Frontmezzjunkies reports:  Chapter Three of my TIFF2026 journey introduces twelve bold directorial voices competing for one of the Festival’s most exciting prizes

By Ross

Every Toronto International Film Festival has its red carpets, its celebrity arrivals, and its inevitable awards season contenders. But somewhere between all of that excitement lives another part of TIFF that I have come to treasure just as much. It is where unfamiliar names become unforgettable discoveries, where filmmakers take creative risks, and where audiences sometimes stumble upon the film they end up talking about long after the Festival has ended. As I continue waiting, fingers firmly crossed, to hear whether I will once again be covering TIFF51 with media accreditation, this latest announcement feels like another exciting chapter in the story that has been unfolding over the past few weeks.

Following the Opening Night announcement and the unveiling of this year’s Gala and Special Presentations lineups, TIFF has now revealed its 2026 Platform programme, the Festival’s only competitive section devoted entirely to celebrating exceptional directorial vision. Now entering its eleventh year, Platform expands to twelve films for 2026 and arrives with significant news for international filmmakers. Beginning this year, a non-English-language Platform winner will earn a direct pathway to Academy Award consideration for Best International Feature Film, placing TIFF among only a handful of festivals worldwide able to offer that opportunity. That addition gives this already respected programme even greater significance, while reinforcing Platform‘s reputation as a place where tomorrow’s celebrated filmmakers often first emerge into the international spotlight.

This year’s lineup promises another remarkable journey around the world. The programme opens with Japanese filmmaker Miwa Nishikawa’s “Children Untold“, following a young girl disguising herself as a boy in postwar Tokyo. From there, audiences will travel through the remote jungles of Nagaland in Theja Rio’s “Angh“, the Sámi communities of northern Scandinavia in Amanda Kernell’s “Brace Your Heart,” a rural Anatolian village in Ferit Karahan’s “Djinn Wedding“, and wartime Poland in Jan Holoubek’s “Wild Wild East.”

Canadian audiences will undoubtedly be eager to discover Nyla Innuksuk’s Toronto-set psychological drama “In the Heart of the South“, while Gabriel Martins returns following the acclaimed “Mars One” with “On Behalf of My Son“. Other intriguing selections include Bertil Nilsson’s “Masc“, Lawrence Fajardo’s “Silenced Nights“, John Trengove’s adaptation of “The Smell of Apples“, Irene Dionisio’s “Idda“, and Yoon Dan-bi’s “The World Before“. Looking across these descriptions, what immediately strikes me is the sheer breadth of stories, cultures, and perspectives gathered together under one competitive banner.

The films themselves are only part of what makes Platform so fascinating. This year’s jury will be led by Argentine filmmaker Pablo Trapero, joined by Amma Asante, Sylvia Chang, Luc Déry, and Albert Lee, an extraordinary collection of artists and industry leaders whose own careers embody the kind of bold filmmaking Platform exists to celebrate. Trapero’s comments about returning to Toronto felt particularly heartfelt, describing TIFF as a place where his films have always found a home and where audiences, filmmakers, and extraordinary cinema continue to come together year after year. That sense of community feels entirely appropriate for a programme built around discovery.

What excites me most about Platform is that it asks audiences to arrive without expectations. There are no famous franchises to lean on, no awards narratives already dominating conversations, and often no familiar names guiding ticket buyers toward a safe choice. Instead, it offers twelve opportunities to be surprised. As TIFF51 continues to reveal itself one announcement at a time, this chapter feels like an invitation to look beyond the brightest lights and trust that somewhere inside these twelve films may be the discovery that defines the Festival for you or for me. With Discovery and Primetime announcements still to come this week, the story of TIFF51 feels like it is only beginning to unfold.

The winning filmmaker will receive a $20,000 CAD cash prize. The Platform Award will be presented on the last day of the Festival on Sunday, September 20.

2026 Platform programme (in alphabetical order) 

Angh | Theja Rio | India

World Premiere

Set in the remote jungles of Nagaland near the Indo–Burma border in the early 1960s and shot in richly textured 16mm, Angh follows Anghba, the last surviving chief of an abandoned Indigenous Naga village, who lives in isolation with his ailing wife and mute young son after being deserted by his people. 

Riois a London-based writer and director from Nagaland, India. He wrote and directed the short films Checkpost (2018), Angh (2021), Remains (2024), and Ade (On a Sunday) (2024). Angh is his feature directorial debut and an expansion of his short by the same name.

