Forest City Film Festival

2016

The Forest City Film Festival was founded in 2016 by Dorothy Downs. The first festival was a collection of twenty-five films, screened over three days in November to an audience of 1200.^[4]

2017

In 2017, the festival added an animation category and an out-of-competition International Screening, totaling 48 films. The festival’s duration was expanded from three days to five in October, with 1800 audience members in attendance.

2018

In 2018, FCFF added a special Flashback Friday screening, a celebration of older films with a connection to the region. The Breakfast Club was screened, followed by a Q&A with special guest and London-native John Kapelos, who played Carl, the janitor in the film. The festival also held their first pitch competition for short films. FCFF 2018 offered 48 films once again, met by a 33% increase in attendees, totaling 2400 audience members in attendance that year.

2019

In 2019, the Forest City Youth Film Festival was introduced, offering a separate competition for high school student filmmakers in Southwestern Ontario. This year, the number of films increased to 64 films which were screened over a five day period. Attendance increased from 2400 to 3200.

2020

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Forest City Film Festival to offer their festival digitally.^[5] For an eight day period, 75 films were available for online on-demand viewing from anywhere in Canada, resulting in 4000 audience members in attendance. Additionally, a new Music Video category was added to the competition.

2021

In 2021, the film festival took on a hybrid model, returning to in-person screenings in downtown London while also continuing to offer nationwide online viewing. FCFF 2021 offered 92 films, viewed by 6100 in-person attendees and 4500 virtual views. 2021 also saw the festival’s Industry Sessions take on the name Ontario Screen Creators Conference, alongside expanding their offerings to a full weekend of events dedicated to education and networking for film industry professionals. Additionally, the pitch competition was rebranded to Project Pitch, a national competition to pitch a feature film for the opportunity to win a prize package with a value $60,000 in products, services, and cash grants. The Forest City Youth Film Festival also grew dramatically, screening 29 short films across seven categories.

2022

The 2022 edition ran from October 15 to 23, screening 70 films in competition. The festival included Indigenous films in two programs, as well as a new category, Best of the World Fests showcasing 14 films from around the world that had premiered and won awards at international festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Berlinale, and TIFF.

2023

The 2023 Forest City Film Festival marked the organisation's eighth year and represented a significant rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic. Held over nine days, the festival presented 74 films across 38 in-person programs at venues throughout downtown London. The festival opened with its first TD-sponsored Opening Night event, featuring the documentary Mr Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, directed by London filmmaker Robert McCallum and written by Jordan Christopher Morris. The screening was followed by a discussion with members of the film's creative team, Jordan Morris, Ernie Coombs’ manager Don Jones, and cast member Jim Parker,  celebrating the legacy of Canadian children's television icon Ernie Coombs.

The festival showcased 17 world premieres, including four feature films, as well as four Canadian premieres. Other notable programming included 15 films in the Best of the World Fests series, four French-language programs, two Indigenous film programs curated by Oneida filmmaker Judith Schuyler, and an expanded Youth Day featuring student films and industry events. The Experimental Night at Museum London attracted an exceptional turnout and introduced the inaugural Old Oak Experimental Film Fan Favourite Award and the Old Oak Best of the World Fests Fan Favourite Award.

The accompanying Ontario Screen Creators Conference (OSCC) hosted 15 industry events and welcomed 38 film and television professionals from organisations including Telefilm Canada, CBC, Ontario Creates, the Canada Media Fund, and the Writers Guild of Canada. The conference also featured what was described as Canada's largest film pitch competition, Project Pitch, awarding $120,000 in funding across short film, feature film, and web series categories.

Audience engagement increased substantially from the previous year, with total festival attendance reaching 6,774 people, a 30 per cent increase from 2022. The festival generated an estimated $194,700 in spending at local businesses and continued to attract visitors from outside the region. Executive Director Dorothy Downs described 2023 as a milestone year that marked the festival's full return to pre-pandemic levels of audience participation and community engagement.

2024

The 2024 Forest City Film Festival took place over nine days and featured 94 films presented through 51 programs across four venues in downtown London. The festival introduced the TD Celebration of Film and Music as its opening event, combining music videos, live performances, and film to celebrate London's designation as Canada's only UNESCO City of Music. The festival also launched its inaugural Lifetime Achievement in Entertainment Award, honouring Canadian actor Victor Garber. The celebration included screenings of several of Garber's films and virtual appearances from industry colleagues, including Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Nathan Lane, Jennifer Garner, J.J. Abrams, Eugene Levy, Rob Marshall, and Paul Shaffer.

The festival featured 10 world premieres, four Indigenous films, and an expanded Ontario Screen Creators Conference (OSCC), which welcomed more than 40 industry professionals from organisations including Telefilm Canada, CBC, the Canada Media Fund, and Ontario Creates. The Project Pitch awarded over $73,000 in funding and prizes to emerging filmmakers. Festival attendance reached 8,137 people, representing a 22 percent increase over 2023, while total audience engagement exceeded 22,000 participants through festival and year-round programming.

