The twisted musical “Stuffed,” the Iranian political satire “Head to Head” and the Sundance hit “Bedford Park” have joined the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival lineup as part of the Discovery program, TIFF organizers announced on Wednesday.
The section will open with “Stuffed,” a body-horror musical directed by Theo Rhys and starring Jodie Comer as a taxidermist and Harry Melling as a man who volunteers to be her subject. Other Discovery films include David Turpin’s “Ancestors,” which explores the AIDS crisis in 1980s London; Iranian filmmaker Ghasideh Golmakani’s satiric “Head to Head”; Stephanie Ahn’s “Bedford Park,” which premiered at Sundance and will be released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics; Phuong Mai Nguyen’s “In Waves,” which premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar and “Voices,” a 1960s period musical set in Detroit and directed by former college football player Deantè Gray, who was signed by the Houston Texans of the NFL but injured before what would have been his first season.
The Discovery section, which was established in the 1980s to spotlight early works from up-and-coming filmmakers, will consist of 24 films, 17 of them world premieres and seven international premieres.
Recent Discovery bookings include John Early’s “Maddie’s Secret,” Durga Chew-Bose’s “Bonjour Tristesse,” Patricia Arquette’s “Gonzo Girl,” Molly Manning Walker’s “How to Have Sex” and Benjamin Millepied’s “Carmen,” while in the past its selections included the debut films of Alfonso Cuarón and Christopher Nolan, “Love in the Time of Hysteria” and “Following,” respectively.
The 2026 Toronto International Film Festival will take place from Sept. 10-20. Additional programming will be announced in late July and early August.
Here is the lineup of the Discovery section:
“A Common Story” | Anna Foglietta | Italy International Premiere
“Ancestors” | David Turpin | Ireland, United Kingdom World Premiere
“Arne Goes to Space” | Lars Vega | Sweden World Premiere
“Bedford Park” | Stephanie Ahn | USA International Premiere
“Drifter” | Sung Kang | USA World Premiere
“Head to Head” | Ghasideh Golmakani | Iran, Germany World Premiere
“I Am Mario” | Sharon Kleinberg | Mexico International Premiere
“In Waves” | Phuong Mai Nguyen | France, Belgium International Premiere
“Krux” | Tony Vahl | Germany, Poland World Premiere
“Magazine” | Alexandra Pechman | USA World Premiere
“Memories of a Forest” | Katharina Rabl | Germany, Austria International Premiere
“Nosotros” | Joaquín Ruano | Guatemala, Mexico World Premiere
“Purgatory” | Lindsay Lanzillotta | Canada, USA World Premiere
“Salvation” | Tom Nicoll | United Kingdom World Premiere
“Seventeen” | Justin Ducharme | Canada World Premiere
“Sisters” | Ione Hernández | Spain World Premiere
“Strong Son” | Ian Bawa | Canada World Premiere
“Stuffed” | Theo Rhys | United Kingdom World Premiere (Discovery opening film)
“The Daughters of Abraham” | Hanaël El Yousfi | France International Premiere
“The Fortunate Isles” | Helena Girón, Samuel Delgado | Spain, Greece World Premiere
“Voices” | Deantè Gray | USA International Premiere
“We Are Born Good” | Leung Chuen Yeung | Hong Kong World Premiere
“What Lies Between Us” | Amalie Næsby Fick | Denmark World Premiere
“Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and The Burdens of Excess” | Christine Boateng, Hajara Musah Chambas | Ghana World Premiere
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