Windsor International Film Festival is the “Having It All” fest

Clockwise from left: Vincent Georgie, WIFF executive director and chief programmer; Cannes/TIFF hit “La Bola Negra”; Sundance hit “Nuisance Bear”; sci-fi/horror genre classic “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” all at WIFF 2026.

Peter Howell

Movie Critic

You could spend a lot of time and money visiting film festivals in Cannes, Toronto, Sundance, Venice, Telluride, Berlin and many other well-known global cinema locales.

Or you could just head southwest from Toronto and go to the Windsor International Film Festival, WIFF for short, which is fast earning a reputation as the “Having It All” fest for discerning film buffs.

Vincent Georgie, WIFF’s executive director and chief programmer, personally selects every one of the 232 features and 70+ shorts in the fest, choosing from the best of fests in 55 countries around the world. Last year’s fest attracted a record 50,000 film lovers “and it would be the same this year, if not more,” Georgie said in a video interview. “The pre-sale has been very strong.”

He loves the “Having It All” tag but his real motivation is to simply book the finest films possible.

"At the root of it, when I’m programming, I’m just quite simply looking for great films. So, by nature, there’s going to be some from Sundance, some from Berlin, etc. It’s less strategic than it looks. Just go look for great films and pick them.”

This year’s WIFF, which runs Oct. 29 to Nov. 8, includes films — many of them prize winners — which originally premiered elsewhere.

A short list of WIFF’s global haul includes films from Cannes (“La Bola Negra,” ”Fjord,” “Minotaur,” "Paper Tiger,” “Club Kid,” “La Gradiva,” “Coward”), Toronto's TIFF (“Being Heumann,” ’“Toy Gun Bandit,” “Whatcha Want,” "In the Heart of the South,” “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney”), Sundance (“Nuisance Bear,” "Josephine,” “Bedford Park,” "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” “Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!”), Berlin (“Rose,” “Queen at Sea,” “Nina Roza”) and many more.

The fest will open Oct. 29 with James Gray’s family drama “Paper Tiger,” which screened in competition at Cannes, skipped TIFF and then opened this year’s New York Film Festival.

Along with these gems are many classic films being presented in newly restored anniversary editions, such as Don Siegel’s sci-fi horror “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” from 1956, still hoping, at age 70, to terrify viewers and Stanley Kubrick’s behaviour modification satire “A Clockwork Orange,” now 55 ultra-violent years old.

Then there are the Canadian selections, which are a big part of WIFF. They’re given special attention in the first weekend of the fest, including a competition with a big-money prize.

This year’s 10 nominees for the $25,000 WIFF Prize in Canadian Film are: 𝗕𝗮’𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 (Ashley Duong), 𝗛𝗮𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 (Rafaël Ouellet), 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗮́𝗻 (Louise Bagnall), 𝗟𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻, 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 (Matthew Rankin), 𝗡𝗲𝗸𝗮𝗶 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 (Rico King), 𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 (Rodrigo Barriuso), 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗥𝗼𝘇𝗮 (Geneviève Dulude-Decelles), 𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 (Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette), 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝘂𝗻 (Sean Menard) and 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗕𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲 (Bachir Bensaddek).

For more details on this year’s WIFF line-up, go to windsorfilmfestival.com