The Canadian Film Fest, formerly known as the Canadian Filmmakers Festival, is an annual film festival in Toronto, Ontario. Showcasing a program of Canadian independent films, it is held in March of each year and usually runs for five days.
The festival was launched in 2004, and ran annually until 2008 at the Royal Cinema. Although not staged between 2009 and 2011, it was relaunched in 2012 and has run annually since. The festival has been staged at the Scotiabank Theatre since 2017.
The festival was formed in association with the Toronto International Film Festival Group, but operates independently of TIFF. It serves commonly, but not exclusively, as the Toronto premiere venue for films which premiered elsewhere on the Canadian or international film festival circuits in the previous year but have not yet screened in Toronto, although it also serves as the premiere venue for some films.
The 2020 festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada; instead, the organizers partnered with the pay TV service Super Channel to provide television and streaming broadcasts of the films that had been slated to screen at the festival. With the pandemic continuing into 2021, festival organizers again partnered with Super Channel to present the 2021 edition of the festival under the same model.
Award for Best Feature Film
{| class="wikitable sortable" width=100%
|-
! Year
! Film
! Director
! Ref
|-
| 2004 || Expiration || Gavin Heffernan ||
|-
| 2005 || The Overlookers || Christopher Warre Smets ||
|-
| 2006 || The End of Silence || Anita Doron ||
|-
| 2007 || The Zero Sum || Raphael Assaf ||
|-
| 2008 || The Last Hit Man || Christopher Warre Smets ||
|-
| 2013 || The Storm Within (Rouge sang) || Martin Doepner ||
|-
| 2014 || Patch Town || Craig Goodwill ||
|-
| 2015 || Ben's at Home || Mars Horodyski ||
|-
| 2016 || How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town || Jeremy Lalonde ||
|-
| 2017 || Great Great Great || Adam Garnet Jones ||
|-
| 2018 || The Drawer Boy || Arturo Pérez Torres ||
|-
| 2019 || The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova || Zack Bernbaum ||
|-
| 2020 || Shoot to Marry || Steve Markle ||
|-
| 2021 || Sugar Daddy || Wendy Morgan||
|-
| 2022 || Carmen || Valerie Buhagiar ||
|-
| 2023 || Babysitter || Monia Chokri ||
|-
| 2024 || With Love and a Major Organ || Kim Albright ||
|-
| 2025 || Darkest Miriam || Naomi Jaye ||
|-
| 2026 || Akashi || Mayumi Yoshida ||
|}
Films
2014
Features
- Afterparty — Michelle Ouellet
- The Birder — Ted Bezaire
- H & G — Danishka Esterhazy
- Patch Town — Craig Goodwill
- Play the Film — Alec Toller
- The Privileged — Leah Walker
Shorts
2015
Features
- Barn Wedding — Shaun Benson
- Ben's at Home — Mars Horodyski
- The Cocksure Lads Movie — Murray Foster
- Late Night Double Feature — Navin Ramaswaran, Zach Ramelan, Torin Langen
- Nocturne — Saul Pincus
- Pretend We're Kissing — Matt Sadowski
- Relative Happiness — Deanne Foley
- Shooting the Musical — Joel Ashton McCarthy
2016
Features
- 20 Moves — Harv Glazer
- Across the Line — Director X
- Borealis — Sean Garrity
- Dead Rush — Zach Ramelan
- How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town — Jeremy LaLonde
- Jackie Boy — Cody Campanale
- The Sabbatical — Brian Stockton
Shorts
2017
Features
- An American Dream: The Education of William Bowman — Ken Finkleman
- Badsville — April Mullen
- Broken — Lynne Spencer
- Broken Mile — Justin McConnell
- Edging — Natty Zavitz
- Filth City — Andy King
- Great Great Great — Adam Garnet Jones
- The Heretics — Chad Archibald
- Lost Solace — Chris Scheuerman
- Modern Classic — J.M.B. Hunter
Shorts
2018
Features
- Becoming Burlesque — Jackie English
- The Cannon — Marshall Axani
- The Drawer Boy — Arturo Pérez Torres, Aviva Armour-Ostroff
- The Go-Getters — Jeremy LaLonde
- Love Jacked — Alfons Adetuyi
- Luba — Caley Wilson
- Ordinary Days — Kris Booth, Renuka Jeyapalan, Jordan Canning
- Prodigals — Michelle Ouellet
- Room for Rent — Matthew Atkinson
- A Swinger's Weekend — Jon E. Cohen
Shorts
2019
Features
- Creep Nation — John Geddes
- The Dancing Dogs of Dombrova — Zack Bernbaum
- Honey Bee — Rama Rau
- Nose to Tail — Jesse Zigelstein
- Nowhere — Thomas Michael
- Pond Life — Gord Rand
- Red Rover — Shane Belcourt
- This Is North Preston — Jaren Hayman
- Wolves Unleashed: Against All Odds — Andrew Simpson