Toronto 
Events Description
Longtime TOPS fans know that Sunday evenings at Christie Pits are a summertime tradition in Toronto’s west end — it’s where the festival started in 2011!
All summer long, at Christie Pits and elsewhere, you can look forward to Toronto Outdoor Picture Show’s programme of journey-themed films, Going Places. To kick the season off, grab a blanket and join us on the hill for a special three-night Opening Weekend at Christie Pits from June 26 to 28. Then, throughout July & August, cap off each weekend with Sunday nights in the pits.
As always, attendees are treated to excellent short films by local and Canadian filmmakers paired with each feature. Select screenings include in-person filmmaker introductions.
Who is it for?
All ages – Family
You can support Toronto Outdoor Picture Show’s free, accessible cultural programming with a tax-deductible donation.
WHEN & WHERE
Date & Time:
June 26-28 & Sundays in July and August (July 5, 12, 19, 26, August 2, 9, 16, 23), 2026
Screenings begin at sundown (approx 9:00PM in June & July, 8:30PM in August)
BYOBlanket & Chairs
Screenings begin at sundown.
Friday, June 26, 2026 – Opening Night
Feature: Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, (Matt Johnson, 2025, Canada)
Short: MOON & BACK, (Pony Nicole Herauf, 2024, Canada)
Featuring in-person attendance and pre-show introduction by Nirvanna the Band film team Matt Johnson (Director, Co-writer, Co-lead) and Jay McCarrol (Cowriter & Co-lead), and MOON & BACK director Pony Nicole Herauf.
Matt Johnson’s time travel comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie employs guerrilla-style filmmaking drawn from their cult TV show and web series Nirvana the Band. Following a failed publicity stunt to book a gig at the revered Rivoli in Toronto, best friends Matt and Jay accidentally time travel back to 2008 and must find their way home to their 2025 timeline.
Saturday, June 27, 2026
Feature: One of Them Days (Lawrence Lamont, 2025, USA)
Short:Closing Dynasty, (Lloyd Lee Choi, 2023, Canada)
Lawrence Lamont’s debut feature female buddy comedy follows best friends and roommates Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA). When they discover that Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo find themselves in a race against the clock to avoid eviction.
Sunday, June 28, 2026
Feature:Güeros, (Alonso Ruizpalacios, 2014, Mexico), Toronto Premiere
Short: Rupture, (Yassmina Karajah, 2017, Canada)
Alonso Ruizpalacios’ critically acclaimed directorial debut, Güeros tells the tale of three restless teenagers who hit the road in a beat-up Volkswagen in search of a dying rock star amid the turmoil of Mexico City’s 1999 student strikes.
Sunday, July 5, 2026
Feature: Arrival (Denis Villeneuve, 2016, USA)
Short #1: Sub Terra (Jeffrey Zablotny, 2022, Canada)
Short #2 The Burden (Vahid Fazel, 2025, Canada)
Short #3 The Visit (Lisa Jackson, 2009, Canada)
Canadian auteur Denis Villeneuve’s slow-burn sci-fi follows linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and physicist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) who are recruited by the American military and tasked with translating the message of an alien species that has landed on earth.
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Feature: The Muppet Movie (James Frawley, 1979, USA)
Short #1: The Girl with the Red Beret (Janet Perlman, 2023, Canada)
Short #2 The Commute (Tarun Padmakumar, 2022, Canada)
Jim Henson’s beloved Muppets hit the road in their first feature film. The musical-comedy is the origin story of how the Muppet crew came together as Kermit the Frog travels to Hollywood in hopes of making a name for himself in show business, meeting new felt friends along the way.
Sunday, July 19, 2026
Feature: It Must Be Heaven (Elia Suleiman, 2019,
Palestine/Canada/Qatar/Palestine/Turkey/France/Germany)
Short: Ramón Who Speaks to Ghosts (Shervin Kermani, 2025, Canada)
It Must Be Heaven captures Palestinian joy and humour while following Elia Suleiman, playing himself, leaving Palestine in search of a new homeland, but finding absurd yet delightful parallels to his home country wherever he goes.
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Feature: O Brother, Where art Thou? (Ethan & Joel Coen, 2000, USA)
Short #1: Paradise Falls, New Mexico (Christina Battle, 2004, Canada)
Short #2 Wild Life (Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby, 2011, Canada)
The Coen brothers’ Depression-era musical-comedy odyssey stars a trio (George Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson) of chain gang fugitives trekking across the deep south in pursuit of gold and glory, but finding themselves in many binds throughout their journey.
Sunday, August 2, 2026
Feature: Titanic (James Cameron, 1997, USA)
Short: Mobilize (Caroline Monnet, 2015, Canada)
Ontario’s own James Cameron’s romantic epic took the world by storm as the first film to surpass 1 billion dollars at the box office. A love story set on history’s most fateful ship during its maiden voyage, Titanic is a sweeping love story between working-class Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and upper-class debutante Rose (Kate Winslet).
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Feature: Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991, USA)
Short: Demons (Kelly Fyffe-Marshall, 2025, Canada)
Celebrating its 35th anniversary year, Thelma & Louise a feminist crime classic. Best friends (Susan
Sarandon and Geena Davis) find their getaway weekend turned into a run from the law as re-imagined
Bonnie & Clyde. Set amid wide desert roads, dive bars and motels of the American southwest, this timeless
film centres resourceful and resilient women as they defy the patriarchal men who try to pin them down.
Sunday, August 16, 2026
Feature: Faces Places (Visages Villages) (Agnès Varda & JR, 2017, France)
Short #1: Madeleine (Raquel Sancinetti, 2023, Canada)
Short #2: Detours Ahead (Esther Cheung, 2024, Canada)
In her final feature film before her death in 2019, French cinema icon Agnès Varda teams up with photographer and street artist JR for an unlikely but delightful creative collaboration. The documentary chronicles them driving from town to town across rural France in a custom van turned photobooth, as
they work with locals on large-scale photo paste-ups that turn ordinary structures into massive artistic canvases.
Sunday, August 23, 2026 – Closing Night – Audience Choice contenders
● Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977, dir. Steven Spielberg)
● Life of Pi (2012, dir. Ang Lee)
● Little Miss Sunshine (2006, dir. Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton)
● Millennium Actress (2001, dir. Satoshi Kon)
● Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985, dir. Tim Burton)
● Roman Holiday (1953, dir. William Wyle
Venue & Address :
Christie Pits Park, Bloor Street West, Toronto
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