2026 Stratford Film Festival returns with five days of feature films and shorts

By: Lisa Chester

For five days in November, the Stratford Film Festival (SFF) has programmed outstanding films and shorts, Q-and-As, film forums and parties with filmmakers. The 2026 edition of the SFF honours the first, now 70 years past. The inaugural film festival in 1956 by Tom Patterson was one of the first in the country to screen international films and SFF proudly follows in those intrepid footsteps.

“With an extra day and night this year, we’ve been able to broaden the program and bring even more exceptional films to Stratford,” said festival director Megan Smith-Harris. “There’s an incredible range; from major international award winners to a wide array of Canadian fare and films our audiences will be among the first to discover. That mix is what makes a film festival so much fun. You come for the films everyone’s talking about and leave raving about films you’d never heard of when you walked in.”

Countries represented through film include Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Morocco, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. From about 600 submissions the screenings have been whittled down to 43 features and shorts to take in.

The opening night film, Primavera is a sweeping, visually stunning period drama set in Venice in 1716. It is centered on a young orphan, Cecilia, who is also a gifted violinist. Antonio Vivaldi arrives as her new music teacher and becomes an important catalyst for her journey. While Vivaldi is a key figure in the film, it is really about the protagonist Cecilia and her musical and personal journey.

Opening night begins at 6 p.m. with a red-carpet reception featuring Venetian cicchetti, traditional small bites, provided by opening night hospitality sponsor Pazzo, along with prosecco and wine. Guests will enjoy classical music performed by 14-year-old Stratford violinist Tessa Bell.

Another noteworthy film will be the world premiere of the film Fallen Star: The Shooting of Ukrainian Airline PS752, a documentary by Moze Mossanen. Screening this premiere is a continuation of the relationship between SFF and Mossanen whose previously screened documentary, You Are Here: A Come From Away Story, was a huge success. Following the screening is a Q-and-A with film editor Mike Lalonde and Mossanen.

“This was my vision for the film festival, to nurture relationships with filmmakers and bring them back, introduce them to Stratford audiences and then just treat them so well,” said Smith-Harris.

And TIFF People’s Choice Documentary Award winner Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been, directed by Canadian filmmaker Barry Avrich, tells the remarkable story of one of popular music’s most recognizable voices – and the barriers Love faced on her journey from an uncredited singer to a music icon. Avrich and producer Mark Selby will participate in a post-screening Q-and-A.

On Saturday night will be the official SFF party at the soon-to-be-open Queen’s Cue, where guests will sip on drinks and enjoy late night nibbles in Stratford’s most anticipated new venue. Here is the opportunity to mingle with other festival goers and filmmakers at the same time.

This is a festival with more. There will be free Filmmaker Forums featuring Truth Be Told: The Art and Business of Documentary with Smith-Harris (also a filmmaker), Mossanen, Avrich, Selby and Larry Weinstein where they discuss creative choices, ethical questions and practical realities of documentary filmmaking, and Close Up: Women on Screen where actor and filmmaker Sheila McCarthy and Alegra Fulton share behind-the-scenes stories and insights into their careers, the changing landscape for women in the industry and the creative possibilities of working both in front of and behind the camera.

Stratford is represented in two short films. In her directorial debut is Fulton’s short film A Small Service, in which a desperate request from a dying sister sends an older woman into an unfamiliar neighbourhood at night. Look for Stratford’s Deanna Leblanc in this jaunt. The second is When The Party is Over by Peer Wahlquist and Amelia Auster, imagining a group of friends throwing one last party as the world appears to be ending.

The festival closes Sunday night with John Dower’s The Balloonists, the exhilarating true story of Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones – two men whose tenacity and audacity changed aviation history. In 1999, the unlikely pair took on some of the world’s finest pilots and vastly wealthier competitors, including billionaire Richard Branson, in pursuit of one of aviation’s last great prizes: becoming the first people in history to circumnavigate the globe nonstop by balloon. Against the odds, Piccard and Jones did it.

“Film festivals give audiences something streaming simply can’t,” says Smith-Harris. “You watch a film in a room full of strangers – sometimes with the filmmaker or the subjects sitting only a few feet away. Then the lights come up and the conversation begins. For five days and nights, we get to discover extraordinary films, meet the artists behind them and have a lot of fun along the way. And we can’t wait to see you at the movies.”

The festival runs from Nov. 4-8 and tickets can be purchased singly, by day pass or full festival pass. New is the NextGen pass for those under 30 that will be of interest. For a full list of SFF films, trailers and to purchase passes and tickets visit stratfordfilmfestival.com.