The 26th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 6 to September 15, 2001. There were 326 films (249 feature films, 77 short films) from 54 countries scheduled to be screened during the ten-day festival. During a hastily arranged press conference on September 11, Festival director Piers Handling and managing director Michelle Maheux announced that 30 public screenings and 20 press screenings would be cancelled during the sixth day of the festival due to the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. The festival resumed for the final four days though some films were cancelled because the film prints could not reach Toronto due to flight restrictions.

Awards

Programmes

Viacom Galas

Canadian Open Vault

Contemporary World Cinema

Dialogues: Talking with Pictures

Spotlight: Ulrich Seidl

Discovery

Jean Pierre Lefebvre: Vidéaste

Masters

Midnight Madness

National Cinema Programme

Perspective Canada

Planet Africa

Real to Reel

Special Presentations

Wavelengths

Canada's Top Ten

In December 2001, TIFF introduced the Canada's Top Ten project to identify the year's ten best Canadian films as selected by festival programmers and film critics from across Canada.