Category: Entertainment

With enticing acquisition titles, rising talent and supercharged industry presence at the market, the Toronto Intl. Film Festival’s 2026 Indigenous lineup delivers the creative and collaborative screen projects that are increasingly attracting global partners, buyers and audiences.

“We’re seeing contemporary Indigenous cinema telling stories within broad historical or present-day contexts but without centering those aspects,” international programmer of U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand and global Indigenous cinema Jason Ryle tells Variety.

For “How We Stand,” Marie Clements adapts her stage play about separated sisters — played by Amber Midthunder (“Prey”), Alyssa Wapanatâhk (“Little House on the Prairie”) and Isabel DeRoy-Olson (“Dark Winds”) — navigating 1970s political and cultural changes in L.A.

“These are modern Indigenous young women trying to figure their way, just as we all do,” Clements says. “We learn who we are, and who we want to become, through living.”

Nyla Innuksuk’s “In the Heart of the South,” one of three Indigenous titles in TIFF section Platform, is a sharp turn from her sci-fi horror “Slash/Back.” Set in the uptight art world, the films stars “North of North” series lead Anna Lambe as an Inuk filmmaker and Zorga Qaunaq (also “North of North”) as the estranged friend who arrives uninvited and rattles her plans.

“It’s a sophisticated thriller that critiques arts institutions in Canada from the perspective of an Indigenous person,” says international programmer of Canadian features Kelly Boutsalis.

“Brace Your Heart,” Amanda Kernell’s Sápmi-set Platform feature, follows a young woman who inherits her late father’s reindeer herd and is pressured to accept a local leader’s courtship. “Most of the actors, including the leads, are reindeer herders,” says Ryle. “Amanda has a gift for drawing out performances from people with the smallest suggestions.”

Theja Rio’s “Angh” (Platform) centers on a Naga family in a Indo-Burma border village and what happens after the arrival of a Christian missionary. “As far as we can tell, this is the first feature from the Naga people, who are building their own screen culture, as is happening elsewhere in the world, with different means,” Ryle says. The film‘s DP is Adam Pietkiewicz, the recipient of the Variety Artisan Award at TIFF.

In his social satire “God Bless You, Mr. Kopu,” Alex Liu casts Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi (“Predator: Badlands”) as a Tongan man drifting from his family while working for an American traveling salesman.

The cultures of queer sex workers, hockey players and hip-hop artists are expressed, respectively, in Justin Ducharme’ s chamber drama “Seventeen,” actor-director Cody Lightning’s underdog dramedy “Smudge the Blades” and Alexandra Lazarowich’s doc feature debut “Turtle Island Rap.”

“My film explores why it’s hard to be a rapper or beat-maker, and why people still choose to become one,” Lazarowich tells Variety. “The artists are a snapshot of what’s happening in youth culture. The nuances of their Indigenous identity are reflected in the people listening to their music.”

Inspired by a true story, “In Alaska” follows Woody (newcomer Leo Matthew Temela), a depressed teen who is pursued as an eco-terrorist by an FBI agent (Noomi Rapace) after accidentally shooting a hole in an oil pipeline.

During an early stage, filmmaker Jaap van Heusden met Inuit actor-director Vinnie Karetak for script notes. They became co-writers and co-directors. “We had to be fearless to keep the heavy subject of suicide in the film and make sure it was never glorified,” Karetak says. “There is a deep sense of loss already from the previous generation that is handed down to human.

“When it came to Inuit characters, we collaborated. We talked about every scene, every character, every extra.”

Karetak, who acted in “North of North,” says people in the community where the show was flmed helped out on “In Alaska.”

“We cast Vinnie’s dog, his son and one of his close friends,” van Heusden recalls.

“And we used my ex’s snowmobile,” Karetak adds.

Below are the Indigenous directors and their world-premiering features, screening in various programs at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.

“2.6 Seconds: Death in the Outback,” dir. Darren Dale, Australia, English / Warlpiri (Primetime)

“Angh,” dir. Theja Rio, India, Konyak (Platform)

“Brace Your Heart” (Garrat Du Váimmu), dir. Amanda Kernell, Sweden / Norway / Denmark / Iceland / Bulgaria, Northern Sami / Swedish (Platform)

“God Bless You, Mr Kopu,” dir. Alex Liu, New Zealand / Australia, English / Tongan (Centrepiece)

“How We Stand,” dir. Marie Clements, Canada, English (Centrepiece)

“In Alaska,” dirs. Jaap van Heusden and Vinnie Karetak, Netherlands / Canada, English / Inuktitut (Special Presentations)

“In the Heart of the South,” dir. Nyla Innuksuk, Canada (Platform)

“Seventeen,” dir. Justin Ducharme, Canada, English / Cree (Discovery)

“Smudge the Blades,” dir. Cody Lightning, English (Centrepiece)

“Turtle Island Rap,” dir. Alexandra Lazarowich, Canada, English / Diné (TIFF Docs)

Paris-based sales boutique Alpha Violet has acquired international sales rights to “Body of Glass,” German filmmaker Naëmi Ada’s feature debut, ahead of its world premiere in San Sebastián’s New Directors competition.

