Release Details

• Ultra HD Blu-ray Languages: English, Spanish, French
• Ultra HD Blu-ray Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
• Run Time: 138 minutes
• Rating: PG
• Digital Street Date: February 17, 2026
• Physical Street Date: February 17, 2026

The Film

Directed by Alan J. Pakula and written by William Goldman, All the President’s Men is based on the 1974 non-fiction book by journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. The film stars Academy Award winners Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, alongside an impressive supporting cast that includes Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, and Jason Robards.

Upon its original release, the film was both a critical and commercial success, earning eight Academy Award nominations and winning four. Its wins included Best Supporting Actor for Jason Robards, Best Adapted Screenplay for William Goldman, Best Art Direction, and Best Sound.

In recognition of its lasting impact, All the President’s Men was selected in 2010 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as a film that is “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

About the Story

The film dramatizes the true story of Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, whose investigation into a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex uncovers a massive political scandal. Their reporting ultimately leads to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, marking one of the most significant moments in American political history.

Tense, methodical, and deeply immersive, the film remains a benchmark for journalism dramas and political thrillers.

Special Features

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and digital release include a mix of new and previously released bonus content:

• All the President’s Men: The Film and its Influence (NEW)
• Woodward and Bernstein: A Journalism Masterclass (NEW)
• Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire
• Telling the Truth About Lies
• Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat
• Jason Robards on “Dinah!”

With its meticulous storytelling, iconic performances, and real-world significance, All the President’s Men remains as compelling today as it was upon release. This new 4K Ultra HD edition offers fans the definitive way to experience the film, complete with enhanced visuals and insightful bonus features that explore its legacy and influence.

For collectors and cinephiles, this release is not just a restoration but a preservation of a film that helped define an era of political cinema.

The post All the President’s Men (1976) 4K Ultra HD Release Details and Collector’s Overview appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

What’s unique about Leanne is her ability to balance raw talent with relentless discipline. She grew up in Saskatoon, raised by a single dad who ran a fitness store, and you can still see those early lessons of grit and independence in everything she does. Whether it was dancing across Ukraine as a soloist, training in New York and Los Angeles, or carving out space for herself in Toronto’s acting scene, she has never waited for opportunities; she builds them.

Her career reflects that drive. She held a recurring guest star role on Hallmark’s award-winning series Good Witch, produced and starred in the OUTtv mini-series FAK YAASS, and most recently led The Dating Game, a short film now winning awards across the festival circuit.

As her husband, I’ve had a front row seat to how much she invests in her work and in the people around her. On set, she is dependable, fearless, and prepared. At home, she is grounded, funny, and supportive. She is the kind of artist who not only makes a project better, but makes the people in it better, too.

***

Which ’hood are you in?

I’ve lived in The Village for years, close to the energy, central to get around, and a quick walk to Yorkville. My favourite area I have lived in over my years in Toronto is Ossington, a relaxed vibe, great shops, and Trinity Bellwoods right there.

What do you do?

I am an actress and producer. I love telling stories on camera and building characters that have complex layers underneath. The best stories in my eyes are those that reflect humanity, relatable circumstances, and often overlooked voices.

What are you currently working on?

My short film, The Dating Game, is currently making its run in the film festival circuit. I recently got the pleasure of working in the vertical series space on titles like The Billionaire’s Amnesiac Bride and Back in Time to Avenge Myself.

Where can we find your work?

Amazon Prime and Hallmark+, with past work on OUTtv. You can also follow along on Instagram and find the awards The Dating Game has won on IMDb.

The post “A Day in the Life” with: Toronto Artist Leanne Smith appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

Next stop is the gym, where his stoic nature really comes out. He moves with this mix of intensity and purpose—like he’s training for some sporting event he hasn’t officially been invited to—but underneath that hard exterior is an entire world of thought. Deep contemplation. Deeper care. Always trying to engage with the world in a way that feels honest to him. I’m convinced the gym is his therapy. He’ll mutter ‘that’s enough,’ even though it never is.

Work time means settling into his director-writer mode — emails, client calls, a dozen little creative fires that somehow all get handled at once — plus fielding the very important midday texts from me. In a world full of distraction, he has this rare ability to drop in and attack the task in front of him like nothing else exists. It’s part of his human wiring: a burst of deep focus followed immediately by a burst of movement.

Sometimes that means hill sprints at the steepest incline he can find — barefoot, naturally, because he “needs the grip.” It’s exhausting and bizarrely entertaining to watch. On calmer days, it’s a trail run through the woods instead. Shoes are permitted for that one.

