Toronto After Dark Film Festival is a showcase of horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival premieres a diverse selection of feature-length and short-films from around the world including new works from Asia, Europe and North America.
Past festivals
2006
The 1st Edition of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival took place October 20-24, 2006. The inaugural festival was held at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The 2006 Toronto After Dark Film Festival Official Feature Film Selections include 13 films from around the world, and 15 short films from Canada. Some of the films screened at the festival included Special, directed by Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmorewhere, the J-horror film Retribution from cult director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, the North American premiere of the Thai action-horror film Vengeance, and Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which won the festival's first Audience Award.
Other films included The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell, Shinobi: Heart Under Blade, Night of the Living Dorks, Re-cycle, Mad Cowgirl, Slaughter Night, and Naisu no mori: The First Contact. The festival also featured a "Make Your Own Damn Movie!" masterclass taught by Lloyd Kaufman. Festival attendance was 4,350.
2007
The 2nd Edition of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival took place October 19-25, 2007.
The second annual festival was held from October 19–25, 2007, at the Bloor Cinema. The festival expanded to fifty films: fourteen features and 36 short films from around the world, including 15 Canadian shorts. Festival highlights included The Tripper, directed by David Arquette; director Shinya Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective; the premiere of Troma Entertainment's Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead; Uwe Boll's In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale; the zombie-western short film It Came From The West; the world premiere of John Bergin's From Inside; Mulberry Street, which went on to win the festival's After Dark Spirit Award; and the Thai horror film Alone from directors Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, which won the festival's annual Audience Award. Festival attendance was 6,500.
Other films included Blood Car, Wolfhound, The Rebel, Audience of One, Aachi & Ssipak, Ambassador's Day, Murder Party, Operation Fish, Terror On The 3918, Simon Says, among others.
2008
The 3rd Edition of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival took place October 17-24, 2008.
The third annual festival expanded to eight nights and was held from October 17–24, 2008, at the Bloor Cinema. Highlights of the third Annual Festival included sell-out screenings of Let the Right One In, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Tokyo Gore Police, and the North American Premiere of I Sell The Dead; over 30 attending filmmakers on stage to introduce their films, including Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter) and Angus Scrimm (Phantasm); packed nightly social events; positive reviews for the films programmed; and a Zombie Walk. Other films included Trailer Park of Terror, Mirageman, Idiots and Angels, Who is KK Downey?, 4bia, Brain Dead, Donkey Punch, Mutant Chronicles, and Home Movie. The festival also featured a Make Your Own Damn Movie! masterclass taught by Lloyd Kaufman. Festival attendance was over 8,500.
Over 3,500 votes were cast for the Audience Award for Best Feature Film and the Gold winner was Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. Silver went to cult sci-fi horror musical Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Bronze was awarded by fans to the Thai supernatural anthology movie 4bia (Phobia). Awards were also handed out for Best Independent Feature Film, where the big winner was the grave-robber comedy, I Sell The Dead, and in the short film categories, winners included the Christmas tree exploitation film Treevenge.
2009
The 4th Edition of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival took place August 14-21, 2009.
The fourth annual festival made the move to summer, once again at the Bloor Cinema with over 9,000 fans attending the festival. Highlights included screenings of the Norwegian Nazi zombie horror-comedy Dead Snow, the horror anthology Trick 'r Treat and the cult blaxploitation action-comedy Black Dynamite, which won Gold, Silver and Bronze respectively in the Audience Choice Awards. The festival also hosted its first ever world premiere, Strigoi, an offbeat Romanian vampire comedy that was awarded by the fest Gold in the Best Independent Feature Film category. Silver and Bronze honours went to the dark comedy The Revenant and the zombie thriller, Grace, respectively.