the8fest is a festival for anyone using small-gauge to create rough little gems on film. A unique Toronto-based film festival that presents all forms of small-gauge film: 8mm, Super 8 and 9.5mm, as well as works in installation, loops, personal, handmade, experimental, animations, diaries, essays, collage, cut-ups, performance/film, music/film and ‘proto-cinema devices’ like zoetropes.
the8fest is made possible through the generous support of: The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council as well as our generous community sponsors and partners.
Submissions for our 14th festival are now CLOSED, stay tuned for upcoming programming & festival news!!!
the8fest is pleased to announce that submissions for our 14th festival are now OPEN!!
the8fest seeks your 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm films, and other small gauge film projects (such as loops and installations) for our 14th festival being held on January 22nd to 24th, 2021.
We encourage and will be explicitly prioritizing submissions from Black and Indigenous artists of colour. We would also like to expressly encourage submissions from Queer, POC and Disabled artists as well as artists of Trans and Non-Binary experience. DIY filmmakers, experimental artists, established filmmakers, and everyone who has an interest in small gauge film should apply!
You can find detailed submission information and submit your work using our form:
https://forms.gle/qa9FYXH9cEQQouPSA
Feel free to reach out to the8fest@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Deadline: October 1st, 2020.
Please share this call far and wide!
Take a look at the8fest’s 2020 schedule!
tickets: PWYC! suggested: screenings $8 // festival pass $40
INSTALLATIONS ALL WEEKEND LONG – Kyle Whitehead and Andrew Lennox
7:00pm – BAGEROO THIRTEEN! Volume 1
9:00pm – Panorama: Women in Experimental Cinema
Curated by Colectivo Toronto
10:00pm – Schmelzdahin: City on Fire
Curated by Chris Kennedy
1:00 – 4:00pm – Introduction to Cut, Collage and Animate Workshop with Rich Fedorchak
7:00pm –BAGEROO THIRTEEN! Volume 2
9:00pm – Looking Back Into The Past to See Better – Spotlight on the Film of Jorge Lozano
Curated by Milada Kovacova
SAVE THE DATE!
the 13th edition of the8fest will be held at Toronto’s Polish Combatants’ Hall January 24-26th, 2020. This year, we have a really exciting line-up including spotlight programs, our renown Bageroos, commissioned works, special programs and exhibitions.
Friday, January 24 to Sunday, January 26, 2020 at Beverley Halls SPK (206 Beverley St.) (south of College, at Cecil Street)
A little festival for small films!
Screenings. Workshops. Artists Talks.
the8fest returns for its 13th year with 3 nights of performances, screenings, installations, workshops and artist talks! the8fest is North America’s longest running festival devoted to all forms of small-gauge film screened only on celluloid. Take a peek at what’s in store for this year!
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2020
7:00 PM – BAGEROO THIRTEEN! VOLUME 1
Screening work from near and far, BAGEROO THIRTEEN! is curated from our open call for submissions featuring works by Sandy McLennan, Ryan Ferguson, Josh Weissbach, Blaine Speigel, Tiff Bartel, Meganelizabeth Diamond + Aaron Zeghers, Carol Cece Anderson, Aisha and Andalah Ali, Colby Richardson, Daniel Hackborn, Alexander Rogalski, and Ilse Kramer!
Plus, our extra special commission this year features new work by Morgan Sears Williams!
Supported by Trinity Square Video
9:00 PM – “PANORAMA” – WOMEN IN EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA
Curated by Colectivo Toronto
Join us for this programme showcasing independent Argentine and Latin American women filmmakers. This unique programme presents the work of artists who use a variety of different methods to explore the possibilities of the Super 8 format. The generation of filmmakers presented in this programme wants to make their voices heard and express their ideas and visions through their films: the stories are developed freely, allowing the erasure of the line that separates fiction from the experimental or the documentary.
Supported by CINAIN and the Consulate General of Argentina in Toronto
10:00 PM – SCHMELZDAHIN: CITY ON FIRE
Curated by Chris Kennedy
From 1975-1989, the artists Jochen Lempert, Jochen Müller and Jürgen Reble collaborated in Bonn, Germany under the group name Schmelzdahin, making dozen of films and expanded cinema performances. Their name—translated to English as “Melting Away”—literally describes the root of their process. They would subject found film footage to all manner of chemical and biological de-compositional techniques. They would destroy images through burning them, adding acids and bleaches and even burying film in the earth for extended periods of time. Although these practices are more common now amongst process-based filmmakers, when Schmelzdahin first performed them, they were revolutionary. This program brings together four films by the collective and one film made by Jürgen Reble shortly
after the group itself melted away.
