TORONTO, September 10, 2026 – The musical romance Stuffed held its world premiere at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, opening this year’s TIFF Discovery program. The film is directed by Theo Rhys and stars Jodie Comer and Harry Melling. Rhys co-wrote the screenplay with Joss Holden-Rea.
The film begins with an unconventional love story. Araminta is a taxidermist who has long hoped for the chance to preserve a human body. Bernie, afraid of being forgotten after death, enters into a special arrangement with her about what will happen after he dies. Their relationship gradually changes from there.
Elements such as taxidermy, death and even suicide give the film a dark surface, but for writer Joss Holden-Rea, the story is ultimately about emotions many people can understand.
CCTVMedium interviewed Holden-Rea on the premiere red carpet. He said love may seem simple in everyday life, but for people experiencing it, it is often connected to life, death and what a person is able to leave behind.
The film’s use of taxidermy is also more than an unusual career setting. Holden-Rea said it works more like a symbol of the human desire to leave something behind. Memories eventually fade, and other people’s memories of us also disappear over time. Taxidermy turns life into something that can be physically preserved. Many of the film’s songs and story moments also revolve around the idea that memory will eventually fade.
Stuffed grew out of a short film of the same name previously created by Theo Rhys. In an interview with CCTVMedium, Rhys said making the feature was not simply about reshooting the original short. Instead, he wanted to keep the most important part of the short — the connection between two people — and further explore how that relationship begins and what it means to each of them.
With the film combining musical numbers, romance, horror and death, maintaining the right tone was also an important part of the creative process. Rhys said placing songs and horror elements together can actually create a sense of lightness, while the performances by Jodie Comer and Harry Melling brought more warmth and ease to the two characters.
Starting from the unusual world of taxidermy, Stuffed ultimately explores more than death itself. It looks at how people build connections with one another, and what they hope to leave behind when facing the fear of being forgotten.（LJI by Yuanyuan）
