Scares in the City: Toronto After Dark Spotlight 2

Space Thriller Europa Report

Toronto After Dark Film Festival held its second “Spotlight” screening of the year on Thursday September 26th. This event paired two Toronto premieres, with the space feature EUROPA REPORTabout long distance space travel, with locally made THE DIRTIES, a micro-budget film that follows two movie obsessed teens and their reaction to bullying.

THE DIRTIES came to people’s attention after it was picked up by Kevin Smith for distribution at Slamdance, leading to it having a sell-out crowd on Thursday. Treating the Spotlights like the Festival, several of the actors and the creative team of THE DIRTIES held a long Q&A session with the audience and some continued the discussion with fans at the After Dark Pub, held at John Street’s The Office. The team also encouraged everyone to see the film again (and bring friends) as it is booked for seven days at the TIFF Bell Light Box from October 4-10th.

Poster for The Dirties

Toronto After Dark Spotlight series featured four very different films, presenting a taste of the full festival that runs from October 17-25 (tickets available online). As with the main festival, the audience at the two Spotlight nights were able to vote on the films. The winner of the Audience Choice award was THE DIRTIES. The runner-up for the award went to BAD MILO!, a horror comedy with puppetry, which is opening in Toronto on October 4th.

For those who attended Thursday night’s double feature, each movie was preceded by a trailer of a film in the main festival. Films that I am not at liberty to reveal until the official announcement on Monday! (I’m embargoed! Nifty!)

So if you saw BAD MILO! or THE DIRTIES and want to see them again, or if you loved our reviews and want to see them for yourself – go support independent films and thank TAD for bringing them to Toronto first.