Blood in the Snow Film Festival 2023

Blood in the Snow 2023

🩸 November 20–25, 2023 · Isabel Bader Theatre, Toronto, ON

📅 Quick View Schedule 📄 Program Booklet (PDF)

Monday, November 20 Opening Night

7:00 PM

Dark Visions

— Horror Shorts · 103 min

Our opening night feature-length program of the darkest and creepiest films to play Blood in the Snow!

HorrorCanada 🇨🇦
T-Bone
Dir. Zachary Bennett · 8 min
Jo and Chris relax in their car, recalling awkward moments as a couple. Chris is thrust into a tragedy that will forever change his life.
🏆 Best Lead Acting — Short
High End Dying
Dir. Helen Liu · 12:24 min
Chef Eloise Vaughn invites a scathing critic back for a private dinner to redeem her name — their shared history is revealed.
Sanguine
Dir. Robin Careless · 11:23 min
A first date takes an unexpected turn as Mirabel is captured and experimented on by figures who believe she isn't what she seems.
The Monster Inside My Head
Dir. Maude Michaud · 7:48 min
A woman is tormented by a menacing creature who tries to take control of her body.
I Can't Go On
Dir. Brenna Goodwin-McCabe · 12:13 min
An alienated young woman discovers a body in her apartment elevator, left to fester under unconcerned neighbours.
Twig and Twine
Dir. Paradox Delilah · 15:00 min
A camping trip turns dark when one friend is there to resurrect her missing brother who vanished fifteen years ago.
Wake Up Frank
Dir. Jesse Padveen · 9:45 min
A young car wash attendant discovers his cantankerous old boss' secret.
Water Moccasin
Dir. Shelby Adams · 5:10 min
A group of teenagers visit a so-called haunted island, only to find more than they bargained for.
Blink
Dirs. Julie Bruns, Steven Kammerer · 4:30 min
A 1940s housewife struggles with the Sisyphean task of a violent marriage.
Orest Leere and His Marvelous, Mysterious, Malicious Empathy Machine
Dir. Jeff Smith · 10 min
A dark fairy tale about a man isolated in his gothic tower who steals memories from victims with his "Empathy Machine."
🏆 Best Short Film
Alone
Dir. AJ Bate · 8:19 min
A woman stumbles upon a severely injured stranger and realizes she might be the only one who can save them.
9:30 PM

Last County

— Feature · 82 minDir. Barret Mulholland
🏆 Best Lead Acting — Feature🏆 Best Supporting Acting — FeatureThrillerCanada 🇨🇦

An alcoholic woman with a marriage on the rocks finds an unlikely ally in a wounded drug mule when the two are forced to defend her home from a violent siege of corrupt small-town cops.

Opens with

Greed & Gore
Dir. Adam Kirkey · 15 min
Five criminals pick the wrong safe house to lay low after robbing a bank.

Tuesday, November 21

7:00 PM

Emerging Screams

— Shorts Program · 98 min

A feature-length collection of short films from brilliant first-time directors and the most promising student filmmakers in Canadian horror.

HorrorCanada 🇨🇦
Stay Alone
Dir. Lukas Wojcicki · 8:14 min
A horror fanatic's day takes an unexpected turn, forcing him to fight between his humanity and survival.
Cordelia!
Dir. Melissa Jones · 11:34 min
A troubled young girl uses fire as a coping mechanism — until she realizes she can use it to protect herself.
Sisterhood
Dir. Heather Woolridge · 10:30 min
A recent sorority pledge struggles to fit in while grieving the passing of her sister Alice.
The Middle of the Garage
Dir. Lisa Bolduc · 13:00 min
A mysterious trunk arriving in Pierre's garage becomes his only obsession at 55, with time passing too slowly.
Hot Local Singles Are in Your Area
Dir. Peter Sreckovic · 9:10 min
A reclusive PhD student becomes infected with a computer virus during her Brain Computer Interface research.
Les Monstres (Monsters)
Dir. Frank Tremblay · 15:00 min
8-year-old Jimmy has been kept safe from outside monsters — but grows desperate to see what's out there.
The Haunting of a Ghost
Dir. Portia Lyn · 16:20 min
Walter can't wait for new occupants — until the family moves in with their own demon in tow.
ZIP
Dir. Ava Maria Safai · 15:40 min
On her 16th birthday, singer-songwriter Melody awakens with a zipper sewn to her mouth.
🏆 Ryan Nicholson SFX Award
9:30 PM