A Germany-France co-production from Soilfilms and Soldats Features, the psychological drama stars Soma Pysall (HBO Max’s “Para – We Are King,” Disney+’s “City of Blood”) as Tian, a young dancer trying to break free from a violent, controlling relationship.

After a violent incident with her partner and choreographer Felix, Tian flees their life in Marseille. Isolated and desperate for connection, she inserts herself into the grieving circle of a young man she never knew, becoming entangled in their mourning and affection while concealing a dangerous secret of her own.

The cast also includes Élise Tilloloy (“The Price of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure”), Tom Rey (“Becoming Karl Lagerfeld”), Manuel Severin (“The New Look”) and Younès Boucif (“Standing Up”).

Producers are Timothée Boullié, Victoria Braunholz, Ada, Silvana Santamaría, Pierre Cazenave-Kaufman, Amel Belghitri and Sinan Özarslan.

“We were immediately struck by a film that refuses to make its characters easy to categorise as victim or perpetrator,” said Alpha Violet co-founder Virginie Devesa. “Its exploration of taking back control of your body and your life is bold, provocative and pushed to an extreme.”

Devesa also highlighted the film’s physical dimension: “The body itself becomes a distinctive presence,” she said, adding that Alpha Violet believes “Body of Glass” will “spark a lot of conversation.”

Ada comes to the project from a background in contemporary dance. She trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds before studying directing at Berlin’s German Film and Television Academy. In 2019, she was selected as a Sundance Ignite Fellow by the Sundance Institute.

“Body of Glass” screens Sept. 19 in San Sebastián as part of New Directors.

The 74th San Sebastián Film Festival runs Sept. 18-26.

Writer-director Marie Clements, who premiered “Bones of Crows” in 2022, returns this weekend to the Toronto Film Festival for the world premiere of her latest feature, “How We Stand,” as her new three-part documentary series, “Reclaim My Skin,” waits in the wings for its premiere next month at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Both projects reveal stories of Indigenous women and the power of their actions and voices to bring about necessary change in the world, their communities, and their own lives.

“There’s a moment when you’re in the room with matriarchs when everything stands still,” Clement recently told Variety, talking about the doc series for the first time.

“I had the honor to interview Gloria Steinem with Indigenous activists Louise Wakerakats:se Herne and Michelle Schenandoah together in New York last year—even at their most passionate they never spoke over each other,” she said. “They gave space and listened, acknowledging differences while also understanding that we have more in common than what works to divide us.”

“Reclaim My Skin” is produced by Marie Clements Media, Screen Siren Pictures and Rezolution Pictures. The series was commissioned by British Columbia’s Knowledge Network in 2024.

“How We Stand,” which Clements adapted from her 2011 stage play “Tombs of the Vanishing Indian,” reflects both harsh truths and positive currents of the eras in which it is set. It’s produced by Marie Clements Media and Screen Siren Pictures. Myriad Pictures is handling international sales. Photon Films is the Canadian distributor.

Three young Oklahoma sisters and their single mother (Cara Jade Myers, “Killer of the Flower Moon”) travel to L.A. in a 1950s relocation program for Native Americans that promises jobs in big cities. But they were sold a bill of goods. After finding community in the city’s cemented riverways, a tragedy separates the sisters, whose lives take different paths on the shifting cultural landscape of 1970s L.A.

“There’s a vibrancy to being alive at any time,” Clements said. “These are modern Indigenous young women who want to grab their futures. They are looking at the world and having a point of view that may or may not land, but are learning who they want to become.”

That vibrancy is enhanced by casting of stellar screen stars in the roles of the adult sisters. Amber Midthunder (“Prey,” “Novocaine”) is a doctor who starts a new job at her white husband’s clinic, Alyssa Wapanatâh (“Peter Pan & Wendy”) plays an outspoken activist who starts auditioning for Native American roles in Hollywood movies, while Isabel DeRoy-Olson (AMC’s “Dark Winds”) has the role of a young women adrift and in distress after a traumatic experience she’s trying to figure out.

