners earning a cash prize of $10,000. According to the festival’s website, all Canadian first or second feature films are eligible for this category.
This year’s winner was director Cody Lightning’s Smudge the Blades, a comedy that offers an original take on an Indigenous hockey team in Northern Alberta.
Meanwhile, the Best Canadian Feature Film Awards honours the most unique storytelling of the country’s cinematic industry, and all Canadian films (except the ones eligible for Best Canadian Discovery) have a shot at winning and earning the $10,000 prize.
This award went to Sunburn, a coming-of-age comedy that follows a group of young people trying to survive summer’s hottest day in Toronto.
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The jury for both categories include acclaimed Canadian filmmakers, including: Hubert Davis, Deepa Mehta, and Christina Rogers.
‘Ancestors’ wins FIPRESCI Prize
In addition to awarding Canadian creations, TIFF will award its featured international talent with a jury selected by the International Federation of Film Critics. This prize will be given to emerging filmmakers to one of the films to have had its World Premiere at the festival.
This year’s jury includes Pragya Mishra, Cătălin Olaru, Savina Petkova, Enoe Lopes Pontes, and Victor Stiff.
The winner in this category was Ancestors, a 2SLGBTQ+ drama by David Turpin. The film is set in 1980s London, and follows an Irishman looking for his missing friend at a time when homosexuality was still a crime in his homeland.
‘Thirteen in Gaza’ takes NETPAC Award
Recognizing films from the Asia-Pacific region, this prize will award the best Asian film presented at the festival by a first or second-time feature director. The jury consists of three international community members selected by TIFF and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema (NETPAC), including: Mara Matta, Richard Fung, and Panagiotis Kotzathanasis.
Palestinian war drama Thirteen in Gaza took this one, telling the tale of a 13-year-old girl who is living in a displacement shelter after having lost her home and family after a bombing in the Gaza Strip.
‘Angh’ wins Platform Prize
TIFF is also one of the six film festivals in the world to offer a direct pathway to International Feature Film Oscar consideration. Winning films must be non-English language, and will receive $20,000, and will be eligible for Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
The jury lineup includes: Pablo Trapero, Amma Asante, Sylvia Chang, Luc Déry, and Albert Lee.
Indian drama Angh took this prize, featuring the story of a 1960s chief who must choose between his family and a transforming world.
Short Cuts winners
Short films will also be considered for the 2026 Short Cuts, which will choose Best Animated Short Film, Best International Short Film, and Best Canadian Short Film. Jurors for this category are: Joecar Hanna, Chris Lavis, and Iris Ng.
The Best Animated Short Film award this year went to Into The Betaverse, a U.K. comedy by directors Varun Raman and Tom Hancock that follows the story of a man who proposes to his girlfriend in a virtual world.
The Best International Short Film Award went to Mammalia by director Elia Kalogianni, a story of two women living with domesticated animals and having to deal with a power struggle.
The Best Canadian Short Film prize went to director Michael Del Monte’s Fight Kid, a documentary and narrative blend that follows a father who believes his teenage son has talent for martial arts.
What’s the weather looking like?
The end of TIFF also signals the beginning of the fall season, which is officially starting on Sept. 22, but it’s already beginning to feel like it’s here.
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It will be mainly cloudy today, with skies clearing up early afternoon, with a high of 20ºC. Clouds will return in the evening, with Sunday night expected to be partly cloudy with a low of 10ºC.