Purgatory Jack

— Feature · 101 minDirs. Brett Butler, Jason Butler
🧏 ASL / Open CaptionsNeo-noirCanada 🇨🇦

A neo-noir mystery thriller set in the afterlife. Former musician turned private detective Jack Marlin must help new arrival Viv Vacious — a punk pop star who overdosed — find her mother before time runs out in Purgatory's dangerous landscape.

Opens with

Perennials
Dir. Grant Earl MacIntosh · 5:30 min
An old woman searches for a priceless item. An intruder arrives. What will they find together?

Wednesday, November 22

7:00 PM

BITS & BYTES

— Web Series Program · 100 min

A special feature-length program of the best genre web series, music videos, and proof of concept films.

Web & DigitalCanada 🇨🇦
The Heart of Ravenscrag
Dir. Dale Hildebrand · 2:00 min · proof of concept
Castle Ravenscrag held off a siege for 40 days — only to discover the greatest enemy may be within.
Old Chain
Dir. Emanuel Foucault · 5:00 min · music video
A girl and her dark shadow live peacefully in an enchanted landscape until mysterious entities disrupt their harmony.
Night Drives: The Silence of the Library
Dir. Jono Hunter · 3:22 min · web series
Alex and Marianna's date night gets bogged down with movie trivia.
Old Flames
Dir. FUGITIVES · 4:37 min · music video
A haunting portrayal of a recovering addict learning to live with her demons.
Hellbound Taxi
Dir. Brendan Fell · 11:20 min · proof of concept
A bounty hunter is pulled out of retirement to track a demon in human form recently escaped from Hell.
BrawlStars: Where the Wild Things Were
Dir. John White · 16:08 min · web series
Big Sean's wildest night on the job, reimagined as an 80s spine-tingling horror.
Red Iron Road: In the Heat
Dir. Sam Chou · 17:23 min · animated web series
A battered man claiming to be Santa Claus is arrested for child murder — officers uncover a story more bizarre than expected.
Space Disco
Dir. Walter Sawan · 4:17 min · music video
When Earth is attacked by a monster from space, Thrillhouse — a three-faced beast from the underworld — is humanity's only hope.
Safron
Dir. Vanessa Magic · 7:56 min · proof of concept
A relentless mother on a blood-soaked mission to annihilate the vampire horde that abducted her daughter.
Red Iron Road: Lord
Dirs. Kilmov, Nakada · 14:09 min · animated web series
A brutal Lord raids across the desert of a post-apocalyptic world populated by mutant tribes and monstrous beasts.
Tiger by the Tail
Dir. Sharai Rewels · 15:35 min · proof of concept
Boss babes of the 1979 disco scene accidentally flood their NYC strip club with bad drugs and must flee to a country bar in West Virginia.
9:30 PM

Walking Supply

— Feature · 90 minDir. Derek Barnes
ThrillerCanada 🇨🇦

After escaping a Russian labor camp, three men must overcome the treacherous wilderness and each other as their journey home turns into a brutal fight for survival.

Opens with

No More Time
Dir. Peter Szabo · 8:00 min
An aging, troubled man sneaks away from his caregiver in Barcelona, driven to solve a mystery he can only describe as "no more time."

Thursday, November 23

7:00 PM

Funny Frights & Unusual Sights

— Shorts Program · 87 min

A feature-length collection of Canadian short premieres covering the unusual, the surreal, and the lighter side of horror.

