The Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, today announced its 2026 Short Cuts programme. This year’s selection includes 45 short films from 30 countries across seven curated programmes, spanning live-action narrative, documentary, animation, and hybrid filmmaking.

Entering its third year, Strange Cuts — embraces genre- and mind-benders from bizarre animation and eccentric comedies to culturally distinct horror and downright disturbing dramatic work. Highlights include MAMMALIA from Elia Kalogianni, a visually stunning study of pathological depravity, and Quebec-based Daniel «Tètèl» Chérubin’s mood-driven horror Koden’n, rooted in inherited spiritual traditions. 

Among this year’s World Premieres are Camille Summers-Valli’s meticulously composed character study starring Julianne Nicholson and Charles Melton, Untitled Woman; Fala Chen’s spine-chilling Bloodline, produced by Colin Farrell; Michael Del Monte’s astute and emotionally layered Fight Kid, executive produced by Derek Cianfrance; and Academy Award–nominated director Shaunak Sen’s quiet, evocative drama starring Faisal Malik and Vipin Sharma, Termite.

Additional standouts include The Spectacular Death of Prisca, a love letter to Nollywood from TIFF Filmmaker Labs 2025 alum Kaelo Iyizoba; and Ophelia Harutyunyan’s first TIFF appearance with the unforgettable sibling drama Fried Chicken & Strip Checkers. 

With TIFF’s Best Animated Short Film Award in its second year, the programme features eight animated shorts, including Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s latest stop-motion animated comedy, The End, executive produced by and starring Noomi Rapace, with a starry cast led by Denis Lavant and Alexander Skarsgård. Stellan Skarsgård stars in the Annecy award-winning stop motion Please from Anna Mantzaris. Another highlight in the animation lineup is the World Premiere of The Day I Smoked a Cigarette with my Father, co-directed by Sameh Alaa (2020 Cannes Short Film Palme d’Or winner) and Robin Vouters.

Short Cuts Programme 01

• Skinny Bottines | Romain F. Dubois | Canada, North American Premiere
• Untitled Woman | Camille Summers-Valli | United Kingdom, USA, World Premiere
• When the Ground Paused | Jess Barclay Lawton | Australia, International Premiere
• The End | Niki Lindroth von Bahr | Sweden, France, Denmark, North American Premiere
• The Highway | Yung Chang | Canada, China, World Premiere
• Fried Chicken & Strip Checkers | Ophelia Harutyunyan | Armenia, France, World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 02

• Leftover Women | Atalanta Swire | United Kingdom, World Premiere
• The Comet | Julie Charette | Canada, North American Premiere
• Forgotten Spaceman | Elham Ehsas | Afghanistan, United Kingdom, North American Premiere
• Between Late April and Early May | Sophia Smith | Canada, World Premiere
• Termite | Shaunak Sen | India, World Premiere
• The Lion Does Not Concern Himself | Zarrar Kahn | Canada, World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 03

• A Tenderness | Sabrine Khoury | Netherlands, Palestine, World Premiere
• Dough Man | Brittney Gavin, Amy Mielke | Canada, World Premiere
• Fight Kid | Michael Del Monte | Canada, World Premiere
• Terminal | Alexandre Siqueira | Portugal, Spain, France, World Premiere
• Under the Same Clouds | Jérémi Roy | Canada, World Premiere
• Patronymic | Mariia Ponomarova | Netherlands, Ukraine, World Premiere
• The Episode | Logan Graham Greene | Canada, World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 04

• El Aumento | Maria Belen Poncio | Argentina, USA, World Premiere
• BID16 | Mick Robertson, Margaret Rose | Canada, World Premiere
• Beans and Belief | Tenzin Sedon | USA, Canada, China, World Premiere
• Yek Rooz-e Shirin | Omid Abdollahi | Iran, North American Premiere
• (Haboolm Ksinaalgat) Soul Catcher | Amanda Strong, Pamela Post | Canada, World Premiere
• Fivehead | Christian Smith | Canada, World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 05

• Bloodline | Fala Chen | USA, World Premiere
• Driftwood | A.C. Birch | Canada, World Premiere
• Till The Milk Runs Dry | Kalainithan Kalaichelvan | Canada, World Premiere
• Almost Pink | Justine Prince | Canada, World Premiere
• 2:Love | Ronni Shalev | Belgium, France, Israel, World Premiere
• Buddies | Fraser Wolfe | Canada, World Premiere
• The Spectacular Death of Prisca | Kaelo Iyizoba | Nigeria, World Premiere

Short Cuts Programme 06

• Aman | Rahul Roye | India, United Kingdom, USA, France, World Premiere
• The Day I Smoked a Cigarette with my Father | Sameh Alaa, Robin Vouters | France, Egypt, Belgium, World Premiere
• Call Me Tim | Shamier Anderson | Canada, World Premiere
• Pacific Spirit | Antoine Bourges | Canada, World Premiere
• Imichki | Yza Nouiga | Canada, World Premiere
• Please | Anna Mantzaris | Sweden, France, Czech Republic, Norway, Finland, North American Premiere
• Moongirl | Victor Boccard | Japan, World Premiere

Strange Cuts

• Melk | Filip Anthonissen | Belgium
  North American Premiere
• Koden’n | Daniel «Tètèl» Chérubin | Canada
  World Premiere
• MAMMALIA | Elia Kalogianni | Greece, Netherlands
  World Premiere
• Into The Betaverse | Varun Raman, Tom Hancock | United Kingdom
  World Premiere
• Madrugada | Sebastián Lojo | Guatemala
  North American Premiere
• The Dream Is A Snail | Thien An Nguyen | Vietnam, South Korea
  North American Premiere

2026 Short Cuts Jury

Joecar Hanna

Joecar Hanna is a Chinese-Lebanese filmmaker from Spain. His shorts have premiered at TIFF, Cannes, SXSW, and numerous other prestigious festivals. Talk Me, executive produced by Spike Lee, won Best International Short Film at TIFF 2025 and Best Short at Málaga 2026. He also starred in Alexandre Rockwell’s Lump. Hanna is an NYU Graduate Film alumnus, Ang Lee Scholar, Sony Pictures Classics Marcie Bloom Fellow, and resident of the 51st session of the Cannes Residency (2026). His debut feature, Deliver Me, begins production in fall 2026. 

Chris Lavis

Chris Lavis is an Academy Award–winning director. His first film with longtime collaborator Maciek Szczerbowski, Madame Tutli-Putli (TIFF ’07), was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short. The duo went on to adapt Maurice Sendak’s Higglety Pigglety Pop! starring Meryl Streep. They were nominated for Best Art Direction at the Canadian Screen Awards for Guy Maddin’s The Forbidden Room (TIFF ’15). In 2019, they created Gymnasia, which won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Immersive Experience. Lavis and Szczerbowski’s latest film, The Girl Who Cried Pearls, won Best Canadian Short Film at TIFF 2025 and the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2026. 

Iris Ng

Iris Ng is an award-winning cinematographer known for work that focuses on human rights, marginalized narratives, and auteur perspectives. Her close collaborations with directors on critically acclaimed documentaries, scripted films, TV, digital series, and films for contemporary artists include the Oscar-shortlisted films Stories We Tell (dir. Sarah Polley, TIFF ’12) and Shirkers (dir. Sandi Tan, 2018), and more recently Twice Colonized (dir. Lin Alluna, 2023) and The Last of the Sea Women (dir. Sue Kim, TIFF ’24). 

The 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 10–20, 2026.