# Fall Festivals' Top Films

> Critics' picks from Venice, Toronto and Telluride shine this fall.
- Title: Fall Festivals' Top Films · The Hollywood Reporter | Shortify
- Summary: Critics' picks from Venice, Toronto and Telluride shine this fall. The Hollywood Reporter highlights five documentaries and six narrative films as top picks…
- Keywords: venice, toronto, telluride, hollywood reporter, critics picks, documentaries, narrative films, julianne moore, john malkovich, mahershala ali, rosalind eleazar, ilya khrzhanovsky
- Source: The Hollywood Reporter — https://hollywoodreporter.com/lists/best-films-fall-festivals-2026-venice-toronto-telluride
- Published: 2026-09-19T02:08:26+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: venice, toronto, telluride, hollywood reporter, critics picks, documentaries, narrative films, julianne moore, john malkovich, mahershala ali, rosalind eleazar, ilya khrzhanovsky
## Fall Festival Films
Fall festivals like Venice and Toronto often preview Oscar contenders.
## Documentary Picks
Five documentaries cover journalism in Russia, queer cinema, Gaza war, fraud queens and NYC delivery workers.
## Narrative Films
Julianne Moore, John Malkovich and Mahershala Ali get standout roles in new films.
## Rosalind Eleazar
Rosalind Eleazar scores a star-making performance in a new film.
## Ilya Khrzhanovsky
Ilya Khrzhanovsky's film on Russian physicist Lev Lendau wins critics' praise.

> At once immense and intimate, political, historical and personal, Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s loose biopic of Russian physicist Lev Lendau is the kind of shoot-for-the-moon feature that rarely happens anymore, and certainly not like this (the shoot relocated hundreds of actors and thousands of extras inside a giant simulacrum of the Soviet era, their daily interactions captured by a roving team of camera and sound technicians).
## Key takeaway

The Hollywood Reporter highlights five documentaries and six narrative films as top picks for 2026 fall festivals.