On a shoot day, he’ll drive to set and ask—for the tenth time that week—why every street’s under construction at once. Once on set he’ll direct thousands of moving pieces (from my vantage point) into creative clarity.

For dinner, it’s usually one of his not-so-simple salads. At least eighteen different superfood ingredients, each chosen with purpose. Taste is almost secondary, though for the record, the man can cook when he wants to. His evenings wind down in a rhythm I’ve come to love: popcorn, ginger tea, and the deep comfort of rewatching his favourite It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes. Predictable, hilarious, perfectly him.

-Written by Julia Marcuzzi (his girlfriend)

***

Which ’hood are you in?

We’ll say the beaches as a domicile, though I’ve moonlighted in the west end here and there.

What do you do?

I guess I’m just a creative… lately more of a writer, sometimes more of a director, other times unemployed.

What are you currently working on?

Right now, I’m working on the release of my first novel, “Carried Away.”

Where can we find your work?

You can check my book at readcarriedaway.com or anywhere you buy books. My film work is on tjderry.com and on Instagram as @tj.derry or @readcarriedaway

The post “A Day in the Life” with: Toronto Artist T.J. Derry appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

Not to overstate the obvious, but it’s been a great century so far.

We’ve gotten to witness the incredible trajectory of indie filmmakers like Richard Linklater (the Slacker guy who has, somehow, not lost his touch in thirty-five years), alongside former indie directors like Christopher Nolan (two of whose films, an early 21st century ultra-indie and a recent big budget spectacle, appear on this list). During that same period, a succession of remarkable non-Hollywood features, from as far flung as Iran, and as close as our own backyard, have earned unparalleled success, introducing a whole new filmgoing generation to the joy of subtitles, slow cinema, and non-precocious child acting.

Not everything on this list is arthouse; not everything on this list is a universal favourite. Some choices are sure to be divisive. Some omissions even more so. (We love you, David Lynch, but Mulholland Dr. just didn’t make the cut.)

Also, and we swear this wasn’t by design, while we did include many of the “canonical” filmmakers, we rarely preferred their most popular films. (In other words, There Will Be Blood is out, The Master in.)

Ranging from psychedelic horror to piercing character studies to slowburn romance, here, then, are our favourite twenty-five films from a quarter-century of movie watching; the works that most reminded us of the power, the joy, the brilliance of cinema.

1. A Separation (2011, d. Asghar Farhadi)

Farhadi’s insightful, unusually riveting family drama is that rare work of fiction which finds something meaningful, even revelatory, in the day-to-day, not especially consequential, lives of ordinary people. Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, A Separation (Jodāi-e Nāder az Simin) follows the unpredictable, and increasingly spiralling, consequences of a series of decisions – to petition for divorce, to hire a caregiver for an ailing father – made by an unhappily married couple in contemporary Iran. Subversive without drawing the ire of Iranian censors, it’s easily the masterpiece of 21st century cinema.

2. The Lives of Others (2006, d. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)

The greatest Cold War espionage tale not based on a John Le Carré, The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) is a thrilling, intelligent, exceptional film, and another deserving Foreign Language Oscar winner. (Another unexpected theme of this list: the Academy tends to get the foreign film prize right, but little else.) Set in 1980s East Berlin, Lives follows Stasi spy Gerd Wiesler (actor Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe, who passed away shortly after the film’s release) as he secretly monitors a playwright and his inner circle, becoming increasingly, dangerously, invested in the lives of strangers who don’t even know he exists.

3. The Tree of Life (2011, d. Terrence Malick)

So heavily indebted to 2001: A Space Odyssey that it borrowed its special effects director (the legendary Doug Trumbull), Malick’s moody, achingly beautiful experimental melodrama represents the apotheosis of Malick’s style (even if, in our opinion, his Days of Heaven (1978) is slightly better). Nominally depicting the reminiscences of a middle-aged man (Sean Penn) burdened by a lifetime of tragedy, its frequent digressions into headier themes – environmental collapse, the dawn of the universe, the apocalypse – result in some of the most astonishing imagery ever put on celluloid. Perhaps the only film on this list which has to be seen on the big screen. (I like in70mm.com to keep track of that sort of thing.)

