Top 5 Films to Watch at CUFF.Docs 2026

The Calgary Underground Film Festival returns to the Globe Cinema from November 18 to 22, 2026, for the 14th edition of its annual CUFF.Docs Documentary Film Festival. This year’s programme includes 15 feature documentaries, 17 short films, and the ever-popular CATVIDEOFEST, bringing together an eclectic collection of stories that range from Canadian political history and Indigenous hip-hop to Hollywood legends, underground music scenes, and one particularly famous owl.

CUFF.Docs has always been an interesting counterpart to the main Calgary Underground Film Festival, approaching documentary filmmaking with much of the same appetite for unconventional storytelling, unusual subjects, and filmmakers who are willing to experiment with the form. The festival has also been growing considerably, with attendance increasing by more than 20% in 2025 and 85% over the past two years.

This year’s lineup includes films that have already made appearances at Cannes, TIFF, Venice, Sitges, and other major international festivals, alongside Canadian productions and emerging filmmakers who may be considerably less familiar to audiences. There is also a strong local presence, including a Calgary documentary making its world premiere and several Alberta filmmakers attending screenings.

The five films below reflect a combination of festival recognition, previous work from the filmmakers, Canadian and Alberta connections, and my own interests.

More to Watch at CUFF.Docs 2026: Features, Shorts, and the Matthew Rankin Retrospective

There is plenty worth checking out beyond these five selections. Captain Newfoundland explores the strange television legacy of Newfoundland broadcasting pioneer Geoff Stirling, while Edmonton filmmaker Eden Munro brings Alberta country-punk history to the screen with More Miles Than Money: The Story of Jr. Gone Wild.

For horror and filmmaking enthusiasts, Rubberhead: The Life & Monsters of Steve Johnson explores the career of one of Hollywood’s most prolific practical-effects artists, while Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders revisits the real-life murders and production controversies surrounding William Friedkin‘s Cruising. Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, from The Birth of Saké director Erik Shirai, also arrives following an impressive international festival run that includes Venice, Telluride, and BFI London.

The short film programme includes nine new Canadian productions, three of which are from Alberta. Among the selections are Concrete Nature, about Canada’s youngest Olympic athlete; The Bookstore That Never Sleeps, exploring an independent bookstore; Find Your Pack, centred around roller derby; and Not in My City: The Paul Brandt Story, which examines human trafficking. Two Indigenous shorts, Giiwe πρό bizhiw and Indigenous Joy, were also developed through the Winnipeg Film Group’s Super 8 Special Film Incubator.

An Afternoon with Matthew Rankin: Documentary Shorts Retrospective and Artist Talk

One of the most interesting additions to CUFF.Docs this year is An Afternoon with Matthew Rankin, taking place on Thursday, November 19, at 4:00 PM. The retrospective will feature four of Rankin’s earlier short documentaries: Kubasa in a Glass: The Strange World of the Winnipeg TV Commercial (2006), Cattle Call (2008), Negativipeg (2010), and A Day in Grasslands (2019).

Rankin will join CUFF Lead Programmer Cameron Macgowan for an artist talk examining these earlier projects and his filmmaking process. Having followed Rankin’s work through The Twentieth Century and Universal Language, which topped my Canadian films to watch at CIFF 2024, I am particularly interested in getting a closer look at the earlier experiments that helped establish his wonderfully strange approach to Canadian history, archival filmmaking, and national identity.

Paired with his latest feature opening the festival the previous evening, the retrospective offers something that is not always available at documentary festivals: an opportunity to look at a filmmaker’s development across nearly two decades of work.

Here are my five films to watch at CUFF.Docs 2026.

5. Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney

Festival Presentation: Opening Night Film: November 18, 6:30 PM

Notable Festivals: Toronto International Film Festival 2026 (People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award Winner), Atlantic International Film Festival 2026

Haunted by visions of the future. Vilified by the political establishment. Charming beyond belief. Behold the dazzling ascent of Brian Mulroney, the “Boy from Baie-Comeau” who built a brand-new Canada.

