TIFF 2026 has added five films to its Special Presentations program, with Bassam Tariq's Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother and the Zellner Brothers' Alpha Gang anchoring a wave announced on July 16.
Tariq directed Mogul Mowgli in 2020, a drama starring Riz Ahmed that marked his first narrative feature. In 2021, Marvel announced him as the director of its Blade reboot. He departed the project in September 2022, two months before production was scheduled to begin. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother is his return. Set in Houston, the film follows Latif, a devoutly religious hitman who, after his wife's death, must protect his children from the forces closing in around him. Mahershala Ali stars alongside John Cho and Giancarlo Esposito, with music by Son Lux. Amazon MGM Studios will release the film theatrically on September 25, making the TIFF world premiere its first public screening.
Alpha Gang, from David and Nathan Zellner, imagines alien invaders who arrive on Earth disguised as a 1950s biker gang and begin, inconveniently, developing human emotions. Cate Blanchett, Léa Seydoux, Chris Pine, Dave Bautista, Riley Keough, and Lily-Rose Depp make up the ensemble; cinematography is by Mike Gioulakis. The film will world premiere at Venice before screening at TIFF as an international premiere.
Three further world premieres round out the slate: Love of Your Life, directed by Rachel Morrison and produced by Ryan Gosling, starring Margaret Qualley and Patrick Schwarzenegger; The Housewife, the directorial debut of Ben Shirinian, with Naomi Watts, Tye Sheridan, and Michael Imperioli, acquired by NEON; and Glaxo, an Argentine revenge drama from Benjamín Naishtat. TIFF 2026 runs September 10 to 20.