GIFF at TIFF: Manitoba on the Main Stage at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival
The 51st Toronto International Film Festival runs September 10th - 20th and Manitoba’s fingerprints are all over the lineup! More than one of these filmmakers passed through Gimli on their way to the world stage… Here’s a look at Manitoba creators lighting up TIFF this year:
Matthew Rankin — Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney
The Winnipeg-born, Montreal-based director is back at TIFF with his newest feature: an NFB documentary that remixes some 80,000 pieces of archival footage into what's been called a "psychedelic doomscroll" through the rise of Canada's 18th prime minister. It's set to have its world premiere in TIFF's Midnight Madness program, a fitting home for a filmmaker who has spent his career treating Canadian history as a playground (and we love it so much).
The GIFF connection: Rankin's previous feature, Universal Language, took home The Grand Jury prize at the 2025 GIFF. He was also honoured with the Alda Award, presented by festival founder Janis Johnson herself. Prior to 2025, GIFF screened The Twentieth Century and several of his shorts.
Ian Bawa — Strong Son
Few stories on this list embody the "regional to international" pathway as literally as this one. Winnipeg's Ian Bawa first brought Strong Son to TIFF in 2020 as a four-minute Super 8 short, an autobiographical portrait of a South Asian father giving his bodybuilding son unsolicited life advice, starring Bawa's own father, Jagdeep Singh Bawa, in the role. That short went on to land on year-end top-ten lists and screen at festivals worldwide. Bawa kept building on that world with two more shorts, My Son Went Quiet and The Best, both continuing to mine his relationship with his father.
Now the feature-length expansion of Strong Son, starring Mandeep Sodhi as a bodybuilder who becomes his ailing father's caregiver, is set to premiere in TIFF's Discovery program, the section dedicated to first and second features from emerging filmmakers.
The GIFF connection: The original Strong Son short screened at GIFF in 2021, his documentary Seeking Fire (co-directed with Quan Luong) screened here in 2023, and My Son Went Quiet won Best Actor honours at GIFF in 2024. He's also joined GIFF's Global Industry Summit as a guest filmmaker specifically discussing growing the Strong Son short into a feature.
Maxime Kornachuk — Là où nos fleurs poussent (Where Our Flowers Grow)
If you want proof that regional pathways to national platforms actually work, look no further than Maxime Kornachuk. A 23-year-old Red River Métis animator and recent graduate of Université de Saint-Boniface's multimedia program, Kornachuk is one of five filmmakers selected (out of more than 240 submissions from across the country) for REDEFINED, the NFB and TIFF's new initiative spotlighting Canadian and Indigenous filmmakers under 30.
His stop-motion film draws on the tradition of Métis beadwork to tell stories of cultural reconnection, building on his earlier student short Our Beaded Flowers. He's hoping to bring the film home for a screening in Winnipeg once its TIFF premiere (September 16, at TIFF Lightbox) wraps up, a nice reminder that these pathways run in both directions.
Other Highlights: American Hostage
It's not just storytellers who are putting Manitoba on the map, it's also the crews and infrastructure behind the camera. American Hostage, the Jon Hamm-led MGM+ anthology series, was shot entirely in Winnipeg and will have its world premiere in TIFF's Primetime program on September 11.
Manitoba Takes the Pavilion at TIFF: The Market
Beyond the screenings, Manitoba's industry presence is getting its own spotlight this year. Manitoba Film and Music is heading to the newly launched TIFF: The Market, taking over the Telefilm Canada Pavilion on Saturday, September 12, from 12:30–4pm for a presentation on filming in Manitoba, followed by a panel titled "Manitoba Producers Beyond Borders: Companies, Capabilities and Global Partnerships." Moderated by Joy Loewen (Vice-President, Industry Development, Canada Media Fund), the panel brings together Kyle Bornais (Farpoint Films), Ian Dimerman (Inferno Pictures), Chris McIvor (Frank Digital) and Ellen Rutter (Bonus Production Services). This lineup will speak directly to how Manitoba producers are building capacity and reach well past the province's borders.
It's a fitting companion to everything happening on screen. While Rankin, Bawa, and Kornachuk are proving what Manitoba's storytellers can do, the pavilion session is where the province makes its pitch to the rest of the world's industry.
Being able to watch GIFF alumni and Manitoba-connected talent turn up to Canada’s biggest festival is a special experience. We are proud to support local talent. Congratulations to everyone taking the leap to Toronto this year. Here’s to the next round of GIFF discoveries already lining up behind them!