What to know
- Toronto filmmaker Logan Graham Greene is making his TIFF debut with The Episode, a 15-minute comedy premiering Sept. 12.
- The short follows a man who spirals into jealousy while watching his actor girlfriend perform an intimate scene on television.
- The Episode was shot entirely in Toronto with a local cast and crew, including Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Clare McConnell, Jenny Raven and Varun Saranga.
- Greene says the film has an unmistakable “Toronto feel,” with the city’s comedy community helping create its natural chemistry and energy.
- After attending TIFF as a patron every year since moving to Toronto in 2010, Greene says he never expected his own film to make it into the festival and hopes his journey encourages other filmmakers to keep creating.
Would you be jealous of watching your partner acting in an intimate movie scene? That’s the awkward and often uncomfortable feeling explored in this Toronto-set short comedy premiering this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Intimate scenes are a normal part of the cinematic world. It’s common to see heavy moments of kissing, touching, and even sex in contemporary films, as these can help portray deep emotional connections between the characters and even advance the story.
However, have you ever wondered what the partners of the actors involved in those scenes must feel like watching them?
Diving into this polemic discussion, sharp Canadian short The Episode follows a man that has a complete jealous meltdown while watching his actor girlfriend performing a heavy kissing scene.
“We all think about having an outburst or something [in] moments where we’re feeling extreme jealousy… Normally, it’s something you would contain, and you might bring it up to your partner, but you do it at home, I would hope,” The Episode’s director Logan Graham Greene told Now Toronto.
“[This film is] just thinking about what would happen if someone sort of exploded, and then had to deal with the consequences of their actions.”
Written, produced, and directed by Greene, The Episode will be having its world premiere at TIFF’s Short Cuts 2026 Programme 03, on Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Scotiabank Theatre Toronto. The 15-minute comedy explores themes of jealousy, insecurity and the actor’s dating life, while featuring incredible local talent and Toronto settings.
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Capturing Toronto
On top of exploring an interesting discussion, The Episode was completely shot in Toronto, starring an entirely Toronto-based cast and crew, including Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Clare McConnell, Jenny Raven, and Varun Saranga.
But the setting and casting were not the only thing that made the movie really feel like a Toronto creation. As explained by Greene, the movie just seemed to have a “Toronto feel” to it.
“These are like the scenes that we get to see [in everyday life]. We are in these situations on the weekends. We just recorded it and put a script to it, but it feels very Toronto in a way, and I’m not quite sure what that is, but it’s maybe an energy that we all have that kind of shows up in this,” he said.
The casting is also a big part of bringing Toronto and this effortless feel to life in the short film. According to the director, having known each other from other projects and all being a part of Toronto’s comedy community, the actors became immediately comfortable with each other on set.
“To me, the film has a really nice flow to it, and I think there’s a lot going on to feed that and make that sort of feeling there… They kind of came in as friends, so as a director, I didn’t have to get them comfortable. It was just like, ‘Here’s your friends,’”
Perseverance is the message
Growing up in Waterloo and moving to Toronto back in 2010, Greene has attended TIFF as a patron every year since then, but this is the filmmaker’s first time presenting his work at the festival.
Although the director recognized it’s an incredible honour to have his work featured at the festival, he said news of the premiere caught him completely by surprise.
“I really didn’t expect to be like the TIFF movie, the one that got me into TIFF. It was something that we just made for no real intention, it was just like here’s a funny thing,” he said.
“I made this thinking maybe it’s like a straight to YouTube thing… You just never know.”
Greene said he wishes The Episode can inspire other filmmakers and creators to persevere, as success can come when they least expect it.
“Keep making [films] no matter what. Every film is an education. I learned so much from this movie. I learned so much from the one previous, and was able to make this movie better because of it,” he added.
