September 2, 2026

TIFF 2026 brings a major wave of Asian cinema to Toronto

With the festival opening September 10, this year's slate spans Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino cinema — including a Korean political thriller headlining Gala Presentations and the first Filipino film to compete in TIFF's Platform section.

The 51st Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10–20, and Asian cinema has a notably large footprint on this year’s slate — outlets covering the lineup have counted close to three dozen films from the region across the festival’s programs.

On the Korean side, Hur Jin-ho’s political thriller The Assassin(s) — set in the aftermath of the real-life 1974 attempt on President Park Chung-hee’s life — headlines the Gala Presentations with a cast led by Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il, and Lee Min-ho. Yoon Dan-bi returns to TIFF with The World Before, a coming-of-age story screening in the festival’s Platform competition, Yeon Sang-ho (Train to Busan) brings a new feature, Paradise Lost, and Kyu Bock Youm’s Long Long Night premieres in Centrepiece.

Japanese cinema is well represented too: Miwa Nishikawa’s Children Untold opens the Platform program, Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda brings Look Back as a North American Premiere, and genre veterans Shinya Tsukamoto and Takashi Miike both premiere new work — Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People? and Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo, respectively.

Chinese-language cinema spans the mainland, Hong Kong, and beyond: director Zou Jing’s A Girl Unknown examines the lasting emotional effects of China’s one-child policy, Xu Zao’s Light Pillar and Yonfan’s Intermission both screen in Centrepiece, and Simon Liu’s Splits in Two brings a Hong Kong perspective to the experimental Wavelengths sidebar.

Beyond the usual three, this year marks real firsts: Lawrence Fajardo’s Silenced Nights is the first Filipino film to compete in TIFF’s Platform section in its 11-year history, and Nguyen Phan Quang Binh’s Spirit Guardians: The Last Secret of the First Emperor brings Vietnamese cinema to the Gala Presentations lineup.

We’ll be tracking acquisition news, premiere reactions, and North American distribution deals out of Toronto as the festival unfolds.

Source: TIFF press materials