TIFF screens five HBF and Darkroom titles plus IFFR Youth Jury Award-winner Ah Girl

Released from prison, a woman returns to her village to face her past in Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini’s Four Seasons in Java, now set for its world premiere in Toronto after three-time support from the Hubert Bals Fund and CineMart presentation.

It’s one of five supported titles screening at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), running Thursday 10 to Sunday 20 September 2026. Ah Girl by Ang Geck Geck Priscilla – winner of the IFFR Youth Jury Award at IFFR 2026 – also heads to Toronto for its North American premiere following its world premiere in IFFR’s Bright Future programme.

Four Seasons in Java by Kamila Andini

World Premiere, TIFF Centrepiece
Indonesia, France, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore
Support: HBF Development 2024, NFF+HBF 2025, HBF+Europe: Post-production Support 2025, CineMart 2025

“Kamila Andini, the brilliant mind behind TIFF ’21 Platform Award winner Yuni, returns with another polished and picturesque film with a strong women’s narrative, starring Indonesia’s biggest talents Putri Marino, Christine Hakim, and Arya Saloka.”

Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini found praise in recent years for films such as Before, Now & Then, which premiered at the 2022 Berlinale, where Laura Basuki won a Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance. The latest film was presented at CineMart 2025, with support through HBF Development, NFF+HBF and HBF+Europe: Post-production Support.

Amor es el monstruo by Neto Villalobos Brenes

World Premiere, TIFF Centrepiece
Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, Chile, Mexico
Support: Darkroom 2026

“In a chilling dystopian thriller shaped by fear and inequality, Neto Villalobos Brenes follows a grandmother, powerfully portrayed by Paulina García, whose granddaughter’s kidnapping forces her into impossible moral choices.”

Amor es el monstruo is the latest feature from Costa Rican filmmaker Neto Villalobos, whose earlier films All About the Feathers and Helmet Heads both premiered at TIFF. A Rotterdam Lab 2011 alumnus, he presented the project as a work-in-progress through Darkroom at IFFR 2026.

Ben’Imana by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo

North American Premiere, TIFF Centrepiece
Rwanda, Gabon, France, Norway
Support: HBF Development 2022

“In this powerful, feminist debut feature, which won the Caméra d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo brilliantly explores the issue of forgiveness in the wake of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda.”

Ben’Imana is the debut feature from Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, whose short film Lyiza screened at Tribeca and won prizes including the Ousmane Sembene Award and Golden Dhow at ZIFF. The film premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2026, where it won the Caméra d’Or, and was supported through HBF Development in 2022.

Conversation With the Sea by Muayad Alayan

North American Premiere, TIFF Centrepiece
Palestine, Netherlands
Support: HBF Development 2024, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2025

“Condemned to pay the social security contributions owed by his son, a father (Kamel El Basha) desperately tries to prove his death in the moving drama Conversation With The Sea.”

This is the latest film from Palestinian filmmaker Muayad Alayan, whose second feature The Reports on Sarah and Saleem won the Hubert Bals Fund Audience Award in the Tiger Competition at IFFR 2018. The film premiered in the Spotlight section at Venice 2026, with support through HBF Development and HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production.

Elephants in the Fog by Abinash Bikram Shah 

North American Premiere, TIFF Centrepiece
Nepal, France, Germany, Brazil, Norway
Support: HBF Development 2021, HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support 2023

“A village matriarch (Puspa Thing Lama) must choose between her heart’s desires and her duty to her community when a young woman disappears into the forest in this delicate, riveting thriller.”

Elephants in the Fog is the feature directing debut of Nepalese filmmaker Abinash Bikram Shah, whose short Lori received a Special Mention for the Palme d’Or Short at Cannes in 2022. The project premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2026 where it was awarded the Jury Prize, after support through HBF Development and HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production Support.

Ah Girl heads to Toronto after its Youth Jury Award win

Ah Girl is the feature debut of Singaporean filmmaker Ang Geck Geck Priscilla, ten years in the making and drawn from her own childhood. It won the Youth Jury Award at IFFR 2026 where it had its world premiere in Bright Future. Lead actress, the nine-year-old Ong Xuan Jing, went on to win the Firebird Award for best actress in the Chinese-language Young Cinema Competition at the 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival, followed by Best Actress at the Malaysian Golden Globes.

In the film, Ah Girl is caught in a war between her separated parents, trying to make sense of it all. Bottling up the lightning intensity of childhood, Ang Geck Geck Priscilla uses her memories from 1990s Singapore to craft a heart-rending debut.