The 26th Toronto International Film Festival ran from September 6 to September 15, 2001. There were 326 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.

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner is a 2001 Canadian epic film directed by Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk and produced by his company Isuma Igloolik Productions. It was the first feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language.