“It was incredible to watch these actors lean in and embody these characters,” Clement says.

The stage play was originally commissioned by the Native Voices series at the Autry National Center in L.A. Clements spent time looking through the Autry’s collections in its museums. A colleague’s aunt, who had lived 30 years in the city, told her about the so-called tombs of the riverways where Indigenous people used to meet.

“It started me thinking about the underground – where we can go to be together? – as well as the underground policies that were happening at this time,” she continues.

The screen adaptation allowed Clement to more deeply explore the worlds suggested in her play. “Starting in Oklahoma with the Technicolor beauty of childhood and this young family and the feeling of possibility – what might happen to a family when they’re given a chance?

“But I was also interested in the systems that were happening at the time,” she continues. “We don’t always know that that our lives are being designed by something that we don’t have control of.”

While her new film is set in the past, present and future realities ran through the creation and production of “How We Stand.”

“I want things to change, I think we all want things to change,” Clement says. “And I found myself thinking about children who are being taken away from their families right now, because our families understand being separated and what that does to the core of a family for generations.

“Whether it’s residential school or immigration policies, it’s a profound act to take a member of someone’s family, especially children, away from mothers and fathers. And we’re witnessing that in our time right now.

“The fight in the ’70s was around women’s bodies and women’s rights. And that’s trying to be reversed as we speak, so it really does kind of hit you.

“Things can feel downtrodden but, you know, there are cool women out there who are still working for change, and that is not going to change.”

“How We Stand” has its world premiere at the Toronto International Festival on Sept. 13.

Vertical has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Sanctuary,” an English-language, post-apocalyptic thriller starring “The Handmaid’s Tale’s” Nina Kiri.

According to the synopsis, “Sanctuary” is set on a post-apocalyptic Earth, where the discovery of a cryogenically suspended woman provokes fear in a desperate village, sending a young warrior and the mysterious woman on a quest for a lost city and answers that could restore humanity.

Directed by Filip Kovačević (“Incarnation”), the film is produced by Đorđe Stanković, Filip Kovačević and Vukota Antunović for Void Pictures and TS Media, the production arm of telecommunications giant Telekom Srbija. It stars Kiri alongside Dutch actor Jonas Smulders (“Luka,” “Paradise Drifters”) and Serbia’s Darko Perić (“Money Heist”). World sales are being handled by Sublimity, which has also secured several other international deals.

Kovačević, who previously directed the 2016 action thriller “Incarnation,” described “Sanctuary” as an attempt to give “a fresh take on dystopian sci-fi, with an original story that takes place in a distinct ‘semi-far future.’” 

“The time is near enough so the events that led to the collapse of civilization are still relevant, but far enough that they have been shrouded in mystery and myth,” the director said. “The intent was to make an entertaining genre film that explores the cyclical nature of history and the individual’s role inside it.”

Variety has been given access to an exclusive teaser for the film, which you can watch here:

Producer Đorđe Stanković, of Belgrade-based Void Pictures, said that the filmmakers “set out to make an ambitious science-fiction film from Serbia that could speak to an international audience without losing its own identity.” 

“Producing the film was an enormous undertaking, but also proof that genre cinema of this scale can come from this part of Europe,” he said. “We’re incredibly proud of what the team created and excited for the film to now begin its journey to audiences around the world.”

Void’s Vukota Antunović added: “From the beginning, ‘Sanctuary’ was driven by a shared belief in the story and the world we were building. Bringing together an international and domestic cast and a remarkable Serbian crew allowed us to make something that feels both rooted here and genuinely global.”

The ambitious, English-language feature marks a big swing for Telekom Srbija’s TS Media. In a statement provided to Variety, the company said that “Sanctuary” “represents a notable shift in scale and ambition for Serbian production.”

“The film is also part of a wider strategic ambition: to move Serbian scripted production further into the international marketplace, not only as a filming destination but as a source of original IP, creative talent and globally marketable projects,” the statement read.

“With experienced international actors, an English-language screenplay, U.S. distribution already in place and global sales representation, the project offers a case study in how production companies from smaller European markets can approach international genre filmmaking from day one.” 

Commenting on the acquisition, Sublimity co-founder Alfredo Lara Orbezo said: “We’re thrilled to have secured key international distribution partners and a terrific U.S. home for a film of ‘Sanctuary’s’ scope and ambition. Its immersive world-building, remarkable production values and unforgettable performances carry the spirit of iconic sci-fi cinema.

“Bringing this film to market alongside Telekom and Void Pictures has been an incredible journey, and we’re proud to share it with audiences worldwide soon.”

