🇨🇦 Fearless Canadian Horror
Film Festival · Deadly Exposure · Horror Development Lab
🩸 Isabel Bader Theatre · Toronto · Nov 16–21, 2026
🩸 Submissions Now Open
Film Festival · Deadly Exposure · Horror Development Lab
🩸 Isabel Bader Theatre · Toronto · Nov 16–21, 2026
🩸 Submissions Now Open
BITS 2026 poster illustration by Andrew Barr @apb_art (opens in new tab)
Our Yeti isn't walking the bloody red carpet alone this year… He's dragging something out of the frozen snow. Ghosts, ghouls, reapers, witches—a chainsaw-wielding beaver—and a bubbling alien—made the guest list. Blood in the Snow 2026 is crawling with monsters. All Canadian. All dressed to kill. All welcome.
🩸 We're thrilled to announce the artwork for the 2026 Blood in the Snow Film Festival was created by Canadian illustrator:
Andrew Barr
Across 6 nights of bold Canadian genre cinema — filmmaker Q&As, after parties, and the moments behind the scenes that connect fans, filmmakers, and horror fiends alike — plus live pitches & development work at the Horror Development Lab, and networking, industry panels & round tables at Deadly Exposure — Canada's premier horror & genre film festival returns for its
15th edition.
🩸 Early bird passes are available now — save up to 25% before prices go up.
🩸 Updates & announcements from BITS
A brand-new season of BITS Radio has dropped, recorded live at BITS 2025. Go behind the scenes with Canadian genre filmmakers in this exclusive podcast series.
Listen now →
Horror Development Lab 2026 — Free Info Session · June 24
Join Development Lab Coordinator Vanessa Magic and Festival Director Kelly Michael Stewart for a free online info session walking through the program, the application process, and what selected participants can expect. Since 2021, the Lab has supported 61 projects — including alumni such as the award-winning Foreigner (dir. Ava Maria Safai), distributed by Raven Banner Entertainment.
2026 Horror Development Lab — Submissions Now Open
Applications are open for the BITS Horror Development Lab, running alongside the festival November 16–21. The Lab is a development program focused on facilitating business and production opportunities for genre scripted projects by traditionally underrepresented BIPOC, women, and 2SLGBTQIA+ Canadian filmmakers.
2026 Film Submissions Are Now Open
Submissions are open for BITS 2026! Submit your Canadian horror, sci-fi, or genre film on FilmFreeway. The festival runs November 16–21 at the Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto — don't miss the early bird deadline!
Bloody Spirits of Winter — Submissions Now Open
BITS is now accepting submissions for Bloody Spirits of Winter, our Indigenous, Métis and Inuit horror shorts program exploring the supernatural and survival. Submit on FilmFreeway.
Thank You imagineNATIVE — Witching Hour Recap
A huge thank you to imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival for the incredible co-presentation. Blood in the Snow was proud to co-present Witching Hour, an Indigenous horror shorts program, on June 5 in Toronto. imagineNATIVE is the world's largest presenter of Indigenous screen content and it was an honour. The festival runs June 2–7 in Toronto and June 8–14 online.
Thank You Inside Out — Blood Lust Recap
A huge thank you to Inside Out, Canada's largest 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, for having us. Blood in the Snow was proud to co-present Blood Lust, a sci-fi/horror shorts program, on May 27 at the TIFF Lightbox. It was a fantastic evening of queer genre cinema! The festival ran May 22–31, 2026.
2026 Festival Artwork by Andrew Barr
We're thrilled to announce the artwork for the 2026 Blood in the Snow Film Festival was created by Canadian illustrator Andrew Barr. Known for his work in a major national newspaper, album covers, comics, and pinup art. @apb_art
Subscribe to Northern Frights — The BITS Newsletter
Stay up to date with festival news, film announcements, and industry updates delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe to Northern Frights, the official Blood in the Snow newsletter.
🩸 15 years of fearless Canadian horror & genre cinema
The Blood in the Snow Film Festival (BITS) is a unique and imaginative showcase of Canadian horror, genre, and underground cinema that exists to challenge social boundaries, explore artistic taboos, and support and exhibit independent Canadian genre media artists. It was first created in 2012 as a non-profit organization with a mandate to highlight the best in contemporary genre filmmaking in Canada. The Blood in the Snow Film Festival is also on the eligibility list of festivals for the Canadian Screen Awards.
We are thrilled to open submissions for the 15th annual Blood in the Snow Film Festival running at the Isabel Bader Theatre, November 16–21, 2026. BITS is a Canadian Screen Award qualifying festival consistently listed as one of the Top 100 reviewed festivals in the world on FilmFreeway.
🩸 At BITS, we curate five distinct short film programs each year, in addition to our feature film lineup and opening shorts. All submitted films are reviewed by our programming team. We accept submissions exclusively through FilmFreeway.
Canadian horror, sci-fi, action & thrillers. Toronto Premiere required.
First-time directors & promising student filmmakers opening each feature.
The festival's most terrifying horror shorts.
The best in short-form science fiction.
Web & digital series, proof-of-concept shorts and music videos.
Comedy & genre shorts with a light or offbeat tone.
Indigenous, Métis & Inuit horror shorts exploring the supernatural & survival.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our 2025 funders & partners.
Interested in sponsoring BITS? Read More + Get in touch →
"The BITS Development Lab was one of the best industry support programs I've ever attended. I am honoured to have been selected. The talent, projects, connections, atmosphere, access was invaluable. Everything was well done. Kelly and the team were welcoming and helpful. I can't recommend this festival and lab enough."
"Blood in the Snow was very supportive and professional. The communication from the festival team was excellent, and I felt supported as a filmmaker. It's obvious that Blood in the Snow cares about Canadian genre filmmakers and works hard to create a strong, filmmaker-friendly environment. I would definitely submit again and recommend the festival to other filmmakers."
"What a beauty! The passion for film and empowering filmmakers is highly apparent at this festival. Was blown away by the programming, the stunning venue, the after parties and so much more. The networking was absolutely insane here. Very enthusiastic hats off to the organizers and HIGHLY encourage genre filmmakers to make submitting to this festival a priority!"
"Awesome festival! Great location and venue. The staff and volunteers are incredible. Hands down one of the best genre festivals to check out."
"Loved my experience at BITS 2024! The team, the venues and the crowd were great! Hope to be selected again in the future."
"Incredible community, amazing program, and just wonderful people."
"Can't say enough about this fest. It's fun, inviting and inclusive. Kelly and his team have dialed this thing in and it's clear they care about the details. I'd recommend this fest to anyone and everyone."
"A top-tier film festival and development lab. It was such a pleasure to be there and I saw so many great films!"
"Such a fun festival! Festival staff, volunteers, and filmmakers are all as passionate about genre films as the audience. Amazing energy at the screenings, fantastic filmmaker panels, pitching, and education events, and a great selection of high-quality films in a high-quality venue."
"It was an honor to have my film Spiritt be a part of this festival. I got great feedback from one of the attendees who said he will go again next year!"
"I absolutely love this festival — a celebration of Canadian genre films that have a lot to say. Being part of the horror lab and the festival helped me make so many lasting connections."
