ACTRA Toronto Performers in the TIFF 2026 Spotlight

The Toronto-set All That She Wants chronicles a casual encounter between a millennial and a Gen Zer — and the life-altering consequences that result. Reeling from a painful breakup, thirty-something Emma decides to nurse her wounds with a night out clubbing. That’s how she meets the cute, charismatic and notably younger Luke. It isn’t until the next morning that the pair’s age gap fully hits: Emma, it turns out, was once Luke’s babysitter. 

Featuring: Alden Adair, Valerie Boyle, Brandon Hackett, Janelle Hutchison, Peter Millard, Annie Murphy, Alexander Nunez, Carolyn Joan Scott, Boe Smith, Sarita Van Dyke, Kari Wong 

World premiere Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 9:30 p.m. 

Weighed down by the sight of Clyde Mortimer, the patriarch in charge of a funeral home in a sleepy small town, and his beloved wife Autumn having to struggle so much in their golden years, their taciturn granddaughter Sam happens upon a potential means of reversing the clan’s decline. Soon enough, people all around town are falling prey to “accidents” that help provide the Mortimer Family Funeral Home with a bounty of new clients. 

Featuring: Brad Austin, Ella Ballentine, Marqus Bobesich, Clare Coulter, Thomas Gough, Deborah Grover, Stuart Hughes, Tom Keat, Don Lake, Louise Claire Lambert, Matthew Lancaster, Cooper Levy, Tony Nappo, Watson Rose, Ordena Stephens-Thompson, Tymika Tafari, Steve Wilsher; Stunt Coordinator James Binkley 

World premiere Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 5:45 p.m. 

The year is 1977. Raised in Brooklyn by German Jewish immigrants, and using a wheelchair since a childhood case of polio, Judy Heumann knows it takes grit and tenacity to get things done. So when Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Joseph Califano refuses to sign meaningful regulations for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the first national civil rights legislation designed to provide protections for people with disabilities, Judy devises a plan to force his hand, beginning with the occupation of a federal building in San Francisco, before going all the way to DC with a diverse team of self-described “radical crips,” creating solidarity through coalitions of marginalized groups. 

Featuring: Ryan Allen, David Ian Hewlett, Lindsay Leese, Tattiawna Jones, Natalie Lisinska, Julie Sawchuk; Stunt Coordinator Darren McGuire 

World premiere Thursday, September 10, 2026, at 6 p.m. 

Anna Lambe leads as Yura Ivalu, the latest darling of the Toronto art world, whose virtual reality piece promises to blow your mind. Presented with a new opportunity to develop a film, she offers to lean into a traumatic story from her youth, which involves a friend who believed she was a shaman. But when that friend, Sesi, re-enters her life, Yura’s sheen of perfection in this polite society begins to show cracks. 

Played with a raw menace by actor Zorga Qaunaq, Sesi isn’t as willing to play the perfect Inuk as Yura is. Sesi infiltrates her home, her art show openings, and her social circle. As the tension builds between the two old friends, Yura’s psychological state begins to falter, as she senses that Sesi is there to replace her, expose her, or worse. 

Featuring: Jefferson Brown, Katharine King So, Anna Lambe, Sera-Lys McArthur, Tara Nicodemo, Alexander Nunez, Ellora Patnaik, Robert Ramsay, Star Slade; Stunt Coordinator Jason Gosbee 

Premieres Thursday, September 10, 2026, at 9 p.m.

While his father is away for work, seven-year-old Julián goes to stay with his Dominican grandmother in Brooklyn. Their time together begins sweetly, if a little awkwardly, but the neighbourhood soon opens itself to him as a place of imagination, new friendships, and discovery. Immersed in the sights, sounds, and traditions of the borough’s Caribbean community, Julián develops a deeper connection to his family’s roots. When he learns of the city’s upcoming Mermaid Parade, he dreams of marching as a mermaid alongside his three new pals. But Julián’s joyful certainty about who he is unsettles his abuela’s expectations, setting them both on a path towards greater understanding. 

Featuring: Milcania Diaz-Rojas, Zariah Georgia Ellis, Stephanie Herrera, Knyght Jack, Yanna McIntosh, Kim Roberts, Manuel Rodriguez, Anthony Sardinha, Avery Star Tibayan 

North American premiere Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 11:30 a.m.