Brace Your Heart | Amanda Kernell | Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Bulgaria

World Premiere 

Kernell’s luminous third drama is a quietly devastating portrait of love, resilience, and the enduring strength of Sámi women. 

Kernellwas born in Umeå, Sweden, to a Sámi father and Swedish mother. She holds a degree from the National Film School of Denmark. Her directorial credits include the short film Stoerre Vaerie (Northern Great Mountain) (2015) and the features Sami Blood (2016), which played the Festival, and Charter (2020).

Children Untold | Miwa Nishikawa | Japan

World Premiere 

Opening film

A longtime collaborator of Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nishikawa adapted Children Untold from her own unpublished novel. It follows a 12-year-old girl who disguises herself as a boy to survive in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War in Tokyo. Featuring Ami Koyae, Fumi Nikaido, and Koji Yakusho.

Nishikawa was born in Hiroshima, Japan. Her writing and directing credits include the feature films Wild Berries (2003), Dear Doctor (2009), and the Festival Official Selections Dreams for Sale (2012) and Under the Open Sky (2020). 

Djinn Wedding | Ferit Karahan | Turkey

World Premiere

Set in a remote Anatolian village, Karahan’s Djinn Wedding is an impressive family drama that unravels family secrets and conflicts across three periods of time. Carried by a supreme cast including Demet Özdemir, Kaan Yildirim, İlhan Şen, and Sarp Bozkurt, the film swings between belief, hope, and dissolution.

Karahan was born in Muş, Turkey. His writing and directing credits include The Fall from Heaven (2013), Brother’s Keeper (2021), which won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale, and The Death of Black Horses (2025).

Idda | Irene Dionisio | Italy

World Premiere 

This is Dionisio’s sophomore feature, which she co-penned alongside Marco Borromei. Idda takes an epic approach to unearthing the packed layers of a stewing friendship. When childhood friends Adele and Sofia reunite to fulfill the broken promise of climbing Mount Etna, they realize that like the mountain, old wounds loom over everything.

Dionisio was born in Torino, Italy. She is a filmmaker and visual artist whose credits include the short films Le storie che saremo (2020) and Murmur (2025). Her feature-length films include the documentaries The factory is full (2012) and Shores (2015), and the fictional feature Pawn Street (2017).

In the Heart of the South | Nyla Innuksuk | Canada

World Premiere

A surprising and exciting swerve away from Innuksuk’s 2022 debut feature Slash/Back. In the Heart of the South is what Single White Female would be if it were set in Toronto, with an Inuk protagonist and a dash of supernatural elements, starring North of North’s Anna Lambe as Yura Ivalu, the latest darling of the Toronto art world, whose virtual reality piece promises to blow your mind.

Innuksukwas born in Igloolik, Nunavut, and studied film at Toronto Metropolitan University. She co-wrote and co-produced the short film Kajutaijuq (2015), which screened at the Festival and was named to Canada’s Top Ten. Her other directorial credits include the short film Breaths (2016) and debut feature Slash/Back (2022).

Masc| Bertil Nilsson | United Kingdom

World Premiere

Nilsson’s debut feature is a tender, unflinching portrait of self-performance, identity, and learning to exist as oneself in an often prescriptive world. The film draws on the filmmaker’s experiences as a neurodivergent gay man navigating the contradictory demands of masculinity.

Nilsson is an award-winning Swedish artist and filmmaker based in London. He has directed numerous short films, including Repair (2023) and Alfie’s Island (2023), and has exhibited internationally with solo shows in the UK, the Netherlands, Canada, and the USA.

On Behalf of My Son | Gabriel Martins | Brazil

World Premiere 

Anchored by a deeply affecting performance from Rejane Faria, Martins’ moving drama follows a grieving mother seeking forgiveness from the families of a tragic bus accident, unfolding as a profoundly humane meditation on guilt and whether forgiveness is even possible.

Martins is a Brazilian writer-director and co-founder of Filmes de Plástico. His debut feature Mars One (2022) was Brazil’s selection for Best International Feature at the Academy Awards. He also directed the shorts Nada (2017), In the Heart of the World (2019), and Pelas Mãos (2021).

Silenced Nights | Lawrence Fajardo | Philippines

World Premiere

For some, staying silent is the only way to survive. Fajardo’s bleak sociopolitical drama Silenced Nights follows a witness to an extrajudicial killing in a Philippines slum as he seeks to make the truth known. The film takes a raw cinema verité approach and echoes the director’s previous works, including The Hearing. 

