The Toronto International Film Festival will feature two Indian shorts in its 2026 Short Cuts programme, with filmmakers Shaunak Sen and Rahul Roye premiering new works at the festival.

Shaunak Sen's Termite will screen in Short Cuts Programme 02, while Rahul Roye's Aman has been selected for Short Cuts Programme 06. Both films will have their World Premieres at TIFF.

Termite marks Sen's return to fiction after establishing himself internationally with the acclaimed documentaries Cities of Sleep (2015) and All That Breathes (2022). The latter won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance, the L'Œil d'or (Golden Eye) for Best Documentary at Cannes, and went on to receive an Academy Award nomination.

Written and directed by Sen, Termite is produced by Dimpy Agrawal, Meena Agrawal and Aman Mann. The film stars Koumarane Valavane and Imran Khan, with cinematography by Ben Bernhard and Saumyananda Sahi, and editing by Manas Mittal.

Interestingly, the project has its roots in All That Breathes. During the development of that documentary, Sen had conceived a parallel storyline about a termite exterminator to contrast the film's injured birds, describing termites as creatures of the subterranean world in contrast to the kites that inhabit the skies. That abandoned idea has now evolved into a standalone fiction short.

The second Indian selection, Aman, is written and directed by Rahul Roye and stars Kabir Maan, Guntaj Deep Singh and Sirat Taneja. The film is produced by Abid Aziz Merchant and Elle León Nostas, with cinematography by Tamás Apor Méder.

Roye is known for his earlier shorts Man & Wife and A Lullaby for Yellow Roses, and has worked across independent cinema as a writer, producer and production designer. The screenplay for Aman previously received recognition at the Yellowstone International Film Festival.

TIFF's 2026 Short Cuts programme comprises six curated sections alongside the experimental Strange Cuts strand, showcasing emerging and established voices from around the world. The festival is Academy Award qualifying for short films, with awards presented for Best International Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

The 51st Toronto International Film Festival will take place from 10 to 20 September 2026.