Lucia has spent her life fighting for gay and trans rights, often to the detriment of her own personal relationships. As she gets older, all she wants is to find a facility that can help her with her worsening Alzheimer’s and that shares her fundamental values. But when she enters the nursing home — one that claimed to be trans-friendly — she quickly notices that the treatment she’s receiving, particularly from one very involved nurse, is a far cry from the supportive safety that was promised. 

With the help of some newly formed friendships she makes in the home, she must navigate this difficult environment as best she can, even as her memory begins, sadly, to let her down. 

Featuring: Scott Thomas, Dana Baker, Charlie Ebbs, Deborah Grover, Sharon Hampson, Eva Everett Irving, Daniel Karp, Louise Claire Lambert, Matthew Evans Landry, Taylor Love, Duane Murray, Gordon Rand, David Andrew Reid, Jessica Salgueiro, David John Tomlinson; Stunt Coordinator Shelley Cook 

World premiere Monday, September 14, 2026, at 9:15 p.m. 

A hang-out movie set in St. James Town, a high-rise community in Toronto, Sunburn follows a group of young people trying to stay cool during the summer’s hottest day. The temperature triggers a power outage, which sends them out of their buildings and into the street. On sidewalks, on rooftops, in parks, and beyond, three pairs of kids chat about crushes or play games, each on their own adventure until their paths ultimately intersect. Despite the shadows from the apartment buildings, and the pockets of greenery, you can feel the heat radiating from the screen — it’s sweaty, vibrant, and saturated with colour. 

Featuring: Hugo Assad, Milan Deng, MJ Fausta, Martin Gomes, Joe Kim, Ericka Leobrera, Trinity Lloyd, Matthew Mugoa, Obra, Kacey O’Garro, Aria Oke, Ivan D. Ossa, Kevin Reid, Arianna Shannon, Chiharu Suda, David Tompa, Jinny Wong 

World premiere Monday, September 14, 2026, at 6:25 p.m. 

Carson is a local detective, at once weary and protective of the small coastal town she serves and its inhabitants. After the disappearance of commercial fishery heir and local party boy Henry Park, Carson begrudgingly partners up with Rapp, a private investigator hired by the Park family. Rapp arrives on the scene with a bemused swagger and a personal connection to the case that immediately raises Carson’s hackles. When their initial lines of questioning lead them to an enigmatic and seductive university professor (Carrie-Anne Moss, The Matrix franchise), it becomes clear that it’s going to require all hands on deck to uncover the truth hidden underneath these shrouds of secrecy. 

Featuring: Clark Backo, Megan Follows, Sheila McCarthy, Carrie-Anne Moss, Olympia Ordanis, Noah Reid 

Premieres Thursday, September 17, 2026, at 9 p.m. 

Things quickly go from bad to worse in Logan Graham Greene’s boisterous, sharply scripted comedy featuring a pitch-perfect Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll as a man in the throes of an epic meltdown prompted by his girlfriend’s steamy on-screen kiss with a fellow actor. 

Featuring: Kenneth Cheung, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, David Klein, Clare McConnell, Roderick McNeil, Jenny Raven, Dani Romero, Varun Saranga 

Short Cuts 2026 Programme 03; world premiere Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 3:15 p.m.

Christian Smith’s satirical, dark comedy brings body horror to side-splitting heights in this unhinged story of a woman who spirals into extreme paranoia on the basis of a body insecurity, anchored by Maddy Foley’s singular writing and performance. 

Featuring: Tamara Almedia, Anand Arajaram, Dan Beirne, Jenny De Lucia, Kyle Dooley, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Maddy Foley, Natalie Metcalfe, Christian C.V. Smith, Daniel Stolfi 

Short Cuts 2026 Programme 04; world premiere Sunday, September 13, 2026, at 5:45 p.m. 

The calm waters and soothing breeze of the Toronto Islands provide a safe reprieve for two best friends after one of them experiences a jarring, dysphoric hookup, in this deeply affecting take on trans life, embodiment, and intimacy by A.C. Birch. 

Featuring: Breton Lalama 

Short Cuts 2026 Programme 05; world premiere Monday, September 14, 2026, at 11:30 a.m.

Packed with dry humour and deadpan wit, actor Shamier Anderson’s mockumentary and irreverent character study centres on a city outsider who buys a rural hunting shop and inadvertently sparks a bitter rivalry with an incensed local animal-rights activist. 

Featuring: Shamier Anderson, Amanda Brugel, Mazin Elsadig 

Short Cuts 2026 Programme 06; world premiere Tuesday, September 15, 2026, at 2:15 p.m.