2025

The 2025 Forest City Film Festival marked the organisation's 10th anniversary and expanded to ten days of programming. The festival presented 112 films, including 20 world premieres across four venues. A total of 129 filmmakers participated in screenings, Q&A sessions, and networking events throughout the festival.

The TD Celebration of Film and Music returned as the opening-night event, featuring 16 diverse music videos and heartfelt performances by three Southwestern Ontario musicians: Amanda Keeles, Ron Leary and Burn Unders, and the announcement of a cultural exchange initiative with Croatia, supported by the London Music Office. The Best of the World Fests program recorded its strongest attendance to date, with 17 critically acclaimed, international and Canadian films gracing the screens, including sold-out screenings for Sentimental Value, No Other Choice, and Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie.

The festival's second Lifetime Achievement in Entertainment Award was presented to London-born, television writer and producer David Shore, creator of House M.D. and The Good Doctor. The celebration included appearances by actors Hugh Laurie, who flew in to surprise David Shore on stage, and Freddie Highmore, who virtually participated in screenings and audience discussions related to Shore's work. The Forest City Youth Festival, held on Tuesday, showcased 24 student films and attracted a lively audience, culminating in the high-energy and inspiring Awards Show and Red Carpet Soiree. Experimental Night at Museum London hosted a packed house with 8 artistic films screened and a full 9-person Q&A.

The Ontario Screen Creators Conference (OSCC) continued to expand, held at  RBC Place downtown London, welcoming more than 50 industry experts and awarding over $83,000 through pitch competitions for short, documentary, and feature film projects. Festival attendance reached 10,118 people, a 25 per cent increase over 2024, while total audience engagement exceeded 26,000 participants. The festival also generated more than $1 million in visitor and event spending,

Upcoming Festival

The 11th annual Forest City Film Festival is scheduled to take place from October 15–25, 2026. The festival will expand to 11 days of programming and continue its focus on showcasing Southwestern Ontario filmmakers while presenting Canadian and international cinema to audiences in London, Ontario.

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Lerners Opening Night

Lerners Opening Night is the official launch of the festival, though it is not always the first day of screenings. The film is typically out of competition. Traditionally, the screening is preceded by a gala event at a local restaurant.

Previous Lerners Opening Night films include:

• Trigger Point (screened at FCFF 2021)

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday, traditionally held on a Friday evening during the festival, presents a screening of an older film with a connection to the region of Southwestern Ontario. A member of the cast or crew typically attends for a post-screen question and answer session.

Previous Flashback Friday films include:

• The Breakfast Club (screened at FCFF 2018)

Music Video Night

Music Video Night is an event screening all of the selected films in the Music Video category. Additional to the screening, there are live performances by featured musical artists.

Indigenous Film Programs

The Forest City Film Festival works with Indigenous filmmakers within the region to curate programs of Indigenous films.^[18]

Previous Indigenous films screened include:

• Beans (screened at FCFF 2021)

These curated films are not a part of the film festival competition, though films by Indigenous filmmakers that are submitted and selected are in contention.

School-friendly Screenings

Each year, the Forest City Film Festival invites classes from across Southwestern Ontario to attend weekday matinee screenings. A Teacher's Guide is developed and distributed to ensure the screened films are age-appropriate.

Forest City Youth Film Festival

The Forest City Youth Film Festival (often abbreviated as FCYFF) is a separate filmmaking competition under the umbrella of the Forest City Film Festival. Entrants to the FCYFF must be high school students in Southwestern Ontario. The competition is judged by a jury of industry professionals. Selected films are screened at a special event during the Forest City Film Festival.

Historically, the categories of competition are:

• Animation
• Narrative
• Documentary
• Pitch
• Experimental
• Music Video
• Promotional Video

Live online seminars are offered year-round to member school boards. These seminars give high schoolers and aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to learn more about the various aspects of filmmaking from industry experts, student filmmakers, and post-secondary educators, with an additional focus on career opportunities.

Ontario Screen Creators Conference

Previously known as FCFF Industry Sessions, the Ontario Screen Creators Conference (often abbreviated as OSCC) is a three-day conference that takes place on one weekend of the Forest City Film Festival. The conference invites filmmakers and industry professionals of all experience levels to learn and connect at seminars, panels, networking parties, and other events held both in London, Ontario and online. Previous sessions have included:

• Behind the Scenes with Colm Feore, a longform interview with Canadian stage and screen actor Colm Feore.
• Documentary Design, a panel of documentarians discussing the process of defining visual design in documentary films.
• Authentic Voices Through a Diverse Lens, a panel of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC filmmakers discussing representation in film.
• Forest City Feature Film Pitch, an annual pitch competition for emerging filmmakers to present unproduced screenplays; the winner of the competition receives $60,000 in grants and in-kind services from various organizations and companies.^[19] The festival previously offered a smaller-scale pitch competition for local emerging filmmakers working on their first short films; it was expanded to feature films in 2021, and was open to filmmakers from anywhere in Canada as long as they agreed to shoot and produce at least 50 per cent of their film in and around London.^[19] The winner of the first feature pitch competition was Geordie Sabbagh for his film Audit;^[20] the 2022 competition was won by Faran Moradi for Cry Wolf.^[13]