Telecommunications giant Telekom Srbija is looking to position itself as not only the leading production hub in Serbia but a regional juggernaut for the countries of the former Yugoslavia, exporting local content while attracting international productions to the Balkan nation.

“Our next chapter is a deeper connection with our international partners, and presenting not only Telekom Srbija, but the whole Serbian creative industry, to the global market,” says the company’s chief multimedia and content officer, Aleksandra Martinović.

Speaking to Variety from Belgrade, Martinović outlines Telekom Srbija’s blueprint for the coming years, building on its explosive growth in the past decade, in which the company has produced more than 300 titles, including more than 180 seasons of scripted drama. 

That output was part of a production boom in a country that’s been the dominant hub of film and television production in the Balkan region since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia. In recent years, the Serbian industry has grown by leaps and bounds, thanks in large part to competition between the telecom heavyweight and rivals including United Media and public broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia.

For Martinović, that period has witnessed a transition at Telekom Srbija from a “traditional ecosystem” for film and TV content to “a very open-minded and sophisticated regional production ecosystem in the last eight or nine years.”

In some respects, that’s meant scaling back, with the company producing fewer shows that are nevertheless more suited for the global market. That includes bigger swings on series like the Serbian Spanish crime drama “Scar,” an ambitious co-production created by Plano a Plano and produced by Cicatriz A.I.E. and Dopamine, in association with RTVE, Prime Video Spain, Telekom Srbija, Canal Plus Poland and RTL Hungary; or the forthcoming romantic dramedy “Crosscurrents,” which is filmed in Montenegro and produced as a regional co-production with that country’s public broadcaster, RTCG. 

Such series illustrate what Martinović characterizes as a strategy “to make choices more wisely and make choices more oriented to potential international partnerships and potential distribution to international markets.” One of the company’s most successful shows, the spy thriller “Civil Servant” (pictured), which is now entering its fourth season, has sold to Disney+ Hotstar in India, Brazilian streamer Globoplay, Telemundo and FlixLatino.

Next up is perhaps the company’s biggest gamble to date: the English-language, post-apocalyptic thriller “Sanctuary,” featuring “The Handmaid’s Tale” star Nina Kiri.

Martinović describes the film, which is directed by Filip Kovačević (“Incarnation”) and has been acquired for North America by Vertical, as “a huge risk and a huge challenge” for the company. “It’s very challenging, not only in the sense of authenticity, but also financing,” she says, adding that “international partners and distributors recognizing the value of that project” has been a boon for its backers.

It also illustrates how Telekom Srbija is punching above its weight, according to Martinović. “We are completely aware that we come from a small country,” she says. “Having the kind of content which we were able to sell to HBO, Disney+ and others, for us is very important praise and proof [of what we can do].”

Along with its prolific production arm, TS Media, Telekom Srbija is betting big on its streaming platform, MOVE — described by Martinović as a “regional Balkan Netflix” — while also “investing more in every element of the production chain,” most notably with the acquisition earlier this year of the Belgrade-based Firefly Studios.

“We have a [360-degree] approach regarding production,” says Martinović. “It’s production, distribution, offering infrastructure through our Firefly Studios, and, of course, selling our own content to international partners.”

The Firefly purchase underscores Telekom Srbija’s ambition to become “a one-stop shop in this part of Europe,” Martinović says, highlighting Serbia’s 25% cash rebate on local spend and some of the most skilled and experienced crews in the region. Among the recent success stories to come out of the country is “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints,” the Fox Nation docudrama series executive produced and narrated by Scorsese and produced through Lionsgate Alternative Television. Parts of the project were filmed in Serbia, both at Firefly Studios and locations in and around Belgrade and Pančevo.

This has been a tumultuous time in Serbia, which has faced roiling protests for nearly two years in the wake of a devastating train station tragedy that claimed 16 lives. The turbulence has spread to the country’s film and television industries, with many professionals claiming they’ve been shut out by state-backed media over their political beliefs.

Martinović rejects such criticism. “We are completely aware of the social and political situation, but it doesn’t affect our general strategy,” she says. “We are fighting for the whole creative industry in Serbia. And we open the door for the whole creative industry in Serbia through international projects, through selling our own projects to international broadcasters, through trying to attract international partners…to come here and see what we have to offer. 

“Not ‘we’ only as TS Media, but ‘we’ as the Serbian creative industry,” she continues. “We are fighting for all of us — not only for Telekom Srbija, but for all of us. Through Telekom Srbija, which is the biggest player, we are trying to [lift] our whole creative industry and to present them on the global scene.”