Co-Presented by Goethe-Institut Toronto
SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020
1:00 PM – 4:00 PM – INTRODUCTION TO CUT, COLLAGE AND ANIMATE WORKSHOP WITH RICH FEDORCHAK
Visiting animator Rich Fedorchak will provide an introduction to collage animation in Super 8 filmmaking! You’ll get hands-on experience learning the steps to pre-production and shooting animation. Rich will bring collage materials, but participants should bring ideas and some materials to begin animating. Each participant will be able to shoot some film during the workshop. Beginners and experienced filmmakers will find this workshop informative and inspiring!
SPACE IS LIMITED – EMAIL NOW!
Supported by TAIS
7:00 PM – BAGEROO THIRTEEN! VOLUME 2
Saturday night kicks off with gems by Andrés Pardo and Ernesto Baca, Maxime Michel, Marcos Arriaga, Chris Kennedy, Michael Lyons, Camille Pueyo, Alexandra Gelis, Alina Tretinjak and Magdalena Pfeifer! This really intricate programme features works exploring the body, the built environment, the natural world and the ways those are weaved together! Plus, our extra special commission this year features new work by Adam Cohoon!
Supported by Images Festival
9:00 PM – LOOKING BACK INTO THE PAST TO SEE BETTER⎯SPOTLIGHT ON THE FILMS OF JORGE LOZANO
Curated by Milada Kovacova
Looking Back Into The Past To See Better⎯spotlight On The Films Of Jorge Lozano culls together a broad range of works which constitute the breadth of Jorge’s artistic vision: be it an implicit exploration of the politics of the day, a poetic rumination of time and space, or the consummation of a two-screen projection of a hyper montage from his archive. Cine Blanc narrates a tale of insurgents in our midst speaking to the politics of the 1980s such as the Red Brigade, the Guerilla Groups, etc.,will finally see the big screen since its inception four decades ago. This programme surveys the breadth of Jorge’s vision and leaves us with some food for thought. Not to be missed.
*Join us Sunday, January 26th at 1PM for a Brunch Artist Talk with Spotlight Artist Jorge Lozano!
Supported by FADO Performance Art Centre and re:assemblage collective
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2020
7:00 PM – HOME MOVIE HISTORY PROJECT: ROADSIDE DISTRACTIONS
THE ROAD TRIP AND THE READY-MADE TOURIST EXPERIENCE
We travel north, south, east and west on road trips with enthusiastic groups of travellers from the 1940s to 70s. Stitched together by the hypnotic effect of driving footage shot through car windows, we stop along the way with families at trading posts and souvenir shops; drive-up Magnetic Hill N.B. in reverse; hang-out with guests at the courtyard pool of a 50s motel; crowd into see an hourly live mermaid show in Florida; obeying or not “Don’t Feed the Bears” signs in parks like Banff; visit Santa in the summertime with kids at Santa’s Village in Bracebridge; and pose at Sudbury’s giant nickel and Wawa’s giant goose – in a warts-and-all look at North America’s obsession with road and wide-open spaces.
Presented by the Home Movie History Project
9 PM – BAGEROO THIRTEEN! VOLUME 3
Works by Tess Elliot, Jeffrey Mann, Jeffrey Langille, Holly Chang, Amy Maurine Edwards, Sara Bulloch, Dawn George, John Porter, Gerald Saul, Rich Fedorchak, Tetsuya Maruyama, and Delf timschal Gravert and Ian Johnson grace the closing programme of our 13th Edition! Looking forward to celebrating this edition with you
Supported by CFMDC and LIFT
+++ INSTALLATIONS ALL WEEKEND LONG
LITTLE BOSHKUNG (‘LAKE OF MANY ECHOES’) by ANDREW LENNOX & MERIDIAN by KYLE WHITEHEAD
This year, the8fest is excited to present two installations by Canadian artists. The artists’ explorations of new ways to engage with small-gauge film expand the medium in the most unexpected ways! Their works will be up throughout the festival weekend.
Supported by Pleasure Dome
This venue is accessible, and the8fest will have a care attendant available. If you have any accessibility needs, please reach out to us by email at the8fest@gmail.com and we will do all we can to accommodate!