In 1976, Brian Mulroney launched a charm offensive the likes of which Canada had never seen, dismantling the political establishment one dad joke at a time. In this psychedelic doomscroll through the mind of a master politician, filmmaker Matthew Rankin (THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE) charts the flamboyant rise of Canada’s 18th prime minister. From the backwoods of Baie-Comeau to the backrooms of power, Mulroney plots his ascent, trouncing his enemies with a smile and preparing Canada for the unlimited prosperity and permanent unity we live in today. In a genre-bending collage of VHS-ravaged Canadiana, Rankin remixes and reimagines 80,000 pieces of archive, chronicling our 18th prime minister’s crash course with destiny as he clobbers Joe Clark and ushers in a new kind of conservatism for the 1980s. What emerges is a fever dream of politics, propaganda and pop culture as hypnotic as its subject.

Director: Matthew Rankin

Notable Previous Work: The Twentieth Century (2019), Universal Language (2024), The Tesla World Light (2017)

In Attendance: Director Matthew Rankin

Why Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney Might Be Worth a Watch

In my opinion, Matthew Rankin is one of the greatest Canadian directors working today. His previous feature, Universal Language, was genuinely brilliant, a wonderfully strange and singular piece of filmmaking that became Canada’s official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Academy Awards. Rankin has already demonstrated his ability to completely reimagine Canadian political history with The Twentieth Century, which transformed William Lyon Mackenzie King’s rise to power into an absurdist fever dream. Now, with roughly 80,000 pieces of archival material at his disposal, he is taking that same sensibility into documentary filmmaking. This is not a conventional political biography.

In fact, when I was at TIFF this year, Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney was one of the films I kept hearing people talk about. There was plenty of chatter about its Midnight Madness premiere, and it ultimately walked away with the programme’s People’s Choice Award. As someone who used to teach politics, there are obvious personal reasons this appeals to me, but Rankin’s interest in political performance, propaganda, and the absurdity of Canadian identity makes this fascinating well beyond its historical subject.

Realistically, this might be the number-one documentary to see at CUFF.Docs. The only reason it sits at five is that it is the most obvious recommendation on this list. Having Rankin in Calgary for both the screening and his short-film retrospective makes an already exceptional opportunity even better. There really isn’t another filmmaker quite like him.

4. Starry Night

Premiere Status: World Premiere

Set in Calgary, STARRY NIGHT documents the artistic and personal triumphs of a remarkable troupe of performers who breathe life into a play centred around schizophrenia – a condition they themselves grapple with.

Against the backdrop of the play, the documentary follows the journeys of performers whose courageous acts of self-expression reflect their distinct efforts to live with and not be defined by their illness. STARRY NIGHT centres on the performers living with schizophrenia, and director Bruce Thomas Miller, an administrator at the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta. The film follows them as they tour and rehearse the play called “Starry Night”, an educational performance that teaches audiences about schizophrenia from a lived-experience perspective. Group participants share their personal experiences about how performing the play has contributed to improved quality of life. The film explores the themes of art as a therapeutic tool and the role of community as harm reduction, offering a hopeful perspective: a diagnosis of schizophrenia holds the potential for a healthy and fulfilling life.

Director: Bruce Thomas Miller

In Attendance: Director Bruce Thomas Miller and local cast and crew

Why Starry Night Might Be Worth a Watch

There is a particular importance to supporting local filmmaking at a festival like CUFF.Docs. Calgary is home to plenty of talented artists who have spent years building careers and supporting the creative community, and Bruce Thomas Miller is one of those filmmakers. His ongoing work in Calgary, collaborations with local artists, and background in the social sector make the world premiere of Starry Night an especially appropriate addition to the festival. It is exactly the kind of locally produced work I want to see our festivals champion.

What makes the documentary particularly interesting is its approach to representation. Rather than having people living with schizophrenia simply explain their experiences to an outside audience, the film follows non-professional performers who are already using theatre to tell their own stories. Miller’s involvement with the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta also gives him a personal connection to the community, with the film exploring how creative expression, relationships, and participation can become meaningful parts of people’s lives. There is something refreshing about approaching a subject so often defined by stigma through creativity and individual accomplishment instead.

