Get ready to unlock the ultimate movie-watching experience with the exclusive WIFF Festival Pass. With this pass in hand, you'll have the keys to a cinematic wonderland, featuring over 300 screenings that span the full spectrum of storytelling. Price: $130 for Students (must show valid student ID) $360 for Adults Pass Details: Available for Purchase: Secure your pass online starting Sept. 4 or visit the Box Office from Oct. 22 to 28, daily from 12 PM to 6 PM (for advanced sales). The festival itself runs from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. More Access to WIFF: Your pass will entitle you to one general screening ticket per time block. This pass is not a ticket. An individual physical ticket must be obtained at the WIFF box office to enter a screening. The festival pass is valid from October 29 - November 8, 2026. Redeemable for Individual Film Tickets: Starting Oct. 28 (one day before the festival begins), you can redeem your pass for individual film tickets. Collect tickets for two days of screenings at a time for your convenience. Pass Policies and Procedures: Pass Redemption: If you purchase your pass online, remember to visit the Box Office at 109 University Ave. W (The Gallery at the Capitol), just two doors down from the Capitol Theatre, to redeem your ticket for a festival pass and an exclusive lanyard. Online passes can be picked up at the Box Office starting Oct. 22. Comprehensive Coverage: Your pass will entitle you to one general screening ticket per time block. Premium screening tickets are not included [Opening Night Film ($40), Closing Night Film ($40), Centerpiece Film ($35), Special Event Screenings ($40)] Student Discounts: If you're a student, don't forget to bring your valid student ID when purchasing and picking up your pass. We've got special deals just for you! ID and Pass Verification: For every pass ticket pickup, you'll need to show a valid ID and your festival pass. It's all part of our commitment to ensuring a seamless and enjoyable experience for you. Passholder Station: During the festival, there is a designated station just for pass holders. It's your hub for hassle-free ticket collection! FYI: Reserved Tickets: We set aside an allocation of tickets exclusively for passholders. You're guaranteed a ticket up to 2 hours before the general screening, so you won't miss a moment of movie magic. After that, tickets will be subject to availability. Massive Savings: If you're planning on enjoying more than 18 films, the Festival Pass is your ticket to tremendous savings. With over 300 screenings to choose from, your cinematic adventure awaits!

Experience the thrill of the festival with our WIFF General Screening 10-Pack. Dive into the world of film and embark on a cinematic experience that will leave you wanting more. What's Included: Ten General Screening Vouchers: Get ready for an exciting lineup of films that cater to every taste. Our extensive film slate offers a diverse range of world-class cinema. Enjoy all 10 tickets yourself, or share the tickets with friends. Ultimate Flexibility: With the 10-Pack, you have the freedom to choose any ten general screenings that pique your interest, while saving you money. With the 10-pack you save a total of $20. How It Works: 1. Purchase Your 10-Pack: Buy your 10-Pack online (available now) or at our box office (starting October 22) and get a ticket order. 2. Pick Up Your Ticket Vouchers: Patrons must come to the box office and use their ticket order to collect ten general ticket vouchers. [109 University Ave W – (The Gallery at the Capitol Theatre) from Thursday, October 29 – Sunday, November 8] 3. Pick Your Films: Browse our extensive film catalog and over 300 screenings, and select the ten screenings you wish to attend. The world of film is at your fingertips. Mix and Match any film, or bring a friend – ticket vouchers can be used by anyone. 4. Redeem Your Vouchers: At the box office or online (using the code and pin on the back of the voucher), exchange your vouchers for tickets to your chosen screenings. 5. Experience the Excitement: Join us for an unforgettable movie-watching experience. Subject to availability. Ticket Bundle Online orders can be redeemed at the Box Office for your vouchers during the following times: October 22 - 28: 12pm-6pm daily. October 29 - November 8: 8:00am until 11pm daily.

FREE COMMUNITY SCREENING - RUN TERRY RUN, directed by Sean Menard Our audience has great taste! Join us for a free community screening of the 2026 Liuna! People's Choice Award Winner, RUN TERRY RUN. The runner-up was I PLAY ROCKY, and the second runner-up was DARLENE LOVE: I KNOW WHERE I'VE BEEN.

