Miles Morrisseau
ICT
From animation, comedy, drama to riveting documentaries and immersive experiences, the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival has everything for Indigenous film buffs.
The 51st annual festival will showcase 11 feature films by Indigenous directors, eight Canadian and three international productions.
Jason Ryle, Anishinaabe from Lake St. Martin First Nation, is the international programmer and Kelly Boutsalis, Six Nations of the Grand River and freelance journalist, is the Canadian programmer for the festival’s Indigenous content. This is their fifth festival in those roles.
“They’ve really made a commitment to showcasing Indigenous-made films across the sections,” Ryle told ICT. “This is one of the first times or certainly the longest time there have been two Indigenous programmers at TIFF and also really a dedication to ensuring that there are Indigenous-made films year after year.”
Boutsalis agrees that Indigenous filmmakers are creating works in all genres and fit into a variety of spaces reaching different audiences.
“We have them across so many different sections of our festival. And I feel like that shows the breadth of what Indigenous filmmakers are able to do,” Boutsalis told ICT. “They’re telling stories that can fit in all sorts of parts of our festival. They’re not pigeonholed in one section.”
The festival brings together Indigenous filmmakers from around the world, including creatives who don’t have films in this year’s festival who connect and strengthen the Indigenous filmmaking ecosystem.
“The young up and coming producers and directors are finding their community within the festival. I definitely recall, you know, they were kind of moving in packs at the last festival from screening to cocktail party to the next networking thing and it was really really heartening to see,” Boutsalis said. “Being able to find your Indigenous community within and get to move throughout this very large festival together was something really special and is something that Jason and I have been hoping that we can make this a space for exactly that.”
In addition to featuring film premieres, the festival is a place to network and this year there is a new way to get out and sell the work at TIFF: The Market.
“Turtle Island Rap” directed by Alexandra Lazarowich. (Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival)
“TIFF being what it is, was always an important connector for Indigenous filmmakers, producers, writers, directors, actors to connect to the larger industry in Canada, but certainly globally,” Ryle said. “What’s exciting this year is we have the introduction of TIFF: The Market, which is a massive scaling up of the industry market activities. So professional development opportunities, a market stand, multiple market stands at the convention center in Toronto. Where national screen agencies, sales agencies, distributors will be on hand. Some of the world’s largest companies will be represented there.”
The Indigenous Screen Office has invested CA$2.7 million in eight films premiering at the festival.
“We have five feature films that we’ve supported at TIFF this year,” chief executive officer of the Indigenous Screen Office, Kerry Swanson, who is Michipicoten First Nations, told ICT. “We’ve got ‘Turtle Island Rap’ by Alexandra Lazarowich, a director we’re super proud to support from Alberta. We’ve got Marie Clement’s latest feature, ‘How We Stand.’”
“Turtle Island-Rap” director Alexandra Lazarowich. (Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival)
In addition to the five feature films, the Indigenous Screen Office supported non-traditional works.
“Two immersive projects that will be featured in the brand new TIFF Market Innovation Lab, as well as a short film from very well-known stop motion animation filmmaker Amanda Strong,” Swanson said, referring to “Soul Catcher (Haboolm Skinallgat).” ”There’s a real breadth and diversity to the films that we’re the films and the projects that we’re supporting at TIFF this year.”
Two Indigenous films are in competition for the Platform Award which as of this year offers a direct path to the International Feature Film consideration at the Academy Award. “Brace your Heart” is in the competition and is the third feature directed by filmmaker Amanda Kernell.
“She is Sami and really for me is one of the most exciting not just Indigenous filmmakers, certainly an exciting filmmaker from the Nordic region,” Ryle said. “She did ‘Sami Blood’ about 10 years ago, which I think really is a contemporary modern Indigenous classic. It did very well in Sweden and played internationally for quite some time.”
The other film up for the Platform Award is also the only Canadian film in the competition and was supported by the Indigenous Screen Office.
“One of the feature films we supported at TIFF was ‘In the Heart of the South.’ And that’s sophomore feature by Nyla Innuksuk who did a great film called ‘Slash/Back’ that made its premiere at South by Southwest and did really well,” said Swanson. “Nyla is a really exciting up and coming talent. Another Inuk woman leading the charge on groundbreaking storytelling.”
“In the Heart of the South” still. (Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival)
Another project that is creating buzz is a documentary series that tells the story of a police shooting of a young Indigenous man in Australia.
“We have a TV series in our primetime section, which is TIFF’s series section, called ‘2.6 Seconds: Death in the Outback.’ This is the first directorial debut of Darren Dale, who’s a really well-established producer in Australia, and I’d say one of the globe’s most established Indigenous producers,” Ryle said. “This again too is this incredible docuseries, a four-part docuseries, where showing the first two episodes, and it documents the police shooting of a 19-year-old Indigenous man in the Northern Territory, Kumanjayi Walker and the police officer who ultimately pulled the trigger.”
“2.6 Seconds: Death in the Outback.” (Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival)
Boutsalis recommends the second feature by Cody Lightning, Samson Cree Nation, if you are looking for laughs.
“So first up I would talk about ‘Smudge the Blades’. This is Cody Lightning, who we last saw in ‘Hey Viktor!’ but he’s also an actor in ‘Echo’ and many other things,” she said. “This is his second feature film that he’s written, co-written and directed. And it’s a hockey movie… it’s your classic underdog sports film with who are suddenly in need of a coach and he’s the Zamboni driver that steps in and it’s funny.”
Ed Helms, Paulina Alexis from “Reservation Dogs,” Jana Schmieding from “Rutherford Falls” and more Indigenous actors are casted in “Smudge the Blades.”
For audiences who are looking for drama, director Marie Clements is back at the festival with her latest project.
“How We Stand” is another intergenerational epic from the acclaimed Métis writer and director who premiered her film “Bones of Crows” at the festival in 2022. Based on her play “Tombs of the Vanishing Indian” the film stars Cara Jade Myers from “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Myers plays a single mother who moves with her children from Oklahoma to Los Angeles under the Native American Relocation Plan with dreams of a better life.
The film flashes forward 20 years to find the grown women continuing to deal with trauma from their youth and the ongoing racism of American society.
“Seventeen” is the debut feature film by Métis Writer and Director Justin Ducharme and tells the story of three queer Indigenous youth sex workers who face challenges over a 17-hour period.
Ducharme has written and directed short films and television before taking on this full-length project.
“In Alaska” still. Photo courtesy of the Toronto International Film Festival)
“In Alaska” is a Canadian and Dutch co-production that tells the story of an Inuk man (Leo Matthew Temala) who is on the run from the F.B.I. after shooting a hole in a pipeline. The film is co-directed and co-written by Japp Van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak, Inuk, who is well known in the north as a host on Inuit television and his role as Jeffrey in “North of North.”
The other international Indigenous films at the festival are “Angh” directed by Theja Rio, Nagaland, India and “God Bless You, Mr. Kopu” directed by Alex Liu who is Tonga amd Aotearoa.
The festival runs until Sept. 20. For a full list of films check out their website at www.tiff.net.
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