At just under 50 minutes, Starry Night is also one of the easier films to fit into a busy festival schedule. With Miller and local cast and crew attending, it is a particularly worthwhile opportunity to support Calgary filmmaking.

3. Wild Inside

Notable Festivals: Rooftop Films 2026 (World Premiere), Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival 2026 (Opening Night Film)

A Eurasian Eagle-Owl named Flaco escapes from the Central Park Zoo and sets off on a magical odyssey through the island of Manhattan. Flaco overcomes his years of captivity and lack of survival skills to answer the call of the wild – and discovers he was wild inside all along.

WILD INSIDE is an underdog story of resilience and self determination as Flaco the Owl beats the odds and accomplishes the impossible. Flaco busts out of his cage barely able to fly, but he adapts, he explores and eventually – it seems – he goes far beyond mere survival, becoming an internationally known icon of freedom, hooting from the highest water towers. He claims all of New York City as his wild kingdom. This one of a kind owl’s epic song is sung in WILD INSIDE by a chorus of besotted New Yorkers – young and old, bird-nerds and civilians, many of them immigrants themselves – all of them reaching for a glimpse of the wild, a glimmer of magic, or even just someone to believe in. Everywhere Flaco goes, he leaves that place and its people forever enchanted.

Director: Penny Lane

Notable Previous Work: Our Nixon (2013), Nuts! (2016), Hail Satan? (2019), Listening to Kenny G (2021)

Why Wild Inside Might Be Worth a Watch

A documentary about an owl escaping from the Central Park Zoo might seem like a slightly unusual choice for this list, until you look at the filmmaker behind it. Penny Lane is one of the more interesting documentary directors working today, with films like Nuts!, Listening to Kenny G, and the acclaimed Hail Satan?, which premiered at Sundance in 2019 before receiving a theatrical release through Magnolia Pictures. That last film, examining the Satanic Temple and its relationship to religious freedom, is a good example of Lane’s ability to take a seemingly strange subject and find something much more substantial beneath it.

There is also a surprisingly personal connection here. Lane has been an avid birdwatcher for decades, and a friend of hers was reportedly the first person to spot Flaco following his escape. The documentary subsequently grew into something of a collective New York production, assembled in part from footage and photographs submitted by hundreds of residents who followed the owl’s movements around the city.

Beyond the obvious appeal of Flaco’s story, there are interesting questions about captivity, freedom, our relationship with wildlife, and the meanings we project onto animals. The contrast between an enormous urban environment and an owl discovering an entirely new existence has an almost fable-like quality.

2. Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern

Notable Festivals: Cannes Film Festival 2026 (Cannes Classics), Sitges Film Festival 2026 (Best Sitges Documenta Film Winner)

An intimate portrait of Bruce Dern, reflecting in his own words on a life and career spanning generations of Hollywood, tracing endurance, reinvention, and the legacy he passes to his daughter, Laura Dern.

Tireless, uncompromising, and one of the last living legends of his generation, Bruce Dern is an actor whose fearlessness and radical lack of vanity took him places other actors simply wouldn’t go. A devoted long-distance runner, Dern has always understood something most people learn too late: endurance is a discipline. He ran through the golden age – directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Hal Ashby, holding his own opposite John Wayne, Bette Davis, and Jack Nicholson. He ran through the lean years. And he kept running until the work caught up with him again – outlasting the very industry that defined him.

From director Mike Mendez (BIG ASS SPIDER CUFF 2013, SATANIC HISPANICS CUFF 2023), DERNSIE is drawn from over 50 hours of conversations across four years, never-before-seen photographs, and deeply personal video letters from those closest to him, including his daughter Laura Dern. Featuring candid interviews with Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne, Billy Bob Thornton, Walton Goggins, Patty Jenkins, and more, the film is both a homecoming and a celebration – a reflection on a vanishing Hollywood, and a testament to anyone who has ever been counted out, passed over, or told the race was already run, and kept going anyway.