Tickets: PWYC
Suggested: $8 per screening // $40 festival passes // $40 workshop fee
For more information including interview opportunities, press stills and preview links of selected films, please contact Barbora Racevičiūtė at the8fest@gmail.com
the8fest is made possible through the generous support of: The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council as well as our sponsors and community partners: Home Movie History Project, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC), Prefix ICA, Pleasure Dome, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Hex Editions, Images Festival, Goethe-Institut Toronto, FADO Performance Art Centre, re:assemblage collective, Tangled Art + Disability, Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS), Trinity Square Video (TSV), our audience members and the talented filmmakers.
Stay tuned for our program launch in the coming week!
We look forward to seeing you the last weekend of January!
the8fest 13 Call for Submissions!
We are pleased to announce that the8fest is soliciting for submissions to this year’s festival:
the8fest seeks your 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm or other small gauge film projects (such as loops and installations) for our 2020 festival being held January 24th to 26th, 2020. We encourage first time filmmakers, experimental artists, established filmmakers, and everyone who has an interest in small gauge film to apply!
You can find detailed submission information and submit your work using our form:
https://forms.gle/YyyTzFscyDpLEtqL6
Feel free to reach out to the8fest@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Deadline: October 14th, 2019.
Please share this call far and wide!
Take a look at the8fest’s 2019 schedule!
tickets: PWYC! suggested: screenings $8 // festival pass $40
INSTALLATIONS ALL WEEKEND LONG – Sally Walker Hudecki & Duncan Alexander Cameron Stewart
7:00pm – BAGEROO TWELVE! Volume 1
9:00pm – Spotlight on Dianne Ouellette
Curated by Milada Kovacova
3pm – Artist Talk: Spotlight Artist Dianne Ouellette
7:00pm – Search Me Edra Thomspon
9:00pm – Off Course: An evening of beginnings, b-rolls and half-baked ideas: The Films of Sue Johnson
Curated by Aimée Mitchel
10:30pm – Myth of a Superhero
Curated by Milada Kovacova
SAVE THE DATE!
the 12th edition of the8fest will be held at Toronto’s Polish Combatants’ Hall January 25-27th, 2019. This year, we have a really exciting line-up including spotlight programs, our renown Bageroos, commissioned works, special programs and exhibitions.
Stay tuned for our program launch in the coming weeks!
We look forward to seeing you the last weekend of January!
the8fest Fundraiser! A NIGHT of FILMS and LIVE Music!
Come one, come all to the8fest’s night of live music and small gauge films!
Your favourite Toronto DIY small-gauge film festival is hosting a fundraiser in support of the January 2019 festival!
Listen to live local music acts and soak up a wide range of weird and wild vintage Super 8 and 8mm films.
When: Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Where: The Cameron House (408 Queen St W)
Time: Doors @ 7PM
Cover: PWYC, (suggested donation, $15)
Set Times
8PM: SHE WEARS BLACK
She Wears Black is a psychedelic post-punk band from Toronto, Canada. Their sound is “…dark, moody, and atmospheric with…huge, sweeping guitar lines melodically reminiscent of bands like Bauhaus… All of this was presented while keeping the subdued and atmospheric elements of a Portishead track…Despite comparisons to this wide range of bands, She Wears Black’s sound is cohesive and all their own.” – Disarm (formerly Step On Magazine)
Bandcamp:https://shewearsblack.bandcamp.com/
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/thebandshewearsblack/
Instagram:@shewearsblackband
9PM: THE COOL HANDS
The Cool Hands are Toronto locals that have been playing in Toronto and the GTA for the past seven years. They have played many of Toronto’s iconic venues – the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, the Silver Dollar Room, the Rivoli, Sneaky Dee’s, and more. Their current line-up features Sally Cinnamon and Luke James.
Bandcamp: https://thecoolhands.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecoolhands
Instagram: @coolhands4life
10PM: MINK MILE:
1) Met on Marko’s birthday. (August, 2016)
2) “Sure, let’s jam.” (Ibid)
3) Write a song during our first jam. “Kind of sounds like The Strokes hanging out with Queens of the Stone Age.” Nod in agreement. (October, 2016)
4) Jam, jam, jam, jam, show, argue, jam, show, jam, jam, laughter, “that’s sounds great,” jam, argue, laughter, show. (October 2016-present)
5) ?
6) “We’d like to thank the Academy for their recognition, and our parents.” (?)
