{"id":894139,"date":"2026-09-13T11:24:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T11:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894139\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T11:24:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T11:24:20","slug":"hamilton-film-board-throws-first-ever-party-at-toronto-international-film-festival-to-celebrate-local-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/894139\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton Film Board throws first ever party at Toronto International Film Festival to celebrate local industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time ever, the Hamilton Film Board is throwing a party at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year, to show off the city’s talent for making movies.<\/p>\n

The Hamilton House Party is “long overdue,” says Christopher Giroux, a Hamilton-based filmmaker and founding president of the Hamilton Film Board. He says Hamilton’s eligibility for a provincial regional film tax incentive helps draw filmmakers to the area, but it’s not the only reason.<\/p>\n

“I think we’re a really tight-knit, supportive, creative community,” he says. “Hamilton can be a city, it can be countryside, it can be by the water. It really does work for so many different types of movies.”<\/p>\n

According to the Hamilton Film Office, film and television production has grown in the city over the last two years.<\/p>\n

Hamilton hosted 139 productions in 2024, generating over $59.9 million in production spending. In 2025, 158 productions took place in the city, bringing in just over $80 million. And in the first half of 2026, 86 productions brought in over $32.2 million.<\/p>\n

Devon Hogue is a business development consultant in Hamilton’s creative industries. She says that Hamilton has been a strong contributor to the Ontario film scene for over a decade.<\/p>\n

“In Hamilton, we haven’t always been the best at tooting our horn and celebrating our industry wins,” says Hogue. “It’s one of the reasons we are so excited for the Hamilton Film Board activation at TIFF\u2026 it gives us that opportunity to promote Hamilton’s industry strengths to an international audience.”<\/p>\n

TIFF the perfect setting for industry gatherings<\/p>\n

In addition to the usual screenings and parties, this year’s festival will be the first to include the new TIFF: The Market, a place for industry to “buy, sell, finance, pitch, and discover great content.”<\/p>\n

Of the films screening at TIFF this year, four were filmed in Hamilton: Back in Black, In the Heart of the South, Neverman and YAGA.<\/p>\n

Giroux says he is looking forward to seeing producers, distributors, acting studio professionals, actors, agents and more familiar faces from the industry at the event.<\/p>\n

The Hamilton Film Board has also been trying to get the attention of notable Hamilton alumni Eugene Levy and Martin Short through a series of social media posts. The actors have yet to respond.<\/p>\n

Short was born in Hamilton in 1950, and Levy in 1946. They performed together on legendary Canadian comedy show SCTV and have had remarkable careers in television and movies. In an excerpt from Short’s memoir published in Vanity Fair, the comedian recalled the push from Levy<\/a> he got while studying social work at McMaster University to give show business a shot.<\/p>\n

“It’s just to bring people in the room together, whether you’re from Hamilton or you’re international or Canadian, to kind of have a place where you can network,” Giroux says.<\/p>\n

The Hamilton House Party will take place on Sept. 14 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at The Ballroom on John Street in Toronto. Online registration is required.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A scene from Neverman, which was also shot in Hamilton. (TIFF)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time ever, the Hamilton Film Board is throwing a party at the Toronto International Film…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,309716,309717,3302,13853],"class_list":["post-894139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-hamilton-film-board","tag-the-hamilton-house-party","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}