Notebook

2026 Toronto International Film Festival sponsorship ad by Rogers. At Cannes, competition screenings are preceded by nothing more than a computer-generated set of red-carpet stairs ascending out of the sea, sans any credits for financial supporters or slogans, in keeping with the festival’s self-image as cinema itself, purged of anything inessential.

The director reflects on his latest, a fairytale equal parts weird and romantic starring siblings Kate and Rooney Mara. From left to right: Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger, director Werner Herzog, and stars Rooney Mara and Kate Mara shooting Bucking Fastard (2026). Courtesy of Gateway to Orkney LLC. Werner Herzog’s first fiction film in seven years, Bucking Fastard (2026),stands as one of his most bizarre.

What evil lurks behind closed doors? From “Demonlover” and “Kill List” to “Eddington,” movies link societal collapse to elite control. Salò: Or the 120 Days of Sodom (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975). In 2005, during a television interview in Italy, Giuseppe “Pino” Pelosi—AKA “The Frog”—recanted his confession about murdering Pier Paolo Pasolini on a beach in Ostia 30 years earlier.

Home video release images from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966). Clockwise from top-left: Arrow Video (4K UHD, 2025), Kino Lorber (4K UHD, 2021), MGM (4K Blu-ray, 2014), MGM (DVD, 1998). “People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society.

French grande for Small Change (François Truffaut, France, 1976). Design by Jouineau Bourduge. Another year, another Truffaut, another Fassbinder, another Visconti, another Renoir revival. The 1976 New York Film Festival—which ran from October 1 to 17—was nothing if not true to its brand.

This week’s essential news, articles, sounds, videos, and more from the film world. Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on X and Instagram. NEWS Woman Unknown (May el-Toukhy, 2026). The Maggie Gyllenhaal-led jury at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival announced its list of winners.

Possible Love (Lee Chang-dong, 2026). Throughout the summer and fall festival season, we'll be publishing a wide array of interviews, dispatches, and surveys from Il Cinema Ritrovato, Locarno, Venice, and Toronto. TORONTO “The War Against Memory” by Michael Sicinski Short films and features from the festival’s Wavelengths section propose alternative ways of remembering and archiving.

From emerging voices to lauded auteurs, filmmakers at the Toronto International Film Festival share key moments from their new films. Tender Loving Care (Mike Leigh, 2026). Courtesy of Joseph Lynn. Midway through the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Canadian prime minister Mark Carney hosted the Canadian Investment Summit, which had its opening gala at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Short films and features from the festival’s Wavelengths section propose alternative ways of remembering and archiving. Life of Jorge Luis Borges (Mariano Llinás, 2026). Words mean things, but that meaning is always changing. Sometimes those changes are organic, a gradual movement that is driven by the changing needs of speakers. But sometimes those changes are engineered from above, to serve the needs of those in power.

The Action Scene explores the form, history, and visceral power of action cinema through its set pieces. Clockwise from top-left: The Raid (Gareth Evans, 2011), Merantau (Gareth Evans, 2009), The Raid 2 (Gareth Evans, 2014), The Raid (Gareth Evans, 2011). It needs virtually no introduction.