đź’Ą FILM 5 TRAINEE PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT
🎬 Welcome to our three new board members: Chelsea Innes, Akshay Shirke, and Brandon Lorimer!
🎬 Meet this year’s FILM 5 teams going to camera in the spring!
❄️ Winter grant recipients: see who’s got projects coming down the line
📆 Screenings, events, opportunities, and more! | |
TRAINEE PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT | LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE FOR WORKSHOPS!
Thank you everyone that has signed up! The Film 5 trainee program is officially sold out, however, there are limited spots still available to attend the following workshops:
- Assistant Camera
- First Aid on Set
- Lighting & Grip
*Art Department and Assistant Directing are both sold out.
Questions? Reach out to Henry at [email protected]
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Welcome to the 2025/26 Film 5 teams! These filmmakers will be going to picture on their short films in March & April.
PLEASE FIX ME Director: Colby Conrad
Writer: Kaelen MacDonald
Producer: Mark MacDonald | Leah knows something must be wrong with her: she just doesn’t know what. Please Fix Me follows Leah’s efforts at self-improvement in an imaginative world full of surreal creatures and dark comedy. |
| LOOK AT ME Director/Writer: Nikita Morris
Producer: Shkeysha Morris | When a sleep-deprived student begins seeing terrifying figures demanding her attention, she must resist looking, or risk surrendering to a force that may be supernatural... or entirely in her mind. . |
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HOLIDAY Director/Writer: Dustin Harvey
Producer: Halley Roback | HOLIDAY is a meditative short film about searching for someone through the images they left behind. Static images, sound design, and text guide us through spaces that feel both familiar and estranged. |
| SHIRT! Director/Writer: Mel Hennigar
Producer: Ellie Rideout | SHIRT! is a dark comedy that explores the notion of nature versus nurture through the eyes of an adult only child who receives a surprising gift on Christmas morning. . |
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Congratulations to the following filmmakers that received this winter’s round of grants!
FIRST THING GRANT Scott Stephanson | Project: Putnyk |
| FIRST THING GRANT Ella Ronayne | Project: A House in December |
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FEEDBACK LOOP Sophie Nadeau | Project: Board Senseless |
| INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS GRANT Israel Ekanem | Project: House of the Rising Sun |
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INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS GRANT Griffin O’Toole | Project: Murmurations |
| SUPER 8 BURSARY Moon Arin Rains | Project: Ouef |
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ANALOGUE FILM GRANT
Kay Slauenwhite |
Project: Slipstream |
NOUVELLE VAGUE
Richard Linklater | US, FR | 2025 | 105m Nouvelle Vague is the story of Jean-Luc Godard making Breathless, a love letter to the revolutionary magic of the French New Wave and a homage to Godard's influential 1960 film. | When:
Today, Feb 6, 6:30 PM | Location:
Carbon Arc | Tickets here |
| RESURRECTION
Bi Gan | China, France | 2025 | 156m In a society where people have ceased dreaming, some dangerous individuals still dream invoking different periods of cinema and warping the fabric of time. . | When:
Sat, Feb 7, 6:00 PM | Location:
Carbon Arc | Tickets here |
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MEASURES FOR A FUNERAL
*WITH VIRTUAL Q&A
Sofia Bohdanowicz | Canada | 2024 | 142mFleapit Cinema presents the Atlantic premiere of award-winning filmmaker, Sofia Bohdanowicz’s newest feature. Audrey Benac (Deragh Campbell) confronts her history and destiny as she dives into the life of forgotten Canadian violinist Kathleen Parlow. Leaving behind her dying mother, herself a failed violinist, Audrey is haunted by her mother’s unfulfilled dreams. | When:
Thurs, Feb 12, 6:30pm | Location:
Carbon Arc | Tickets here |
| THIS IS SPINAL TAP
ROB REINER RETROSPECTIVE
Rob Reiner | USA | 1984 | 82m Throughout February we remember late director Rob Reiner with beloved classics including This is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally…, and The Princess Bride. Screening on Saturday nights in February! Smartly directed, brilliantly acted, and packed with endlessly quotable moments, This Is Spinal Tap is an all-time comedy classic.