Comedy HorrorCanada 🇨🇦
The Suckamoto Sales Incident
Dir. Jeff Robinson · 11:53 min
Based on true events — a vacuum salesman collides in an off-beat comedy with a squirt of violence.
🏆 Best Supporting Acting — Short
Spiritt
Dir. Kelly Roulette · 11:26 min
On the way to meet his Maker, Motorcycle Guy confronts his biggest regret while his gatekeeper faces his own.
Heap
Dir. Kyle Marchen · 12:13 min
A woman crushed by the housing crisis leads a sinister double life after discovering a "utopian" society next door.
The Devil's Note
Dir. Riley Campbell · 7:20 min
A band of buskers uncovers a forbidden musical note and finds more than just a new sound.
Hellmark
Dir. Jessica Lauren Doucet · 12:07 min
Madeline's romance ends in horror — she's abducted by cultists and put to work in a Christmas village factory.
Slip
Dirs. Chwyl, Desmarais-Spencer · 10:40 min
After eviction, Laura stumbles onto a horrifying opportunity that may just work to her advantage.
The Good Word
Dir. Constance Hilton · 5:00 min
A young mother repeatedly rebuffs two Mormon missionaries.
The Dam (Barrage)
Dir. Rémi Fréchette · 19:00 min
In 1964, two workers sent to repair a dam line discover what really happened to the crew.
Seed
Dir. Jacob Weldon · 15:45 min
Michelle, notorious for missing red flags, hooks up with seemingly normal and chill Zack.
9:30 PM

ROMI

— Feature · 90 minDir. Robert Cuffley
🧏 ASL / Open CaptionsHorror ThrillerCanada 🇨🇦

Forced to hide out at a state-of-the-art smart home, a young woman on the run is terrorized by ROMI, its sinister digital assistant. Toronto Premiere.

Opens with

Ivan
Dir. Damien Fannon · 11:48 min
Juliette's life takes a turn for the worse when she is possessed by an AI device.

Friday, November 24

6:30 PM

Tales from the Rez

— Feature · 93 minDir. Trevor Solway
Horror ComedyCanada 🇨🇦

A six-part horror-comedy anthology adapting popular Blackfoot traditional tales and twisted Indigenous urban legends to the screen.

Opens with

Cloud Striker
Dir. A.W. Hopkins · 16:13 min
Elijah Cloud Striker was stolen. His father rides for weeks to find him — and what he walks in on is more than any father can endure.
9:00 PM

The Hyperborean

— Feature · 95 minDir. Jesse Thomas Cook
HorrorCanada 🇨🇦

A whiskey magnate summons his contentious family to sample his legacy product: casks of Scotch aged 170 years, recovered from a ghost ship in the Canadian Arctic.

Opens with

Conquest
Dir. Kate Kroll · 6:00 min
An incompetent intergalactic conqueror crash-lands at a comic convention and must subdue the locals or face his merciless counterparts.

Saturday, November 25 Closing Night

4:00 PM

Mournful Mediums

— Shorts Program · 102 min

Not too short, not too long — the best in Canadian medium-length genre films.

HorrorCanada 🇨🇦
White Noise
Dir. Tamara Scherbak · 16:54 min
Ava's hyper-sensitivity to sound becomes unlivable when exposure therapy backfires.
🏆 Best Sound Design
Solitary
Dir. Maninder Chana · 16:59 min
With minutes before a Mujahideen camp is levelled, a Sikh prisoner in solitary turns to his faith to make a daring escape.
Cold
Dir. Liz Whitmere · 20 min
Jane likes things clean. Jane just turned 40. Jane died sometime last week. Something is wrong.
Spaghetti
Dir. M. H. Murray · 15:58 min
A queer woman is haunted by the ghost of her recently deceased lover on their final night in their shared home.
Cold Light
Dir. Rogelio Rodriguez · 17:40 min
A beaten young woman tied to a chair in the middle of nowhere tries to talk her way out before being buried alive.
Get Away
Dir. Michael Gabriele · 15:25 min
A group plays a mysterious VHS tape at their desert rental and finds too many terrifying coincidences.
6:30 PM

My Animal

— Feature · 103 minDir. Jacqueline Castel
🏆 Best Director🏆 Best Screenplay🏆 Best CinematographyHorror RomanceCanada 🇨🇦

Heather, an outcast teenage goalie, falls in love with Jonny, an alluring figure skater. Their secret romance clashes against small-town conformity — complicated by Heather's alcoholic mother, her hidden sexual orientation, and a familial curse that transforms her under the full moon.

