Zack Snyder’s Decade-Plus Passion Project ‘The Last Photograph’ Will World Premiere at TIFF

Snyder shot, wrote, and financed the film independently after the project first fell apart nearly ten years ago. It doesn’t have a distributor yet.

TIFF has added a genuine surprise to its 2026 lineup. Zack Snyder’s The Last Photograph will have its world premiere Sunday, September 13, at 6:30 p.m. in the John Bassett Theatre, TIFF’s new screening venue at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Public tickets go on sale today at 12 p.m. ET.

Stuart Martin, best known from Army of Thieves, stars as Ethan Black, a former DEA operative who travels to a remote South American mountain region searching for his missing niece and nephew after their diplomat parents are murdered.

Fra Fee, from Hawkeye, plays Joe Wallace, a world-weary, drug-addicted war photographer who claims to have witnessed the killing and joins Ethan’s search. Both actors previously worked with Snyder on his Rebel Moon films.

A Film Snyder Has Been Trying To Make For Two Decades

This isn’t a new idea for Snyder. The Hollywood Reporter first wrote about The Last Photograph back in December 2016, describing it as a smaller, darker project he intended to make before what was then planned as Justice League 2.

The rights lapsed before that version ever happened. Producer Gianni Nunnari eventually renegotiated them, and the project sat dormant for years while Snyder worked through Justice League, Army of the Dead, and both Rebel Moon films for Netflix.

The version premiering at TIFF finally got moving in August 2025, with Snyder shooting it independently, without a studio or streamer attached, across Iceland, Colombia, and Los Angeles, with additional filming in the Amazon. He wrote the screenplay with longtime collaborator Kurt Johnstad, based on his own original story, and shot the film himself as cinematographer.

Hans Zimmer scores it alongside Omer Benyamin and Steven Doar. The reported budget sits at roughly $10 million, a fraction of what Snyder’s studio films have typically cost.

Speaking to Deadline about the appeal of making something this stripped-down, Snyder said: “The idea of taking camera in hand and simply making a movie in an intimate way is very appealing to me. The Last Photograph is a meditation of life and death, embodying some of the trials that I have experienced in my own life.”

No Distributor Yet, And A Real Festival Comeback

The film still doesn’t have distribution lined up, which is part of why Snyder is taking the festival route rather than a traditional theatrical rollout.

A TIFF premiere marks a genuine return to the festival circuit for a filmmaker who’s spent most of the last decade working almost exclusively within the DC and Netflix ecosystems. There had reportedly been chatter earlier this year that the film might surface at Cannes instead, before TIFF secured it as a last-minute addition to its 2026 slate.

The Last Photograph is billed as a Special Event World Premiere. The 51st Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 10 through 20, 2026.

Joanthan P. Moustakas

Jonathan P. Moustakas founded The Cinema Group in 2020 during the challenges of the pandemic, after losing the vital ability to find community in theaters and escape through the captivating magic of cinema. Feeling profoundly cut off from the vibrant film community he cherished, he sought to create a welcoming home for dedicated cinema fans while providing engaging, daily curated content that resonates with their passions. Years later, The Cinema Group has blossomed from a small collective of loyal fans into a thriving brand that reaches millions of audiences every month across a diverse array of platforms and mediums.

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