Toronto’s cult film festival enters new era after the death of its founder

A film festival–and a niche, genre film festival, more specifically–that lives for two decades will no doubt see trends come and go and tastes shift and evolve.

It will also, in the case of the long-running Toronto After Dark Film Festival, take a sombre one-year hiatus (very shortly after enduring the tumultuous pandemic years and associated lockdowns) to prepare for a future without the man who anchored the operation: TADFF’s passionate and ever-present founder, Adam Lopez. 

Lopez, who founded the horror, sci-fi, action, thriller and cult film festival in 2006, succumbed to throat cancer in 2025, just four years after he was diagnosed. Lopez’s declining health, which he documented extensively on social media while advocating fiercely for a cure, prompted organizers to cancel the festival in 2024. 

He died in April 2025 at the age of 52.

The festival returned in 2025 but now, more than a year later, Adam Bovoletis, the new festival manager and programmer, is gearing up to showcase a TADFF that honours the core concepts of Lopez’s cinematic baby while offering fans something new. 

“As Adam was taking care of his health, he asked [festival legacy director] Peter [Kuplowsky] to continue the legacy of the festival that he had worked for almost two decades to establish,” Bovoletis tells YourCityWithIN. 

“He [Lopez] did such an incredible job building what the festival has been for almost two decades, building a very dedicated fan base, a very dedicated audience that returns year after year. We had a really great response to our first festival back last year, and this year, as we continue moving forward, we want to always honour the legacy of what Adam has established for the festival while also expanding it into some new and exciting directions as well.” 

Late TADFF founder Adam Lopez, from his official Facebook page

This year, TADFF, which will run from Oct. 14 to 18 at the Scotiabank Theatre, will showcase 14 features and 33 short films and, for the first time, offer new late-night programming featuring more “esoteric and experimental” titles. 

While most films will screen at the Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond St. W), the late-night series will screen at the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre’s CineCycle (129 Spadina Avenue).

Bovoletis says that as part of the new series, three films–Matapanki by Chilean director Diego “Mapache” Fuentes, My Love For You is Deep, But the Devil Loves Me Deeper by director Casey Donahue, and No Longer Humans by Toronto filmmaker Luca D’Andrea–will screen at midnight at CineCycle. 

“I think the films expand sort of the boundaries of what a genre festival can typically program and it was very exciting for us to be able to have a dedicated space where we can showcase stuff that is esoteric and that is experimental,” he says.

“It’s a new element for the festival this year that I’m very excited about.” 

Bovoletis describes Matapanki as an experimental film about a punk superhero whose powers require a boozy lift before kicking in to high gear, while My Love for You is Deep, but the Devil Loves Me Deeper is a low-budget, ‘deal with the devil’ film that works as a pastiche of 80s horror. 

No Longer Humans, he says, is an experimental queer love story that’s shot entirely on film and offers a unique DIY aesthetic. 

“ We’re starting off with these three films, but hopefully this is something that we can build and grow and include in further, further additions to the festival,” he says. 

While TADFF isn’t as famous as the Toronto International Film Festival and tends to follow the famed Fantasia International Film Festival (which takes place in Montreal every year and also focuses on genre titles), it has hosted its fair share of big-name provincial, national and world premieres. 

Festival organizers note that TADFF audiences have been among the first to see critically acclaimed horror and thriller films such as Let the Right One In, The Babadook, Trick ‘R Treat, Train to Busan, Black Dynamite and V/H/S. Like other festivals, TADFF has also welcomed local and international filmmakers to the stage to discuss their films, with directors such as Eli Roth (Hostel), Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger), and Ti West (V/H/S) appearing at previous festivals. 

While he can’t yet say exactly who to expect at this year’s festival, Bovoletis confirmed that both Donahue and D’Andrea will be there for their late-night programme screenings. 

While the festival has had to regain its footing in the wake of Lopez’s death, Bovoletis says the core principle of designing TADFF’s programming with the audience in mind has remained central to organizing the lineup. 

One welcome challenge, he says, is tracking changes and shifts in the audience’s tastes and expectations. 

“We can make our best guesses as to how people are going to respond, but you never really know until you’re actually there sitting with the crowd and feeling what they’re feeling in the audience,” he says.

“You know, if it’s an action film, are we getting really satisfying action sequences that are maybe delivering choreography that’s unique that they haven’t seen before? If we’re showing a slasher film, does this film have creative kills that our audience hasn’t seen before? Because our audience is an intelligent audience who has seen thousands and thousands of genre films.”

Bovoletis says a committee ultimately chooses the films, and it receives submissions from about 1,000 filmmakers a year. 

“We try to think, ‘What is this doing that’s sort of playing into what we know and love about this given genre, but also delivering it in a unique and satisfying way?’ I think our lineup does that,” he tells YourCityWithIN.

For Bovoletis and his team, the task at hand requires pushing boundaries while maintaining the mood and allure of a festival so deeply and lovingly shaped by the passion of a founder who is missed by so many, 

“I think of it as an opportunity to really honour what [Lopez] has [done] with our lineup, doing something that I think he would be happy with. In one sense it’s a challenge, but it’s also exciting,” he says. 

Another challenge isn’t just maintaining Lopez’s vision; it’s also keeping audiences coming into the theatre–especially when streaming has become almost the de rigueur way to take in a genre film. 

“ How do you make people want to leave the comfort of their home and experience a film in a theatre? The way that we try to do that is to provide an experience that you can’t really get at home and I think part of that is the community that surrounds the festival,” he says.

“We have a really dedicated audience who sells out our passes every year and is excited to congregate and to discuss the films.”

Much like other festivals, the community component is part and parcel of the overall experience and this year, organizers will host an opening night party at Escape Manor, as well as subsequent ‘Pub After Dark’ events over TADFF’s five-day run. 

“With the festival, we try to provide an experience that you can’t really get at home. You can’t really get that communal movie-watching experience. You might see the movies, but the festival is more than just the movies. It’s the community that surrounds the movies.” 

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Cover photo is a still from Species, courtesy of TADFF’s official website