4. Punch-Drunk Love (2002, d. Paul Thomas Anderson)

The master of the cinematic two-hander, PTA gave us, in Punch-Drunk Love, the most off-kilter romantic comedy of the modern era. Depicting the trials and tribulations of Barry Egan (a never-better Adam Sandler), Love captures the beauty and absurdity of love, its sad sack protagonist navigating a series of incidents – among them an encounter with a discarded harmonium, and an ill-advised call to a phone sex line – as he awkwardly attempts to woo Lena Leonard (Emily Watson, also in a career-best performance). Very, very loosely inspired by the true story of a frequent flyer scheme involving pudding cups, Punch-Drunk Love is our feel-good film of the 21st century, and the one we regularly return to when feeling blue.

5. The Master (2012, d. Paul Thomas Anderson)

Speaking of PTA two-handers, Anderson’s astonishing, disturbing, extraordinary The Master – starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman (who was so memorable as the mattress man in Punch-Drunk Love) – is, for our money, cinema’s authoritative depiction of toxic masculinity (or perhaps toxic codependency). Phoenix delivers his greatest performance as Freddie Quell, a Navy veteran drawn into the vertiginous orbit of self-proclaimed “master” (read: L. Ron Hubbard-like cult leader) Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman), whose ideas about self-improvement and self-actualization are, shall we say, more than a bit unorthodox.

6. Memento (2000, d. Christopher Nolan)

Nolan’s breakout film is a 113-minute puzzle box, daring viewers to unravel its many, confoundingly arranged, threads. The film follows (or perhaps the better phrase is “tries to keep up with”) Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), an anterograde amnesiac with trouble remembering what happened moment to moment, for which he compensates by tattooing key information on his body. In order to mimic Leonard’s sensation of perpetual confusion, Nolan structures the film in reverse order, with its opening, contextless scene (and shocking act of violence) representing the chronological endpoint of a story which then retraces its steps backwards, revealing to the audience everything which came before – and which Leonard has already forgotten.

7. Man on Wire (2008, d. James Marsh)

One of only three documentaries to crack our list, James Marsh’s exuberant profile of highwire artist Philippe Petit, and his attempt to tightrope walk between the then-under-construction Twin Towers in 1974, plays like a cross between a traditional doc and a Hollywood thriller. Petit, the legendary performer who garnered international acclaim for stunts like tightrope walking above Notre-Dame de Paris, is an ideal subject: playful, mischievous, philosophical about the art and the beauty of his very specific brand of performance.

8. In the Loop (2009, d. Armando Iannucci)

The best political satire since Dr. Strangelove, Iannucci’s In the Loop, a spiritual spin-off of his brilliant (and criminally underseen) The Thick of It television series, brutally depicts the gross incompetence of the awful people we foolishly entrust with our governance. Protagonist Simon Foster (a very funny Tom Hollander) is a Minister in the British Government plagued by the stirrings of a conscience, as well as a fantastic habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Which, of course, lands him in hot water with the PM’s Director of Communications (a delightfully foul-mouthed Peter Capaldi), and at the heart of a grotesque UK-US conspiracy to launch an illegal war in the Middle East. Difficult, difficult, lemon difficult, indeed.

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004, d. Michel Gondry)

Gondry’s ode to love and human connection is a timeless classic, effortlessly capturing everything from the spark of attraction to the pangs of falling in love, to, finally, heartbreakingly, what happens when things fall apart. Like our fourth entry, this is a seriocomic showcase for an otherwise famously silly comedian, Jim Carrey here blessed with the perfect role and the perfect counterpart – manic pixie dream girl Kate Winslet, doing her best to subvert the trope she more or less originated in this film.

10. Take Shelter (2011, d. Jeff Nichols)

Nichols gifts long-time collaborator Michael Shannon the role of a lifetime as Curtis LaForche, a quiet, unassuming family man plagued by visions of impending apocalypse. Whether Curtis’s images are prophetic, or merely signs of mental collapse, remains a tantalizing mystery throughout, even as Nichols uses this light sci-fi set-up to meditate on themes such as masculinity, male fragility, familial bonds, and the power of belief. One of the few horror or horror-adjacent films which has made us cry, and we couldn’t tell you if those were tears of pity or of fear.

11. Winter’s Bone (2010, d. Debra Granik)

True story: at the conclusion of Debra Granik’s riveting Winter’s Bone, I turned to my moviegoing companion and said, “this young actress is incredible, too bad she’ll never make it in Hollywood.” While she had had a couple minor roles before this, nothing could have prepared us for Jennifer Lawrence’s star-making turn here. As teenager Ree Dolly, de facto single parent to several younger siblings, Lawrence is never anything less than amazing in this terrifying backwoods odyssey through the meth-infested Ozarks. Her Best Actress nomination, at twenty years old, made Lawrence the third-youngest nominee ever; she (wrongly) lost out to Natalie Portman.