Director: Mike Mendez

Notable Previous Work: The Convent (2000), The Gravedancers (2006), Big Ass Spider! (2013), Satanic Hispanics (2022, anthology segment)

Featuring: Bruce Dern, Laura Dern, Quentin Tarantino, Alexander Payne, Billy Bob Thornton, and others

In Attendance: Director Mike Mendez

Why Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern Might Be Worth a Watch

If there is a documentary that feels specifically designed for CUFF audiences, it might be Dernsie. Bruce Dern has one of those extraordinary careers that connects seemingly every era of American filmmaking, from working with Alfred Hitchcock, Roger Corman, and Hal Ashby to his later collaborations with Quentin Tarantino and Alexander Payne. Films like Silent Running, Coming Home, The Cowboys, and Nebraska demonstrate just how varied that career has been, often built around difficult, unpredictable, and decidedly unconventional characters.

Perhaps even more interesting is the filmmaker behind the documentary. Mike Mendez is better known for cult horror films like The Convent, The Gravedancers, and Big Ass Spider! than for documentary filmmaking. On the surface, it is an unusual pairing, but Mendez’s appreciation for unconventional cinema makes the connection feel entirely appropriate. The project apparently began with casual conversations between the two, eventually developing into more than 50 hours of interviews over several years. Combined with animation, archival footage, and contributions from filmmakers like Tarantino and Payne, there is an enormous amount of Hollywood history to explore.

Dernsie also arrives with substantial festival credentials, having premiered in Cannes Classics before winning Best Sitges Documenta Film in October. Between that recognition, Dern’s remarkable filmography, and Mendez attending the CUFF screening, this feels like an easy recommendation for anyone interested in cinema history and the people who helped shape it.

1. Turtle Island Rap

Notable Festivals: Toronto International Film Festival 2026 (World Premiere), Vancouver International Film Festival 2026

A celebratory portrait of Indigenous youth culture, following the creative journeys of three rappers on the rise.

Hip-hop is a tool of self-expression and community connection for A$h Da Hunter, Travis Thompson, and Wiidaaseh, the artists featured in TURTLE ISLAND RAP. Blending performance, intimate personal moments, and a view from inside the creative process, this documentary is a portrait of three artists shaping contemporary Indigenous culture.

Director: Alexandra Lazarowich

Notable Previous Work: Fast Horse (2018), Lake (2019), Winding Path (2024), Stuff the British Stole (television)

Featuring: A$h Da Hunter, Travis Thompson, Wiidaaseh

In Attendance: Director Alexandra Lazarowich, producer Jessica Ford, Wiidaaseh, and cast and crew

Why Turtle Island Rap Might Be Worth a Watch

Picking a definitive number one from a festival lineup like this is almost impossible, but Turtle Island Rap feels like the best fit for what I am most interested in seeing at CUFF.Docs. There is an important place for films examining the trauma and historical injustices experienced by Indigenous communities, but there is equally important work being done in celebrating Indigenous excellence, creativity, and contemporary identity. Turtle Island Rap is particularly interested in the latter, following young Indigenous artists who are not simply participating in popular culture but actively shaping music, fashion, and the communities around them.

What I find especially appealing is the decision to follow three distinct artists. A$h Da Hunter, Travis Thompson, and Wiidaaseh come from different Indigenous nations, musical backgrounds, and communities, each approaching their artistic identities in their own way. It reinforces something that is too often overlooked in broader discussions of Indigenous representation: there is no singular Indigenous experience or culture. The film also places these emerging voices within a larger musical landscape, with artists including Macklemore, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and Snotty Nose Rez Kids appearing among its participants.

There is also a strong Alberta connection through director Alexandra Lazarowich, a Cree filmmaker from northern Alberta whose previous documentary Fast Horse won a Special Jury Award for Directing at Sundance in 2019. With Turtle Island Rap marking her documentary feature debut following its world premiere at TIFF, and Lazarowich and Wiidaaseh attending CUFF, this feels like an excellent opportunity to celebrate a filmmaker and a group of artists who are helping define what contemporary Indigenous storytelling can look like.