Bandcamp: https://minkmile.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/minkmilemusic/
Instagram: @minkmileband
the8fest 12 Call for Submissions!
We are pleased to announce that the8fest is soliciting for submissions to this year’s festival:
the8fest seeks your 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm or other small gauge film projects (such as loops and installations) for our 2019 festival being held January 25th to 27th, 2019.
You can submit your work using our form:
https://goo.gl/forms/5UnGZCHsSXTZw91j1
Feel free to reach out to the8fest@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Please share this call far and wide!
Deadline: September 29, 2018.
the8fest is hiring!
APPLICATION CLOSED
the8fest • Festival Coordinator
Part Time: Flexible hours per week dependent on festival schedule
Salary: Renewable, 12-month contract starting at $21/hour
Closing Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2018 at Midnight
Start Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Responsibilities include:
- Overseeing the business operation of the festival, including the maintenance of all records of the8fest
- Ensuring adherence to the8fest policies and procedures
- Bookkeeping, preparing cheques, banking, and having a handle on the financial state of the8fest
- Preparing and submitting applications to appropriate arts granting bodies, in consultation with the Board of Directors
- Communicating and preparing information to the Board of Directors through the facilitation of contracts
- Organizing the submissions process and selection jury, communicating with the filmmakers, curators, Board of Directors, contract staff, and granting bodies
- Coordinating print traffic around the festival and during year-round the8fest events; this includes: handling delicate, often camera-original prints with care, and arranging with artists the delivery of incoming and outgoing prints
- Preparing and supervising the compilation and fabrication of the8fest catalogue, poster, and other promotional materials, in addition to overseeing the distribution of these materials
- Promoting the festival through marketing, maintaining the festival’s archive, website, and social media sites
- During the three-day festival, being available to coordinate the festival and to serve as the face of the8fest
- The Festival Coordinator will need to introduction each program during the festival
- Other duties as assigned by the Board of Directors
Qualifications/Skills
- Post-secondary degree in film, arts administration, or equivalent
- Excellent knowledge of film and contemporary art practices
- Administrative skills and experience multi-tasking and time management
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Ability to lead and delegate tasks to the festival team
- Experience working in a fast-paced festival environment
- Understand working collectively in an artist-run or non-profit cultural organization
- A solid working knowledge of various computer applications including word processing, spreadsheets, InDesign, web management, social media, and graphics
- Fundraising skills
- Fluency in French is an asset
Applications should include a cover letter outlining experience, interest, and relevant skills as they relate to the operation of a non-profit cultural organization; current resume; and three references.
Applications must be received no later than midnight on Wednesday, June 21, 2018.
Email application to:
the8fest@gmail.com
Subject Line: the8fest Search Committee.
the8fest is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and strongly supports and values diversity in the workplace. the8fest is committed to equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusiveness in its employment practices and we respect the right of applicants and employees to fair and equitable treatment in accordance with the Ontario Human Rights Code. Applications from all qualified candidates are welcome and individuals from equity-seeking groups are encouraged to apply. We encourage persons with disabilities to contact the8fest to identify and discuss how we could accommodate them during the recruitment process. We thank all applicants and advise that only those selected for an interview will be contacted.
the8fest is made possible through the generous support of: The Canada Council for the Arts, The Ontario Arts Council, and produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council as well as our audience, filmmakers, volunteers, sponsors, and community partners.
Take a look at the8fest’s 2018 schedule!
tickets: screenings $8 // festival pass $40
9:00pm – ReFrame: Spotlights on Rebecca Baird and Marnie Parrell
Curated by Milada Kovacova
10:30pm – It’s All Fun & Games Until Somebody Breaks a Rule
Curated by Cameron Moneo
7:00pm – BAGEROO ELEVEN! Volume 2
9:00pm – Wanderlust: Spotlight on Rich Fedorchak
Curated by Milada Kovacova
11:00pm – D.I.Y. Subvert
Curated by Milada Kovacova
Volunteer with us!
the8fest is always looking for a helping hand. If you’ve got some free time, we’d love to have you! Please contact us by email.
Accessibility and Venue
The venue is partially accessible, and the8fest will have a care attendant available. There is accessible parking below the building and an elevator, but the all-gender washrooms and the venue do not have automatic doors. If you have any accessibility needs or questions, please reach out to us by email at the8fest@gmail.com and we will do all we can to accommodate!