Mandate and History

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.
presents films from Toronto, across Canada and from small-gauge creators and communities around the world. Showcasing the 70+ year history of small-gauge film – from artists’ work in the form since the 1950’s and 60’s, to it’s wider cultural use in home movies, instructional loops and beyond – the 8fest provides a forum for filmmakers who want to show their work on small-gauge and for people who want to see this work in its original formats. the8fest is committed to keeping the exhibition of small-gauge film a viable presentation medium. Our first annual festival was held in February 2007

Founding Members:

Home Movie History Project, Scott Miller Berry, Milada Kováčová, Jonathan Culp, Benny Zenga

Land Acknowledgment

takes place in Toronto or Tkarón:to, which is part of the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and the ancestral lands of the Annishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Wendat peoples. This land has traditionally been a gathering place, and continues to be the home of many First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Toronto rests within the Dish with One Spoon wampum covenant – a peace agreement that stretches across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence region, made between the Haudenosaunee and the Annishinaabe, to unify Indigenous nations. It is an agreement to share and care for the land, waters, and resources of the region – taking only what you need, to keep it clean, and to leave some for the future. As many of us are settlers and guests on this land, it is up to us to respect and take part in upholding this important agreement.
Globally, many of us are situated on land that does not belong to us, and so we ask that you reflect on your presence and impact on the land you are on. To learn more about the Indigenous land which you occupy visit www.native-land.ca