When The Ground Paused selected for Toronto International Film Festival – Australian short documentary When The Ground Paused will make its international premiere at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival.
TIFF selected the 14-minute film for its Short Cuts programme. It will screen after Australian audiences see it at the Melbourne International Film Festival this month. The international selection gives writer-director Jess Barclay Lawton another major platform for her intimate documentary storytelling.
TIFF will run in Toronto from 10 to 20 September. The film’s team will attend with travel and marketing support from Screen Australia.
Watch the TIFF teaser
A portrait of young motherhood
Calida is a 20-year-old mother of two. When The Ground Paused follows her as she moves between being a girl, a mother and a daughter. Each role feels slightly out of reach.
The observational documentary explores care as both a burden and a possibility. It also examines the fragile hope of interrupting inherited cycles.
Lawton said returning to TIFF was especially meaningful. The festival played an important role in her development as a filmmaker.
“Since then, becoming a mother has changed both my life and my creative practice.”
Jess Barclay Lawton returns to TIFF
Lawton works across documentary and narrative forms, with a focus on intimate and hybrid storytelling. Her first short film, Morning Star, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival and launched her work internationally.
Her films have since appeared at several Academy Award and BAFTA-qualifying festivals. They include Tribeca, Sapporo, MIFF, Sydney Film Festival, Aspen and Slamdance. She previously took part in TIFF’s competitive filmmaker lab.
Australian production team
Lizzie Cater and Scarlett Koehne produced the documentary. The team filmed in regional Victoria during 2025. Before production, Lawton spent time with young mothers through a City of Melbourne-supported research project.
Cater previously produced the feature film The Greenhouse, which premiered at BFI Flare. She also produced Birdie. That short film premiered at TIFF before Fox Searchlight acquired it.
Koehne’s credits include Videoland. The series won the Series Mania Comedy Award and reached Netflix’s Australian Top 10 after its streaming debut.
When The Ground Paused stars Calida Rossiter Perez, Axel Rossiter and Harleigh Rossiter. Bonita Carzino handled cinematography, while Delaney de la Harpe edited the film. Hayden Relf led costume and production design. Weronika Razna completed the sound design.
TIFF international premiere
The TIFF selection follows the film’s local screening at MIFF. It places the Australian production before international industry members and public audiences in September.
More Australian film coverage is available through TV Central’s Movie Previews section. Festival information and public screening updates are available from the official Toronto International Film Festival website.
