Toronto in Film: Toronto’s Film Festivals

The film industry is big in Toronto. Everything from major Hollywood movies to Emmy-winning TV series like Schitt’s Creek and Orphan Black have been shot here. We’ve hosted superhero battles, futuristic space cities, and an endless stream of prop New York taxicabs.

Toronto’s known for an expert local talent pool, great locations, and thriving studios like Pinewood and Revival. But it also has a sophisticated, international audience of local moviegoers to show your finished product.

Whether it’s audio, video, documentaries, or short films: here’s a tour of the Toronto film landscape for both film lovers and filmmakers.

Toronto International Film Festival

When it comes to Toronto film events, the granddaddy of them all is TIFF: an 11-day extravaganza of gala premieres, industry sessions, awards, and networking opportunities.

Founded in 1976, it’s one of the biggest public-accessible film festivals in the world. It’s big enough to have grown its own dedicated five-story film centre: home to a film reference library, learning studios, event spaces, galleries, and vibrant year-round international programming.

With dedicated tracks for national cinemas, pulp, and documentaries, TIFF has nurtured an incredible range of film cultures in Toronto and abroad.

The 2022 edition of TIFF runs from September 8-18.

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Festival

All things Indigenous media—and we mean all of them—make it to imagineNATIVE. The world’s largest Indigenous media and film festival, imagineNATIVE puts on a blizzard of screenings, concerts, industry events, and interactive showcases—all from the vibrant world of Indigenous arts.

Running as a festival since 2000, it’s made a significant mark: early winners of its Best Dramatic Feature award have included Taika Waititi and Reservation Dogs creator Sterlin Harjo. Films produced as part of its Embargo Collective commissions have screened at TIFF and Sundance.

Today, that initial concept has bloomed into partnerships with the Canadian National Film Board and the Berlinale, a film producer mini-lab, tours, and community screening series.

ImagineNATIVE 2022 takes place from October 18-30, both physically and virtually through their digital platform.

Toronto After Dark Film Festival

Can’t get enough horror, science fiction, or action movies? Toronto After Dark Film Festival is all about the pulp, the cult, and the straight-up fun.

With over 10,000 eager viewers each year, Toronto After Dark hits both the highbrow and low, with enough room for moody Scandinavian horror, Troma films, Hollywood hits, and homegrown creations. It boasts a thrillingly international lineup, having showcased films from Israel, Thailand, Mexico, Iran, and Korea.

Hosted at Toronto’s downtown Scotiabank Theatre, the 16^th edition of Toronto After Dark takes place from October 19-23, 2022.

Inside Out Film and Video Festival

Canada’s largest and most prestigious LGBTQIA+ film festival had a grassroots beginning in 1991 at Toronto’s Euclid Theatre. Since then, Inside Out has grown into an entertainment juggernaut, with funding and training programs, a school distribution program for new artists, grants, scholarships, and funding forums.

Now hosted at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and co-screens selected films with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Netflix, and Crave. Its own permanent distribution platform operates year-round, and its awards have recognized films from Canada, China, Australia, Argentina, and everywhere between.

Inside Out’s next edition takes place in May 2023.

Hot Docs

Toronto’s all-documentary film festival, Hot Docs, screens over 200 films from around the world every year—and adds on professional development programs, a full industry conference, and a developed schools program.

An annual festival since 1993, Hot Docs expanded to its own dedicated theatre—the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, formerly the Bloor Cinema—in 2012. It also recently launched a podcast festival, complete with a dedicated creators’ and industry forum devoted to the art of audio drama.

Hot Docs is set for an April 2023 return, and the Hot Docs Podcast Festival goes live in January 2023.

A city for movie-lovers and movie-makers

Whether you’re enjoying hot new films, making them, writing about or selling them, DelSuites can be your home base during Toronto’s film festival season. Call us at 647-370-3504 or email info@delsuites.com to find out how we can offer you a comfortable, fully-featured furnished rental—and help you reach the stars.