Get ready for an unforgettable cinematic experience with our WIFF Premium 3-Pack! Dive into the most buzzworthy and anticipated films of the year and save big while you're at it. What's Included: Three Premium Screening Vouchers: Immerse yourself in the magic of cinema with three premium film screenings. These are no ordinary movies; they're captivating stories, breathtaking visuals, and unforgettable experiences. Enjoy all 3 tickets yourself, or share the bundle with friends. Premium screenings include: Opening Night Film, Centrepiece Film, Closing Night Film and other Special Event screenings. Savings: Experience world-class cinema without breaking the bank. With the 3-Pack, you save a total of $21. How It Works: 1. Purchase Your 3-Pack: Buy your 3-Pack online (available now) or at our box office (starting October 22) and get a ticket order. 2. Pick Up Your Ticket Vouchers: Patrons must come to the box office and use that ticket order to collect three premium vouchers. 3. Redeem your vouchers in person at our box office and collect your tickets to any of our premium screenings. Subject to availability. Ticket Bundle Online orders can be redeemed at the Box Office for your vouchers during the following times: October 22 - 28: 12pm-6pm daily. October 29 - November 8: 8:00am until 11pm daily.

Following a court ruling, four-year-old Adam is hospitalised for malnutrition. Lucy, the head nurse, allows Adam’s mother to stay past the court-mandated visiting hours. Complications ensue when the mother, once again, refuses to leave her son’s bedside. For the sake of the child, Lucy will do anything to help this mother in distress.

Closed Caption Available Screening - Sun, Nov 8 - 8:45PM When three American doctors–Palestinian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian–enter Gaza to save lives, they find themselves caught between medicine and politics, risking everything to expose the truth. From Oscar®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker Poh Si Teng ,American Doctor follows three American physicians united by a single oath to save lives. After volunteering in besieged hospitals in Gaza, they return home determined to fight for the patients and colleagues they left behind, taking their battle from the front lines of war to the halls of Congress.

Bitter Christmas tells two alternating stories, one starring Elsa, an advertising director, in 2004, during a long weekend in December. The second takes place in 2026 and stars Raúl, a screenwriter and director who is writing a script that we soon discover is the story of Elsa, her boyfriend Bonifacio, and her friends Patricia and Natalia. Mixed with fiction, Elsa is, in a way, Raúl's alter ego, who, like him, resorts to autofiction as a solution to a long period of creative drought. He looks inside himself, and he can't help but also look at the people who make up his most intimate universe: his partner and his assistant. The film narrates the close relationship between reality and fiction, between inspiration and life, exploring the limits of autofiction and stories within stories.

Maria Angeles, a 79 year-old Spanish woman, lives alone in Tangier, Morocco, and enjoys her daily routine. However, her life is turned upside down when her daughter arrives from Madrid to sell the apartment in which she has always lived. Determined to stay, she does everything she can to get her home and her belongings back and, unexpectedly, rediscovers love and sensuality.

When small-town writer Samantha Lane lands a career-making assignment to profile Maple Creek's local winemaker and most eligible bachelor, William Crew, she sees it as the perfect opportunity to move closer to her dream of New York City. But after a rocky first meeting, Samantha discovers that behind William's charming reputation is a devoted son determined to preserve his family's legacy and create "a wine for everyone." As their professional partnership grows into an unexpected romance, Samantha finds herself writing a different story than the one she was assigned, while questioning whether the future she's always dreamed of is still the one she wants.

WIFF 2026 CLOSING NIGHT FILM - When Mona Friedman (Julianne Moore) is cast in a bit part at a small community theater, she transforms from a shy, unassuming housewife into a zealous method actor willing to do anything to protect the artistic integrity of her marginal role—even if it means waging war against the show’s domineering director (Paul Giamatti).

Paris, 1928. Suzanne, a desperate carnival performer known as “La Venus Electrificata,” earns a living in a degrading act where men pay to kiss her and receive an electric shock to feel the “electricity of love.” One night, she’s mistaken for the psychic by Antoine, a grieving painter seeking contact with his dead wife. Though hesitant, Suzanne cannot turn down the money and delivers a convincing séance that moves him deeply. Antoine invites her to his home for another sitting, paying generously. As Suzanne leaves his villa, she is confronted by his agent, Armand, who initially condemns her for exploiting his friend’s grief—until Antoine, newly inspired, begins painting again. Sensing an opportunity, Armand proposes they continue the ruse, offering Suzanne a share of the profits. As a romantic spark begins to form between Suzanne and Antoine, the line between performance and genuine feeling blurs, threatening to unravel everything.

A tragedy brings a mother, daughter, and teenage boy together. Struggling with blame and forgiveness, the unlikely trio take a trip to Tenerife for a family holiday that never happened. Under the glow of the sun, past and present quietly start to overlap.

After the deaths of Mihai’s parents, Mihai (Sebastian Stan) and Lisbeth Gheorghiu (Renate Reinsve) leave everything behind in Romania and move with their children to a remote village in Norway, hoping to rebuild their lives near Lisbeth’s family. There, they grow close to their neighbors, the Halbergs, whose warmth offers the promise of a fresh start. But the fragile peace begins to unravel when the Gheorghius’ young daughter, Elia, arrives at school covered in bruises.

