Actors/producers Shamier Anderson & Stephan James To Receive 2026 Career Achievement Award at the 14th Annual Toronto Black Film Festival
TORONTO ON (January 26, 2026) – The Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF), presented by TD Bank Group (TD) in collaboration with Global News, announced the official program and event lineup for its 14th annual edition running February 11 – 16, 2026. Founded by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, the Toronto Black Film Festival will offer up its usual diversified, impactful and captivating program to Toronto audiences both in-person and online.
TBFF is Canada’s largest Black History Month cultural event, engaging thousands of attendees across generations and cultures, in-person and online. Through bold, unique and inclusive programming, the Toronto Black Film Festival has become Toronto’s annual must-attend gathering of film lovers and fans, and is an essential catalyst for Black artists and creatives from throughout the diaspora, amplifying their world-class stories. At its core, TBFF is more than an event – it is a movement that unites diverse communities to foster learning. #TBFF26's Opening Night features a power packed film premiere, tribute and career achievement award ceremony.
OPENING NIGHT GALA: FILM, TRIBUTE & CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Presented by TD Bank Group
Isabel Bader Theatre – February 11 at 7:30 pm
Preceding the opening night film, brothers Shamier Anderson and Stephan James will be receiving the Toronto Black Film Festival's 2026 Career Achievement Award, honouring their exceptional contributions to film and television and their global impact as Canadian artists.
Shamier Anderson
Shamier Anderson is an actor and producer who starred opposite Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 4 and leads Simon Kinberg’s expansive, cinematic Apple TV+ series Invasion across three seasons. His film credits include Bruised with Halle Berry, Netflix’s Stowaway, and The Luckiest Man in America, among others. The Legacy Lounge—a series honoring Canadian trailblazers of color that he co-created and co-hosts—will debut on CBC Gem and CBC, followed by the limited series Hate The Player: The Ben Johnson Story, in which he stars as Ben Johnson and also executive produced, releasing across Canada soon. Shamier is a co-founder of The Black Academy alongside his brother Stephan, both creators of The Legacy Awards on CBC which was launched to celebrate Black talent in Canada, and is the first nationally broadcast award show celebrating Black Canadians. A Canadian Screen Award Winner, Shamier’s accolades include being named a Toronto International Film Festival Rising Star, induction into Canada’s Scarborough Walk of Fame for Arts & Entertainment, and being honoured with the Key to the Canadian Consulate in LA.
Stephan James
Stephan James is a film and television actor and producer who earned a Golden Globe nomination opposite Julia Roberts in Prime Video's Homecoming and starred in Barry Jenkins' Oscar nominated If Beale Street Could Talk. His credits include Selma, Race, 21 Bridges, #FreeRayShawn, Beacon 23, and Night Always Comes among others. He will next be seen in Netflix's War Machine releasing globally on March 6th and starring as the title character in Ricky opening March 20th in the US. James also co-created and co-hosts the upcoming in conversation series, The Legacy Lounge spotlighting Canadian trailblazers of color, releasing on CBC Gem and CBC in 2026. A Canadian Screen Award winner, Golden Globe, Emmy, and NAACP Image Award Nominee, and Variety Magazine Power of Young Hollywood Honoree, Stephan was also inducted into the Scarborough Walk of Fame for his contribution to Arts & Entertainment.
Tribute to Stanley Nelson
Also, preceding the opening film screening – powered by TD Bank Group – the Festival is honored to present iconic filmmaker Stanley Nelson, the foremost chronicler of the African American experience working in nonfiction film today, and recipient of a 2013 National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama, with the Toronto Black Film Festival’s 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award. Past Lifetime Achievement Award recipients who have received this award in-person in Toronto include film icons Pam Grier and Spike Lee.
Stanley Nelson is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and producer based in Harlem and renowned for his deeply researched films on African American culture. A MacArthur Fellow he has produced a large body of award-winning work that includes Freedom Riders (2010), The Murder of Emmett Till (2003), Freedom Summer (2014), The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution (2015), Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) (2018). Also in 2018, Nelson directed a short film, The Story of Access, which examined the history and impact of racial profiling in public spaces. This film was screened as part of a mandatory training exercise for 175,000 Starbucks employees across 8,000 stores. Nelson's film, Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (2019), the definitive look at the life and career of iconic musician Miles Davis, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019. The screening marked Nelson's tenth premiere at the prestigious festival in twenty years, the most premieres of any documentary filmmaker. His 2021 film Attica earned a Directors Guild of America Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature.
His latest film WE WANT THE FUNK! (2025) is a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spanning from African, soul, and early jazz roots to its rise into the public consciousness. Featuring James Brown's dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, and Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, the story also traces funk's influences on both new wave and hip-hop. Since 1998, Nelson has helped lead Firelight Media, a New York–based nonprofit he co-founded with Marcia A. Smith, dedicated to supporting emerging documentarians of color through programs such as the Documentary Lab.
Opening Night Film
TBFF kicks off with the Toronto Premiere screening of Of Mud and Blood, directed by Jean-Gabriel Leynaud. Set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Of Mud and Blood revolves around the lives of diggers and miners in mineral-rich Numbi, a rural valley with mixed settlements and dirt roads beside an expanse of mountains. Its main character is Ujumbe Sabahutu Claude, a digger who faces significant financial struggles that are only partially alleviated by his work in the mines. Many of the diggers, like Ujumbe, grew up impoverished as child fighters or survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. Their lives are militarised by the conflict and violence of their region. Their lives are also marked by tragedy and suffering, where becoming a digger is their only hope.
For full programming details, tickets, and events, visit:
ABOUT THE TORONTO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL
Founded by the Fabienne Colas Foundation, the Toronto Black Film Festival is Canada’s largest celebration of Black History Month through films and engaging public programming. TBFF is dedicated to celebrating the very best in cinematic work dealing with the experiences of black people from a diversity of communities. Our mandate is to provide an opportunity for filmmakers from all ethnic backgrounds to shine a spotlight on authentic stories that reflect the realities of black experiences. Along with its sister festivals, the Montreal International Black Film Festival, Halifax Black Film Festival, Ottawa Black Film Festival, Calgary Black Film Festival and Vancouver Black Film Festival, TBFF showcases new voices in cinema and encourages audiences to see the world in new ways.
