LIFT News

Call for Applications: Newcomer Filmmentor 2025 – Extended Thursday 26 June 2025, 00:00 THE LIAISON OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS OF TORONTO (LIFT) ANNOUNCES CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: LIFT NEWCOMER FILMMENTOR 2025 Toronto, June 26, 2025 (revised July 7, 2025)—Are you a newcomer or refugee filmmaker living in or near the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA)? Are you looking to develop specific film-related skills, better familiarize yours”… more

LIFT Welcomes Summer Staff – June 2025 (L-R) Ander Barillas and Ben Compton Photo by Renata Mohamed June 20, 2025 Welcome to Summer 2025 Staff Thanks to the Canada Summer Job program, supported by the Canadian Government, we are able to welcome two new summer staff to LIFT this summer, Ben Compton and Ander Barillas, who started last month. Ben is our Summer 2025 Conference and Meeting”… more

LIFT co-presents Shorts Programme: “Dysfunctional Destinies” at Toronto Arab Film Saturday 28 June 2025, 16:00 to 18:00 LIFT co-presents Shorts Programme: “Dysfunctional Destinies” at the 2025 Toronto Arab Film Festival Shorts Programme: “Dysfunctional Destinies” Various Directors Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 4:00pm Innis Town Hall 2 Sussex Avenue Programme includes: “Blood Ties,” Hakim Atoui “If the sun drowned into an ocean of clouds,” Wissam Charaf “Möbius Loop,” L”… more

LIFT Office and Store Closed for Canada Day – June 30 and July 1 The LIFT office and store will be closed for Canada Day on Monday, June 30 as well as on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. We will reopen on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 at 10:00 am ET.

LIFT and imagineNATIVE 2024 Mentorship Announcement Thursday 29 August 2024, 00:00 to 00:00 2024 LIFT and imagineNATIVE Mentorship Winner Kira Doxtator Photo by Renata Mohamed . THE LIAISON OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS OF TORONTO (LIFT) AND THE IMAGINENATIVE FILM + MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL 2024 MENTORSHIP ANNOUNCEMENT Toronto, June 6, 2025—Last fall, the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto”… more

LIFT co-presents “Shorts: Local Heroes” at Inside Out Thursday 29 May 2025, 19:00 to 22:00 LIFT co-presents “Shorts: Local Heroes” at the 2025 Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival “Shorts: Local Heroes” Various Directors Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 7:00pm TIFF Lightbox 1 350 King Street West Toronto takes over the screen! From healing journeys and tender friendships to zombie apocalypses and cat-sitting gone wrong, this program repres”… more

LIFT Digital Cinema Residency – 2025 Announcement               . THE LIAISON OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS OF TORONTO (LIFT) ANNOUNCES THE 2025 LIFT DIGITAL CINEMA RESIDENCY RECIPIENTS NOOR KHAN AND KURTIS WATSON Toronto, May 20, 2025—The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) is pleased to announce that Noor Khan and Kurtis Watson were the 2025 Digital”… more

Notice of May 2025 Closure During the Canadian Media Skills Exchange May 13, 2025 Dear Members and Community at Large, Due to the heavy technical needs of our Canadian Media Skills Exchange (CMSE), the LIFT facility will be closed to the LIFT membership and community at large from Thursday, May 22, 2025 5:00pm ET and will reopen on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at 10:00am ET. Please note the Canadian Media Skills Exchange”… more

LIFT Office and Store Closed for Victoria Day – May 19 May 5, 2025 The LIFT office and store will be closed for Victoria on Monday, May 19, 2025. We will reopen on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 10:00 am ET.

LIFT co-presents “They’re Here” at Hot Docs LIFT co-presents They’re Here at the 2025 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival “They’re Here” Dir. Daniel Claridge and Pacho Velez Friday, May 2, 2025 at 8:45pm TIFF Lightbox 1 350 King Street West Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 1:00pm Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema 506 Bloor Street West With life on Earth feeling increasingly uncertain, They’r”… more