tiff Festival Street 2026

Early hours along King Street West during tiff Festival Street is delightful - fans are starting their long waits at theatres and red carpets, food trucks are starting to open and only a handful of giveaways art taking place. But it is a good time to check out the hot spots, see the art installations and hope you trip over a celebrity.

Tree of Cinema by Alina Tacmelova and Yury Goncharov is an interesting piece that requires closer inspection. The metal tree trunks are slim and curving while the treasure sits at the top. Film strips wind through the branches, each frame contains iconic shots from movie's past.

The eye of Sauron is looking at you babe

From tiff's website, "Festival Street is an open-air celebration where the magic of the Toronto International Film Festival spills straight out of the theatres and onto King Street. For four unforgettable days, Sept. 10–13, King Street West between Peter and University transforms into a buzzing, welcoming, everyone’s-invited Festival playground. It is the public epicentre of TIFF, where audiences celebrate the movies — and we celebrate our audiences.

It looks like a popcorn bowl, but it is full of flowers

Festival Street includes red carpets, art installations, partner activations, an art market, live music stages, fan zones, free outdoor screenings, food market, games, and activities for the whole family. There is no better way to celebrate “the People’s Festival” than with a free and accessible street party dedicated to the Festival-goers in Toronto."

A lions head from Fellini Forever is the world's largest privately held archive dedicated to Federico Fellini.

The Little Free Cinema. Tiny little theatres the size of a birdhouse

Two installations of Disco Speakers are on King Street West

Everyone always says the first week is the best week, so enjoy the sights, concerts and movie screenings.

#tiff50 2025 back on King St

Fifty years of bringing stars amd their movies to Hollywood North at the Toronto Film Festival. You can catch the festival from September 4 to 14, 2025 with a focus on the King Street entertainment district.

From tiff, "Free movies, activities, and more

Join us on King Street from Peter Street to University Avenue for FREE activities and screenings! While Festival Street activations only last from September 4 to 7, everything else at David Pecaut Square runs through the rest of the Festival."

TIFF and the TIFF Festival Street 2024

TIFF is back in the Six and it also starts off with the street festival on King Street in the entertainment district. The popular movie festival runs September 5 to 15, 2024 while the 8th year of the street festival is only from September 5 to 8.

King Street West has already been closed down between University Ave and Peter St for the 4 day festival, along with the adjacent streets connecting to King, as crews and food trucks set up for the festival.

A big celebration is planned on Thursday for 40 years of Tragically Hip including a free sing along with Choir! Choir! Choir!

A wrapped tiff sign waits for the festival to start

From the TIFF website, "Kicking off the excitement on opening day is the World Premiere of The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal from producer-director Mike Downie — brother of Gord Downie, who alongside Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, and Gord Sinclair went on to make music that defined Canada to the world, and more importantly, Canada to Canadians. Following the screening of the four-part docu-series, Choir! Choir! Choir! will lead a giant outdoor sing-a-long from the Royal Alexandra Theatre onto Festival Street to celebrate 40 years of The Tragically Hip, presented by Prime Video. Fans are invited to join this unforgettable moment at the Amazon Music Bus on John St. (between King St. and Wellington St.) on Thursday, September 5, 4:30pm–5:45pm. Approximate start time is 5:00pm, exact timing is subject to change."

Besides the fun on King Street there is always a chance to meet a movie star in town for the movie festival. Some fans wait for this event all year so they can stake out celebrity hotspots, meet their friends and come away with photos or autographs of the stars. There will also be free movie screenings and activities in David Pecaut Square during the run of the movie festival.

Dropping off VIPS

It's festival season in Toronto

This past weekend the city was full of festivals, many of them street festivals and shutting down streets leads to BlogTO telling us what a nightmare it will be to traverse the city. Add in road construction, TTC shutdowns and accidents and it really is true so I biked! Many of the festivals feature the same old things sometimes it's hard to tell one festival from another. But, a big but, they bring people out to socialize and have fun - escape the ordinary and meet your neighbours. They just need more dunk tanks.

tiff street festival

During the September 9-10 weekend there was VegTO Fest, Cabbagetown Festival, Ossington Summer Send-off Festival, Taste of Kingsway and the creme de la creme - tiff street festival, now featuring fewer celebrities (actor and writer strikes). 

The Ossington Summer Send-off

The mini Oss-Fest was a one day affair. From the Meet me on Ossington website; "Something great is planned for Saturday, September 9th! Get ready to experience a pedestrian takeover of Ossington Avenue between Queen St W and Dundas St W. Many people, visitors, customers, city builders and businesses have always said, "Ossington Avenue would be the perfect street to pedestrianize for a day or two, or better yet, every weekend!". Well those wishes have been granted, for one day anyways! We have been graciously awarded the Main Street Innovation Fund through the City of Toronto, to help make this happen!"

Taste of Kingsway had a lot of amusement rides

From the Taste of the Kingsway website; "From September 8-10, join us for three unforgettable days of food, music, family entertainment, contests, and shows at South Etobicoke's largest street festival, in celebration of its 25th year."

Tall guy making balloons during Cabbagetown Festival

From Cabbagetown's website; "Calling all festival lovers! Get ready to party like it's 1976 because the legendary Cabbagetown Festival is back! After a 3-year hiatus, we're coming back bigger, bolder, and better than ever before! Gather your crew, bring your dancing shoes, and join us for a FREE weekend of pure fun, on September 9th and 10th!"

VegTO Fest at City Hall's Nathan Phillips Square

From VegTO Fest website; "VegTO Fest returns! Toronto’s only free vegan festival kale-bent on making plant-based fun accessible and sensational for everyone. Experience over 200 exhibitors offering food, wares and other wonders. There’s lots to get hyped about."

Next week (September 16-17, 2023) brings a couple of doozies as well such as the Redpath Waterfront Festival (with the big rubber ducky), the Toronto Ukrainian Festival, Roncesvalles Polish Festival.

tiff street festival ends, tiff endures

Toronto's 47th festival of movies has touched down in Toronto once again, centered around the Entertainment District and on King Street West where the festival played out from September 8-11, 2022. King Street was closed from University Avenue to Peter Street, full of stages, vendors and promotions with a touch of art and a few tiff signs. Tiff continues until September 18 with the first week usually the busiest.

Mirror Moment art installation

From the City of Toronto, "Event road closures accommodating the Toronto International Film Festival, the following roads will be closed to vehicle traffic from 5 a.m. on Thursday, September 8, until 5 a.m. on Monday, September 12: King Street West between University Avenue and Peter Street, Simcoe Street between Wellington Street West and Pearl Street, Duncan Street between King Street West and Pearl Street along with John Street between Wellington Street West and Pearl Street."

The excitement is always waiting for the movie stars to show up for photos and autographs. Good luck with those crowds!

See more of the street festival after the jump.