12. The Barbarian Invasions (2003, d. Denys Arcand)

Another Oscar winner – in this case, Canada’s first-ever Best Foreign Film recipient – The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares) is a darkly funny dramedy about a dying man, strained relationships, and trying to find peace and acceptance amidst the indignities of aging. Rémy Girard reprises his role as “Rémy” from Arcand’s much earlier The Decline of the American Empire (1986), while Stéphane Rousseau is excellent as his son Sébastien, with a strong supporting turn from the wonderful Marie-Josée Croze (who, fun fact, got her big break in Denis Villeneuve’s Maelström).

13. O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000, d. Joel & Ethan Coen)

Further proof that the Coen Brothers are masters of whatever genre they set their mind to, this rambling, wildly entertaining, perfectly soundtracked musical-comedy is the best Coens film this side of the new millennium, anchored by sterling turns from George Clooney (lip-syncing to bluegrass singer Dan Tyminski), John Turturro, and a host of beloved character actors including Coens stalwarts John Goodman, Charles Durning, and the always-delightful Stephen Root. (Another fun piece of pop culture trivia: the title is a deep-cut reference to screwball comedy Sullivan’s Travels, perhaps the funniest film of the 1940s.)

14. Frances Ha (2012, d. Noah Baumbach)

Long before she sold her soul to a plastic toy company, Greta Gerwig starred in and co-wrote this charming anti-manic/pixie comedy about a dancer barely making ends meet in a Manhattan for which she is clearly out of her depth – emotionally, fiscally, and psychologically. Frances’s pathetic but amusing efforts to play it cool – like booking a solo trip to Paris on a maxed-out credit card – are endearing, even if we sometimes wish we could just reach through the screen and shake some sense into her.

15. Before Sunset (2004, d. Richard Linklater)

Linklater’s near-perfect Before trilogy, which began in 1994 and seemingly concluded with 2014’s Before Midnight, reaches its midpoint with this enthralling, eighty-minute walk-and-talk reunion of Before Sunrise’s Céline (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke). And now for another true filmgoing story from your resident Guardian critic: because the film plays out in real time as one uninterrupted conversation (here in a beautifully realized Paris), and because that conversation is so riveting, I was genuinely confused when the credits rolled the first time I saw this, since it felt like I had only sat down five minutes ago.

16. Stories We Tell (2012, d. Sarah Polley)

Toronto legend Sarah Polley‘s unexpected, altogether fascinating documentary about a family secret – her family’s secret – is one of the all-time great Canadian films. Establishing, at first, its purported aim of unpacking the director’s complicated relationship with her actress mother, who died of cancer when Polley was eleven, the film quickly transforms into something else entirely, with at least two twists – small-scale in the grand scheme, but nevertheless guaranteed to leave audiences talking. Seeing this opening night at TIFF, with the Polley family in attendance, is one of our great cinemagoing memories.

17. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013, d. Joel & Ethan Coen)

The Coens’ other great 21st century film (sorry, No Country…) is a shaggy dog story about a shaggy character, the titular Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac), a struggling folk singer in 1960s Greenwich Village congenitally incapable of doing, saying, or even singing the right thing. Though it plays like a tragedy – you can’t help but feel bad for the guy – it’s also a very funny period piece about an unlikeable loser, buffeted by the winds of change. How many roads must a man walk down?

18. Dunkirk (2017, d. Christopher Nolan)

Nolan’s latter-day output has never been anything less than electrifying, this WWII thriller the best of the bunch. Echoing (consciously or unconsciously) the nonlinear structure of Memento, Dunkirk weaves together three parallel storylines involving the infamous evacuation of Dunkirk. In one thread, a young soldier (Fionn Whitehead) spends an anxious week on the beach awaiting rescue as German troops close in. In another, we follow the twenty-four-hour miracle of the “small ships” flotilla, in which a fleet of civilian sailors (an excellent Mark Rylance among them) traversed the English Channel in aid of rescue efforts. Finally, the film dips in and out of a one-hour aerial battle between an RAF Spitfire (piloted by Tom Hardy, no less) and a squadron German fighter planes, in a series of thrilling dogfight sequences to rival Top Gun.