Fajardo is a Filipino director from Bacolod City in the Philippines. His writing and directing credits include Amok (2011), Posas (2012), and Invisible (2015), which screened at the Festival.

The Smell of Apples | John Trengove | South Africa, Netherlands, Chile

World Premiere 

In Trengove’s relentless third feature, a sheltered 11-year-old white South African boy gradually comes to realise the horrors of the apartheid system. Adapted from South African writer Mark Behr’s 1993 bestselling novel of the same name.

Trengove is an award-winning South African writer and director who holds an MFA from New York University. His features include The Wound (2017), which was South Africa’s selection for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, and Manodrome (2023).

The World Before | Yoon Dan-bi | South Korea

World Premiere 

In her second narrative feature, Dan-bi (Moving On) turns her attention from childhood to adolescence with a tender, sharply observed portrait of first love and growing up. This coming-of-age story follows two teenagers, childhood best friends, who reunite for a summer on a small rural island in Korea.

Dan-bi is a South Korean filmmaker who holds a BFA in Theatre and Film from Kookmin University. Her film credits include the short film Fireworks (2015) and the feature film Moving On (2019), which debuted in Busan and won the NETPAC and DGK Awards.

Wild Wild East | Jan Holoubek | Poland

World Premiere 

Set in occupied Poland in the middle of the Second World War, Holoubek’s tour de force is part suspenseful western, part gritty wartime noir. 

Holoubek was born in Warsaw, Poland. His directing credits include the series The Mire (2018–2024) and High Water (2024), as well as the feature 25 Years of Innocence (2020).

2026 Platform Jury:

“It is a true honour to return to Toronto as President of the Platform Jury, having had all of my films screened here over the years. TIFF has always felt like home to me. Every time I’ve come back, I’ve been warmly welcomed, and I’ve always felt that my films have found a special connection with TIFF audiences.

I’m delighted to return in this new role as a way of giving back to TIFF, to its audiences, and to the wonderful films it champions. I’m deeply grateful for everything the Festival has given me over the years, and for all that it continues to give filmmakers from around the world as one of cinema’s most important annual meeting places — a festival where audiences, artists, and extraordinary films come together year after year.” —Pablo Trapero, Platform Jury President 2026 

Pablo Trapero, Jury President 

Pablo Trapero is a producer, director, and writer whose films have premiered at the world’s leading festivals. Every one of his feature films has screened at TIFF since 1999, most recently & Sons (TIFF ’25). His debut feature, Crane World (Mundo grúa), won an International Critics’ Week award at Venice, where he received the Silver Lion for Best Director in 2015 for The Clan. Trapero has directed several high-profile television series, including Gordon, which premieres on Netflix this year. His work has been honoured by Spain’s Goya Awards, Argentina’s Sur Awards, and Mexico’s Ariel Awards, among others. Trapero was named a Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France’s Ministry of Culture and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Amma Asante

Amma Asante is an award-winning writer and director. With her debut feature, A Way of Life (TIFF ’04), she became the first Black director to win a BAFTA award for writing and directing a feature film. Her acclaimed films include Belle (TIFF ’13), A United Kingdom (TIFF ’16), and Where Hands Touch (TIFF ’18). Her television credits include Mrs. America, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Smilla’s Sense of Snow. Asante is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Sylvia Chang

Sylvia Chang is a renowned actor, screenwriter, director, and producer whose career spans more than five decades and over 100 films. A multiple Hong Kong Film Award and Taipei Golden Horse Award winner, she received the Asian Film Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. She is devoted to fostering emerging talent through filmmaking and mentorship initiatives.

Luc Déry

Luc Déry founded the production company micro_scope in 2002. He has produced over 30 features, all selected by major international festivals and together earning more than 100 awards. Both Incendies (TIFF ’10) and Monsieur Lazhar (TIFF ’11) were nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Other notable features include Gabrielle (TIFF ’13), Tu Dors Nicole (TIFF ’14), My Salinger Year, Drunken Birds (TIFF ’21), Viking (TIFF ’22), Shepherds (TIFF ’24), and Lovely Day (TIFF ’25). 

Albert Lee

Albert Lee has served as Executive Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society since 2018. With more than four decades of experience spanning film production, distribution, exhibition, and corporate management, he has played a significant role in Hong Kong cinema’s Golden Age, having held senior positions at Golden Harvest and Emperor Motion Pictures. Lee is a member of the China Film Association, the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, and the Producers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.