All summer long, Toronto Outdoor Picture is Going Places, and what better place to kick off our journey-themed programme than right here in Toronto with the first of three Opening Weekend films about urban (mis)adventures. An instant classic of Toronto cinema, TOPS is thrilled to jump-start our 2026 festival season with Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie on June 26 at Christie Pits Park. 

If you told us in 2008 that Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s irreverent, inventive, and unabashedly Torontonian webseries Nirvana the Band would be a near-universally acclaimed feature film in 2025, we’d double-check the expiry date on your bottle of Orbitz. And yet, that’s exactly what happened. This is no mere nostalgic trip down memory lane, though – Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is as high concept as it is low budget. The film is all at once a Back to the Future-inspired epic journey back in time to 2008 Toronto (via a highly unlikely method of transportation), a brilliantly silly buddy comedy, a triumph of “how’d they do that?” DIY filmmaking wizardry, and a disarmingly touching meditation on friendship and growing apart. Whether you’re new to the Nirvan(n)a fandom or a longtime follower of this Toronto cult classic, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is a testament to the power of cinema to bring people together across time and space.

Toronto filmmaker Pony Nicole Herauf’s short film MOON & BACK similarly introduces audiences to a pair of goofball best friends on the verge of an impossible journey that may separate them for good. Although the film is aesthetically fantastical, draped in neon hues and handcrafted space travel props, Herauf’s attention to the loving, hurting intimacy of friendship grounds the story in the here and now.

Toronto Outdoor Picture Show’s Opening Weekend (June 26-28, 2026 at Christie Pits) is a special highlight of this year’s journey-themed film programme (screening in parks across the city from June through August). Taking place while Toronto plays host to international soccer matches, Opening Weekend will spotlight films featuring journeys across three cities in the three host countries: Toronto, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. Click here to find out what else is screening on Opening Weekend.

This screening will feature an in-person film introduction by Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol.

nirvanna the band the show the movie

Directed by Matt Johnson, 2025

With short film MOON & BACK, directed by Pony Nicole Herauf, 2024

Friday, June 26, 2026
Venue: Christie Pits Park  

Admission: Free/PWYC (no ticket required to attend)
Donations make our programming possible (click here)

Event details:
Eats & Treats for sale @ 6 pm / Showtime @ sundown (~ 9pm). Film preceded by in-person film introduction by Matt Johnson & Jay McCarrol
Programme runtime: 1hr 48min
BYOBlanket & Chairs
Films are screened with captioning
Please click to read about additional accessibility features
Content advisory: This programme contains moderate profanity, one brief instance of graphic violence, and strobing effects. .