19. Midsommar (2019, d. Ari Aster)

The most horrifying breakup movie of all time, Ari Aster’s sophomore effort is grotesque, unnerving, and psychedelic in all the worst possible ways. Florence Pugh is, as usual, phenomenal as Dani Ardor, a young woman reeling from recent tragedy, and saddled with a laughably awful boyfriend whom she clearly should not have accompanied on a research trip to a remote Nordic community. It’s a horror movie, a breakup movie, and the world’s most compelling anti-drug PSA all rolled up into one.

20. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001, d. Peter Jackson)

Even though, in one sense, Peter Jackson’s LotR trilogy does a disservice to the beauty and the poetry of Tolkien’s novels, even this imperfect adaptation – of which this first film remains the strongest entry – makes for an extraordinary cinematic experience. It’s tough to pick our favourite moment, though it’s hard not to feel goosebumps during the Mines of Moria sequence, especially once the Balrog rears its ugly, flame-breathing head. And yes, the Extended Edition is the only way to watch.

21. Annihilation (2018, d. Alex Garland)

Alex Garland’s compelling career arc – he adapted his novel The Beach for Danny Boyle, before collaborating with Boyle on 28 Days Later and Sunshine, only to branch out on his own with a series of increasingly off-kilter, horror-inflected thrillers – has been one of the great cinematic throughlines of the 21st century. Freely adapted from Jeff VanderMeer’s popular sci-fi novel, Annihilation follows a team of soldiers and scientists – Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tessa Thompson among them – sent to explore a mysterious, Stalker-like zone which has been bizarrely transformed by a horrifying alien influence. It’s intelligent, it’s scary, it’s quietly feminist – the main cast, with the exception of Oscar Isaac’s injured survivor, is entirely female – and it’s a hell of a trip.

22. Drive My Car (2021, d. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)

It’s one minute longer than the theatrical cut of Fellowship of the Ring, but occupies a wholly different, profoundly intimate, cinematic space. Drive My Car, adapted from a series of loosely connected Haruki Murakami short stories, focuses on theatre director Yūsuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima, excellent), as he attempts to mount a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya at a prestigious theatre festival in Hiroshima. Haunted by tragedy and the sensation that his life is coming apart at the seams, Yūsuke bonds unexpectedly with the young, rough-hewn woman (Tōko Miura) assigned as his chauffeur. Languorously paced, with the best – and least expected – title drop in recent memory, it’s a film about people, about art, and about the simple act of living.

23. Encounters at the End of the World (2007, d. Werner Herzog)

Any decade’s best-of list is incomplete without at least one entry from Werner Herzog. After directing some of the best films of the 1970s (Aguirre, the Wrath of God), 1980s (Fitzcarraldo), and 1990s (Little Dieter Needs to Fly), Herzog’s 2000s output (which also includes Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams, both of which narrowly missed this list) reached its peak with the marvelous Encounters. Herzog, ever the eye for spotting unusual stories and unusual people, spent months in the Antarctic, capturing the lives of those – men, women, insane penguins – who call this extreme place home.

24. Petite Maman (2021, d. Céline Sciamma)

Though she came to prominence with a decidedly more famous queer historical romance, we think Sciamma’s follow-up, this low-key, quietly beautiful story about childhood, is even better. With a light dusting of magical realism, Petite Maman tells the story of a little girl (Joséphine Sanz) and her unusual week at her mother’s childhood home, where she befriends someone (we’ll stay carefully spoiler-free) altogether out-of-the-ordinary. Heavily indebted to Truffaut, that undisputed master of films about childhood, it’s a slim (72 minute), dreamlike fable.

25. Azor (2021, d. Andreas Fontana)

Easily our most obscure pick, Andreas Fontanat’s bleakly thrilling Azor, a sort of Heart of Darkness/Apocalypse Now for 1980s Argentina, earns its spot through its brilliant, nauseatingly believable depiction of evil as a subtle, implacable, irresistible force. Centered on quiet, well-dressed Swiss banker (Fabrizio Rongione), recently deployed to Argentina at the height of its military dictatorship, Azor‘s deliberate, meditative pacing belies the sheer malevolence which guides its characters and their actions. As accurate a depiction of the nature of elite power structures as any of the great films about the evils of capitalism.

HONOURABLE MENTION / BONUS CAN-CON AWARD:

[TIE] Enemy (2013, d. Denis Villeneuve) / Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2009, d. Edgar Wright)

After our first run at this article generated well over one hundred films, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to dole out a bonus, maple-blooded, totally-made-up award to a pair of CanCon favourites.