| When:
Sat, Feb 7, 9:15 PM | Location:
Carbon Arc | Tickets here |
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I WANT TO BURST | GABE MOORE I WANT TO BURST is a declaration of selfhood. Unfolding in video and audio the work documents a process of reorientation toward a body that feels like home. The slippery, mutable fabric of identity is examined through self-portraiture and performance tracing a synthesis of the body, from desire to reality. Read more here! | February 3rd - 13th | Location:
Centre for Art Tapes |
| Canadian Cinema Editors EditCon The Canadian Cinema Editors (CCE) is pleased to present EDITCON 2026, the ninth annual conference on the art of picture editing, which will take place in-person & virtually between February 6th to 8th, 2026. Use the code “AFCOOPMember” for a discount on your ticket! | Location:
Nova Scotia Community College | Tickets here
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Ahreum Lee’s solo exhibition, Magic Mother The exhibition includes AR applications, prints, a web-based game, a hologram fan, sculptural components, and video works. Each piece can stand alone, yet together they form an immersive installation known as the Magic Mother Shrine. . . . . | January 16 - February 14, 2026 | Location:
The Khyber Centre for the Arts |
| George Elliott Clarke Presents: 5 Poets Breaking Into Song (#20) - Liberty to Loven
Part of African Heritage Month at the Halifax public libraries, Halifax native and Toronto Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke will host a delightful afternoon of original poetry and music. You will enjoy live recitations of original poetry by Delvina Bernard, El Jones, Salima Tourkmani-MacDonald, Stedmond Pardy, and George Elliott Clarke. Then, you will hear the poetry sung with piano keys, adding sugar and pepper or ebony and ivory. | Sat. Feb. 14th - 12:30PM – 3:30PM | Location:
Central Library |
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AFCOOP MEMBERS RECEIVE 10% OFF CAMERA & LENS RENTALS, AND 25% OFF GRIP, LIGHTING, AND CAMERA SUPPORT. CLICK THE IMAGE TO CHECK OUT ONETAKE’S GEAR. QUESTIONS? ASK CODY! [email protected]
Halifax Black Film Festival HBFF is taking place from February 20-24, 2026 — tickets will be on sale soon!
They are hiring a Volunteer Coordinator to help bring the festival to life! Send your CV to [email protected]
Interested in being a volunteer? Film out this form! | |
| Making Waves 2026: CBC Pitch This! The CBC Pitch This! competition returns to #MW2026 for another exciting year! Pitch your short film concept to a panel of industry professionals for a chance to win $10K plus post-production service, during the 2026 Making Waves conference (Saturday, April 11, Halifax). Five selected filmmakers will receive professional pitch training. Deadline: February 13, 2026
Apply now! |
FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS
HIFF | Lunenburg Doc Fest | AIFF |
We're seeking bold, boundary-pushing works from new and unique voices. HIFF 2026 will take place May 27–30 at the Bus Stop Theatre in Halifax’s north end. | Lunenburg Doc Fest celebrates a diverse slate of international documentaries — and we can’t wait to see what you’ll bring for our 2026 edition! | Submissions are now open for the 46th Atlantic International Film Festival! Accepting shorts & features. |
Regular Deadline: February 16th | Early Bird Deadline: March 13, 2026 | Early Bird: March 20th |
Details here | Details here | Details here |
SEEKING VIDEOGRAPHER (VOLUNTEER)
Seeking a videographer to film a behind the scenes / documentary style videos for upcoming startup app “GoLocal Quote.”
GoLocal Quote, helps you quickly find quotes and schedule appointments with local businesses. Whether you’re in need of a piano lesson, landscaper, or plumber—GoLocal Quote matches your request with available local businesses and puts you in touch with them right away! | Need to have equipment, and an open mind to silly ideas. Not overly hung up on skills, mainly focused on availability as this is going to be the behind the scenes of our day to day operations. Check out GoLocal Quote’s website here. |
FREAK CLUB is a weekly gathering of losers, weirdos, creeps, etc. who watch free movies at AFCOOP.
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Interested? Talk to Anna (call 250 580-7645), or try your luck getting a spot on the orange couch on Fridays at 5pm.
Viewers discretion advised, must be 18+ to join. |
ABOUT AFCOOP: Established in 1974 the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative (AFCOOP) is a non-profit, community organization dedicated to supporting the production and presentation of independent film and moving-image-based work in a collaborative, learning environment. AFCOOP acknowledges that we are located and operate in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. We are all treaty people.