Ghost in the Machine is a gripping and urgently relevant investigative documentary that exposes the buried history of artificial intelligence, not as a neutral system of algorithms, but as a technology shaped by racism, misogyny, eugenics, and entrenched structures of power long before it entered everyday life. Rejecting the notion of AI as inevitable or objective, the film traces how myths of progress and efficiency have obscured deeper political and cultural agendas, revealing the ideological foundations beneath the systems now reshaping modern society. This is not a film about machines. It is a film about power. Ghost in the Machine interrogates who builds AI, who benefits from it, and who bears the cost.

Il Paese: The Village is set between Montreal and Joppolo Giancaxio, a depopulating Sicilian village where residents await the return of paesani who emigrated to Canada half a century ago. As the village briefly comes back to life, the long-awaited reunions reveal the enduring fracture known as la spartenza: the sorrow of families and communities divided by an ocean. Through vérité intimacy, lyrical cinematography, and evocative archival footage, the film reflects on migration’s bittersweet legacy—its power to create prosperity for both those who leave and those who remain, and the wounds of separation it cannot erase.

After witnessing a sexual assault, a young girl is haunted by the trauma of the disturbing incident, opening her eyes to the violence that surrounds her.

With a warm smile and positive attitude, Floria arrives at the surgical ward of the Swiss hospital where she works as a nurse on the overnight shift. Floria juggles endless tasks administering medication, updating charts, soothing patients, answering phones, and managing complaints. Surrounded by fluorescent lights, the steady beeping of monitors, and echoing footsteps, Floria struggles to fight off exhaustion and maintain her professional demeanor. Every second counts, and every interruption could mean the difference between life and death. Director Petra Volpe skillfully uses real-time tension to examine the emotional cost of frontline care work and the quiet, unglamorous triumph of keeping people alive in a pitiless system. Late Shift is a portrait of everyday courage, both an homage to nurses and a rousing call to address the global staffing shortage in the industry.

Lumi is set in the post-apocalyptic arctic in a future where technology has crumbled and humanity’s survival hangs by a thread. It’s 2125 and a resourceful young teen lives in isolation with her only companion; a humanoid A.I. she calls Mother. Their bond is unbreakable, but when Raiders track her back to their cabin, Mother is badly injured, leaking precious plasma she needs to function. The girl sets out into the vast tundra in search of plasma and teams with an unlikely duo and their dogsled. They travel together, encountering more potentially lethal attacks before finding the distant community of Ehkelo and its autocratic leader. It’s there that things take another dangerous turn and the girl must rely on the resilience of human spirit while facing the most difficult decision of all. Lumi is a thrilling adventure that will prove some bonds can defy even the darkest of times.

This thoughtful, moving, and humorous feature-length documentary explores the hold that fear and anxiety have on us, both individually and as a society. At a time when everyone is talking about anxiety, Christine Chevarie-Lessard tries to understand the ever-present fear inside her by meeting with an Anxiety Anonymous group, a singing scientist, a sociologist who wants to be a bullfrog, a philosopher who fears for democracy, and some imaginary figures for good measure. In a story that blends introspection, emotion and humour, fear is shown to be at times dangerous, at times transformative, but always powerful and universal.

Harry Lehman (John Turturro) is an aging pickpocket who plies his trade with ever-diminishing returns in a drastically changed New York. Wallets stuffed with cash have been replaced by easily cancelled credit cards, and Harry struggles to make ends meet as he cares for his disabled wife, Rosie. When he unwittingly purloins and fences a valuable USB stick, Harry finds himself in a race against time to return the loot or face the rage of a vengeful crime family.

Madeleine, Jean-Jacques, and Félicien orchestrate a car theft to break free from their financial and social constraints. During the act, they kill a witness, drawing the public's attention. Hunted by all, this decision leads them down a bewildering path between love and violence, one they can no longer control.

Alton C. Parker became the first Black police officer in his hometown in 1941, later rising to become Canada’s first Black detective. In an era marked by deep racial bias, he broke barriers within the Windsor Police Force, confronting skepticism and systemic obstacles. Through skill, resilience, and determination, he earned the respect of colleagues and the community. His journey reshaped perceptions within law enforcement and helped spark broader social change, leaving a lasting legacy of possibility.

Through five portraits of relatives and mentors, five expressions of resistance, Ahangarani sketches her life story. Drawing from personal archives, home videos, street protests footage, newspapers, and recorded voices, she retraces more than 40 years of Iran’s history. From the early days of 1979, until the war that began in 2026, she pieces together intimate and collective memories, forming the portrait of a country shaped by political repression and in constant hope for a revolution.