Two of the Torontoest movies to ever Toronto, Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy – about a meek University of Toronto Mississauga(!) professor (Jake Gyllenhaal) who encounters his sexier, more confident doppelgänger – and Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – which, come to think of it, also involves a socially awkward hero (Michael Cera) meeting a mirror-world version of himself – constitute two wildly divergent takes on our eternally insecure city, so used to offering itself up as a cheap substitute for other, more glamorous places.

Of the two, Scott Pilgrim is by far the more entertaining film, with its hyperkinetic, uber-geek comic stylings and knack for visual and acoustic flourishes – just check out that Metric scene. Enemy is, however, the more interesting film, a psychosexual thriller which dares to imagine Toronto as an insidious, dysfunctional, hotbed of depravity.

Makes for a great double feature.

***
For more of our favourite films, check out our resident film critic’s Top 10 Films of All Time, as well as our picks for the spookiest films guaranteed to give you nightmares.

The post The 25 Best Movies of the 21st Century (So Far) appeared first on Toronto Guardian.

Describe your charity/non-profit/volunteer work in a few sentences.

LIFT is a charitable film production access centre that supports, champions and amplifies independent filmmaking through affordable access to equipment, education, mentorship and advocacy. We give filmmakers the tools and community they need to tell bold stories that reflect their lives. Located at 1137 Dupont Street, we have classrooms for workshops and production facilities for rental to filmmakers.

What problem does it aim to solve?

Filmmaking can be an expensive and competitive art form, but it is also an essential way that people share stories with each other in this world full of screens. By giving independent filmmakers the tools they need to make their own films outside the constraints of the industry, we open the pathway to new voices to describe our world. We strive for helping to create a more diverse body of filmmakers so that Canadian stories can be told by the full range of Canadians.

When did you start/join it?

I became a filmmaker member of LIFT after graduating university in 1999. Being a member helped me make a dozen short films over as many years, some of which circulated quite widely in festivals around the world. In 2013, I was hired to be the Executive Director and, since then, have worked with my colleagues to enable other filmmakers to have similar creative journeys.

What made you want to get involved?

I was inspired by the way LIFT created a community of support for young filmmakers to learn new skills and to take a chance on their ideas. Over the years, I’ve found it to be an amazing support network, and I wanted to contribute by joining the team as a staff member when the opportunity arose.

What was the situation like when you started?

LIFT had recently moved into a new space, having been forced out of a space further downtown. We were adapting to the space, which allowed us to offer more workshops and support more community projects. It allowed us to greatly expand our support for the filmmaking community. From 2013 to 2019, we experienced great growth in our ability to provide for the community.

How has it changed since?

The pandemic was a tough period for us, as it was harder for us to do many of the things that required collaboration: everything from workshops to film shoots were affected by the directive to not congregate. It’s been a slow, financial crawl back for us, but we’re proud to say that this year we’ve returned to the same level of activity we had in 2019 and look forward to continuing to grow in our support of the filmmaking community.

What more needs to be done?

We periodically take a gut check to see what potential filmmaking communities we can serve better and how to do so and as always, there’s a challenge to expand the community of filmmakers. We are committed to making sure there’s a greater diversity of filmmakers in the arts and we’ve been expanding our community and mentorship programs to help support that. In the next couple of years, we hope to raise more funds to expand our reach, so we can take on a stronger role in empowering our community to tell their stories.

How can our readers help?

Running a charity in an expensive city like Toronto, for an expensive medium like film, has its struggles, and we always welcome support. If you are not a filmmaker and just want to provide support, a tax-deductible donation goes a long way to supporting our programs and services. If you are an aspiring filmmaker, take our workshops! We have a full range of workshops that focus on every step of the filmmaking process. Visit our website to explore our workshops and facilities, and donate to support us.

Do you have any events coming up?

We offer 150 workshops a year, so there’s always something on. The year 2026 is our 45th Anniversary, so we’re planning special events to celebrate this amazing milestone! We’re so proud of the role LIFT has played in countless productions and filmmakers, and we hope to share more of that story soon.

Where can we follow you?

Website | Instagram | Facebook

PAY IT FORWARD: What is an awesome local charity that you love?

Samara Centre for Democracy is an awesome charity that promotes civic engagement in Canada. Its work is a strong corollary to what we believe in: that creating and telling your story is a way to strengthen democracy through understanding and shared experiences.

The post Charitable Choices: Chris Kennedy of LIFT appeared first on Toronto Guardian.