AFCOOP Updates - January 8, 2026

We're back! Happy New Year! Registration for FILM 5 Trainee Program is now live

January 08, 2026


Happy New Year everyone! We’re excited to seeing what 2026 has in store for AFCOOP and its members ✨

🏋️‍♀️ FILM 5 Trainee REGISTRATION NOW LIVE!

🎞️ Screenings, artist-talks, openings and more. Read more below!

📆 AFCOOP’s WINTER GM IS ON THURSDAY, JANUARY 29TH

Welcome Home Hello GIF


FILM 5 TRAINEE PROGRAM — REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!
Are you interested in working behind the scenes in the film industry? Looking to learn more about a specific department?

Registration for the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative’s FILM 5 Trainee Program is now live! AFCOOP’s FILM 5 program has been running for over thirty years, providing a launching pad for the careers of aspiring crew and filmmakers alike.

The trainee program provides participants with classroom training from industry professionals, practical on-set instruction, and networking opportunities. Participants from the workshops will have the opportunity to be placed on one of the FILM 5 sets shooting in the spring to learn hands-on skills under the guidance of their department head.

To become a trainee crew member, you must take the required workshops for your desired position, pay the application fee (which includes the mandatory Set Etiquette Course), come to the Trainee/Team Meet and Greet and submit a resume, cover letter and application form to Henry, [email protected].

To register as a trainee, please complete the APPLICATION FORM.
Pay ($60) registration fee HERE


AFCOOP’s FILM 5 Workshop Access Policy

AFCOOP recognizes there are systemic inequities that create barriers for people in accessing film training. In an effort to address and recognize historical and present-day inequities, while trying to balance the hard costs of running a program like FILM 5, we will continue to offer last year’s lower base cost and have introduced a reduced rate too. Please feel free to sign up for whatever price-point you are most comfortable with. No questions asked. If the cost is still a barrier please contact us and we will make our best efforts to ensure you can attend.)

A MIRYAM CHARLES RETROSPECTIVE - FILMMAKING IN-ATTENDANCE
2015-2022 | 50m + artist talk

Fleapit Cinema is proud to kick off 2026 with a retrospective of short works by visionary Haitian-Canadian filmmaker Miryam Charles, followed by an in-person Q&A moderated by Kate Solar.

Blurring the lines of experimental, documentary, and narrative, her films feel interchangeably like archives of a distant past, records sent back from a hazy future, and sensorial documents of the present. The landscapes of Quebec and the Caribbean are strung together by strands of memory and grief. The program features six Atlantic premieres.

Screening:
Thursday, Jan. 15, doors 6:30pm, show @ 7pm - director attending
Location:
Museum of Natural History Auditorium (where Carbon Arc is located!)

ALIENS
James Cameron | USA | 1986 | 137m

Propeller Arcade is starting 2026 off strong with James Cameron’s full force sequel “ALIENS."

Beefed up sound, beefed up projection, and a sub that’s turned all the way to 11, prepare to witness a unique showing of one of the greatest sci-fi sequels ever made.

Tickets drop Sunday January 11th and this one’s gonna fly, so head to Propeller and grab your ticket first thing next week!

Screening:
Saturday, January 28
Doors 5pm / film @ 7:30pm

Location:
Propeller Arcade, 2015 Gottingen St


HALIFAX INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL IS LOOKING FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Our friends at HIFF are looking for support for its 20th anniversary.

As we enter this milestone year, it's a time to celebrate the wonderful films we've presented and incredible community that has formed around this festival in the past two decades. But at the same time, cuts to our funding are presenting major challenges to presenting HIFF at all.

That's why we're reaching out to you! Your support is crucial in aiding HIFF through its 20th year and helping it thrive in the future.

Your contributions will allow HIFF to:
• Continue paying IMAA-recommended artist fee rates to HIFF filmmakers
• Continue providing travel and accommodation for visiting artists
• Pay festival staff
• Cover the venue rental at the beautiful Bus Stop Theatre

HIFF is Atlantic Canada's annual celebration of arthouse cinema. Every year we present bold, experimental works by new and exciting voices from Canada and around the world.

CFAT OPENING

REWIRE: A multimedia installation by Anita KC

January 13-23, 2026

Opening reception Monday January 12, 6:00-8:00PM

REWIRE is a multimedia exhibition that explores self-perception as a relational process, and examines the ways it can become distorted through internal narratives and the gaze of others.

KHYBER OPENING

KREAM residency: January 11-17, 2026
Ahreum Lee’s solo exhibition, Magic Mother: January 16-February 14, 2026

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.

Artist Talk: 6-7PM, Friday, Jan 16th Reception: 7-9PM, Friday, Jan 16th


JOBS & VOLUNTEER

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!

SCREEN NOVA SCOTIA UPCOMING DEADLINE

Screen Nova Scotia Studios Inc. is undergoing a marketing and branding exercise and is seeking proposals from qualified graphic design/marketing companies or individuals to help the Studio establish is first brand identity and promote/build awareness of this important facility in Nova Scotia. Applications due Jan. 16th!

Read more here!

FESTIVAL SUBMISSIONS

HIFF

Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival wants to see your film! Submissions for HIFF 2026 are NOW OPEN.

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.

Send us your latest work in the following categories:

  • Atlantic Canadian Shorts

  • Canadian Shorts

  • Canadian Features

Early-bird Deadline: January 12, 2026

Regular Deadline: February 16, 2026

Late Deadline: March 16, 2026

Anifest Halifax

Animation Festival of Halifax 2026 submission deadlines!

Short Films: February 1,2026
Anijam: March 1, 2026

For more info on the festival and how to apply visit Anifest’s website: https://www.anifx.ca/

Hot Docs

Submissions are open for North America’s biggest documentary film festival!

Late deadline: January 8, 2026

For more info on the festival and how to apply visit Hot Doc’s website: https://hotdocs.ca/industry/submit-a-film


FREAK CLUB is a weekly gathering of losers, weirdos, creeps, etc. who watch free movies at AFCOOP.


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. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq, Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726. The treaties did not deal with surrender of lands and resources but in fact recognized Mi’kmaw and Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations. We are all treaty people.