Opens with

Pest
Dir. Matthew Broughton · 6 min
A woman calls a pest controller to deal with an infestation — but not of termites.
9:00 PM

The Last Video Store

— Feature · 83 minDirs. Cody Kennedy, Tim Rutherford
🏆 Best Picture🏆 Best EditingHorror ComedyCanada 🇨🇦

A love letter to the video store era. Nyla uncovers a cursed VHS tape that connects the real world to a dimension where movie fantasy is reality — unleashing classic cinematic villains from the bowels of B-movies.

Opens with

The Good Word
Dir. Constance Hilton · 5:00 min
A young mother repeatedly rebuffs two Mormon missionaries.
Saint-Sacrifice
Dir. Jean-Claude Leblanc · 14:30 min
Antoine the widower will lose his soul to be reunited with his wife on the other side.

2023 Bloodies — Award Winners & Nominees

BITS 2023 Winner Laurels

Best Picture

🏆 The Last Video Store — dirs. Cody Kennedy, Tim Rutherford

Nominees

  • My Animal — dir. Jacqueline Castel
  • Tales from the Rez — dir. Trevor Solway

Best Short Film

🏆 Orest Leere and His Marvelous, Mysterious, Malicious Empathy Machine — dir. Jeff Smith

Nominees

  • Saint-Sacrifice — dir. Jean-Claude Leblanc
  • T-Bone — dir. Zachary Bennett
  • White Noise — dir. Tamara Scherbak

Best Director

🏆 Jacqueline Castel (My Animal)

Nominees

  • Cody Kennedy, Tim Rutherford (The Last Video Store)
  • Trevor Solway (Tales from the Rez)

Best Lead Acting — Feature

🏆 Kaelen Ohm (Last County)

Nominees

  • Tim Rozon (Purgatory Jack)
  • Bobbi Salvör Menuez (My Animal)

Best Supporting Acting — Feature

🏆 Gord Rand (Last County)

Nominees

  • Eugene Brave Rock (Tales from the Rez)
  • Amandla Stenberg (My Animal)

Best Lead Acting — Short

🏆 Jean Yoon (T-Bone)

Nominees

  • Jag Dhaliwal (Solitary)
  • Julian Richings (T-Bone)

Best Supporting Acting — Short

🏆 Tyler Grace (The Suckamoto Sales Incident)

Nominees

  • Sean Baek (Cold)
  • Kelly Hope Taylor (Ivan)

Best Screenplay

🏆 Jae Matthews (My Animal)

Nominees

  • Sean Kohnen, Matthew Kohnen (Last County)
  • Tim Rutherford, Joshua Roach (The Last Video Store)

Best Cinematography

🏆 Bryn McCashin (My Animal)

Nominees

  • Daniel Everitt-Lock (Purgatory Jack)
  • Benji Irwin (The Last Video Store)
  • Patrick McLaughlin (Romi)

Best Editing

🏆 Cody Kennedy (The Last Video Store)

Nominees

  • Mikaela Bodin, Scott Richter (Last County)
  • Bridget Durnford (Romi)
  • Rémi Fréchette (The Dam)

Best Sound Design

🏆 Sylvain Bellemare (White Noise)

Nominees

  • Frank Laratta (Romi)
  • Dean Hurley (My Animal)

Ryan Nicholson Special Makeup Effects Award

🏆 Andy Le, Head of SFX Makeup (ZIP)

Nominees

  • My Animal
  • The Last Video Store
  • Saint-Sacrifice

Festival Info

🎭 Venue

Isabel Bader Theatre
93 Charles St W
Toronto, ON
Nightly Nov 20–25 · Filmmaker Q&As to follow.

🍻 After-Parties

Tranzac Club
292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto
9:30 PM – close · Nov 20–25

🎬 Industry Events

Deadly Exposure Industry Conference
deadlyexposure.ca

📬 Contact

Kelly Michael Stewart
Festival Director
info@bloodinthesnow.ca