Relax, Open Your Eyes dives deep into the world of cryonics with privileged access, as a young family in Western Canada throws themselves fully into building a facility to help them live forever —The Futurist Club. We follow Carrie Radomski as she travels across the US, then to Spain and Switzerland, to research and train with cryonicists who are trying to hack mortality. Carrie’s grassroots mission to build a hometown cryonics centre is driven by her husband’s escalating health problems, a dedication to her ‘forever family’, and growing cryonics community. Carrie and cryonicists at large believe death is an engineering problem to be solved, but the path to solving it tests her closest relationship and threatens to rupture the cryonics community.

Claire and Yves, trained as physicists, have worked in the nuclear industry their entire lives. During a visit to the National Gallery, Claire is deeply moved by three Rembrandt paintings. This encounter with these three masterful works will change them forever.

Where gender equality becomes a collective choice. What if equality came with an instruction manual? From Iceland to Sweden, via Norway, Quebec filmmaker Anik Salas sets out to uncover the mystery behind the world champions of gender equality. Why these countries? What have they understood that Canada has yet to grasp? Through inspiring encounters with female politicians, executives, and grassroots organizers who have dared to challenge the rules, the film reveals how these societies have transformed power. This is not feminism for show. It is rooted in political will, concrete strategies, and a shared conviction that change requires patience and persistence. Moving between investigation, travelogue, and manifesto, The Scandinavian Method does more than condemn. It issues a clear invitation to all who refuse to accept the status quo. An urgent, fiercely committed film that insists equality cannot wait another century.

Autumn 1943. Twenty-six year old Rosa, escaping from bombed Berlin, arrives at a small, isolated village near the eastern border. This is where her in-laws live and where her husband, fighting at the front, told her to take refuge while waiting for the end of the war and his return home. However, Rosa will soon discover that the apparently peaceful village is hiding a secret: Hitler’s headquarters, the Wolf’s Lair, are located inside the forest bordering on the village. The Führer sees enemies everywhere, being poisoned is his obsession. One morning, at dawn, Rose is picked up with other young women from the village to taste the food prepared for him. Torn between the fear of dying and the hunger devouring them, the “tasters” will form alliances, friendships, and secret agreements. Rosa “The Berliner” struggles to be accepted. But when she finally overcomes the “tasters” mistrust, an event will make her feel a traitor: the arrival of an SS officer, who, against every reason, and in defiance of herself, reawakens her feeling of love. Or just the simple need of feeling alive, despite everything that surrounds her.

Closed Caption Available Screening - Wed, Nov 4 - 3:50PM Amy is a devoted social service worker who puts her heart and soul into her job to care for those in need. At home, however, she finds herself confronting new challenges as her beloved father begins to show the early signs of dementia, and she and her mother must begin to make peace with their new reality. Through it all, Amy finds comfort, perspective, and plenty of laughter through sips of wine with her lifelong friend Rosie, whose warmth and wit become a vital anchor as both women navigate the shifting rhythms of approaching middle age. Tender Loving Care, which director Mike Leigh claims will be his last film, is an emotional examination of the extraordinary in ordinary lives

Closed Caption Available Screening - Sun, Nov 8 - 10:35PM What happens when your fabulous life as a TikTok influencer collides with a fierce debate over free speech, government overreach, and geopolitics? When a bipartisan U.S. Congress passes a law to ban TikTok over national security concerns, it marks an unprecedented attempt to restrict a major media platform used by 170 million Americans. TikTok Never Dies follows three influencers as they join the platform’s lawsuit against the federal government to defend their livelihoods and First Amendment claims. Blending the platform’s signature humor and creativity with a clear-eyed look at the stakes of its survival, the film explores deeper questions about the power of social media, efforts to regulate it, and who ultimately shapes the future of the digital public sphere.

Kathrine Switzer, Siila Watt-Cloutier, and Sharon Farmer. They are the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, the first woman to connect climate change to human rights, and the first woman to serve as Chief White House Photographer, respectively. These trailblazing women broke barriers in their time and continue to pursue their passions to this day. They’re living proof that you can follow your dreams and maybe change the world in the process.

When 26-year-old Millie lands a career-making debut at Canada’s National Theatre, celebration quickly turns to scrutiny after a press release describes her play as a “deeply personal story.” Certain her dark family drama is a work of fiction, Millie is blindsided as those around her begin to read it as confession, especially her uncle Mark, a schoolteacher and recovered alcoholic. Through bright lights and dark comedy, Young Female Playwright interrogates who gets to tell which stories, what it costs a woman to be believed.