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Genre Gems Film Festival

@genre_gems

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Genre Gems is a five-day film festival based in Ottawa that showcases the very best in genre cinema. The festival runs from October 1st to 5th, 2025.
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#throwbackthursday to our closing night celebrations from exactly one year ago, when we screened the Ontario Premiere of Bi Gan’s Resurrection. We invited our signal film director @crescendoangst who brought his talented cast into town for one last ride at the movies 🍿 Fun Fact: Our screening of Resurrection screened nearly simultaneously with the New York Film Festival premiere, which started 45 minutes before our screening. It was also our busiest screening at the festival; starting on a late Sunday night. We are so proud of our audience who joined us on that eventful October evening for a moving celebration of cinema 💕 Genre Gems will return on November 13th to November 15th. Our official programme launch will occur on Halloween. Mark your calendars, we are very much back despite our hiatus 🫡 📷 by @arbothegr8resu taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
9
a day ago
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{CLOSED} TORONTO FANS! We’re giving away a pair of tickets to catch the Toronto Premiere of the Genre Gems Official Selection Buffet Infinity at this year’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival. The screening will take place on Wednesday, November 19th at 9:30 PM EST at the Isabel Bader Theatre. TO ENTER: 1️⃣ Follow @genre_gems and @bitsfilmfest on Instagram 2️⃣ Like this post 3️⃣ Tag a friend who loves genre cinema! Giveaway closes Tuesday, November 18th at 12PM ET. #toronto #torontofilm #torontofilmfestival #giveaway #torontogiveaway #buffetinfinity #genregems #genregems2025 #bloodinthesnowfilmfestival taken in Isabel Bader Theatre by @genre_gems
6
a year ago
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TONIGHT, ONLY AT THE MAYFAIR: The Ottawa Premiere of Gabriel Mascaro’s triumphant road movie The Blue Trail screens at 9:30 PM tonight. Don’t let the snowy forecast deter you from experiencing one of the year’s brightest hidden gems at the glorious @mayfairtheatre 💎 #ottawa #ottawathingstodo #ottawaevents taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
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a year ago
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#throwbackthursday to our opening night celebrations from earlier this month, when we screened the electrifying Canadian feature @deadloverfilm with Valerie Barnhart’s mythology-busting romance @what.the.hell.movie 🍁 A Divine Comedy: What the Hell will be available to stream on the NFB website (@onf_nfb) starting tomorrow, on Halloween 🎃 📷 by @arbothegr8 taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
0
a year ago
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After a technical difficulty at our festival, we’re happy to announce our rescheduled date for our screening of The Blue Trail. On Sunday, November 9th at 9:30 PM, join us at the Mayfair Theatre for an unforgettable dystopian road-movie that’s simultaneously life-affirming and unforgettable. This year’s Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize Winner at the Berlin Film Festival tells the story of a septuagenarian’s defiance against state authority. Don’t miss out on this visually stunning hidden gem from one of Brazil’s most renowned filmmakers. Complete our road-movie quadrilogy with the unmissable The Blue Trail 🇧🇷 Ticketing Information TBA 🎟️ by @genre_gems
0
a year ago
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In the great tradition of Thanksgiving celebrations, we’d like to share our humble regards to all the people who supported Genre Gems over the last few months. Thank you to all of our participating filmmakers, distributors, and sales agents, who allowed us to screen high-profile films at our first-time edition! Thank you to our programming team, composed of @ticktockanimate, @etorfine, @itskassywithak, @moviesruinedmylife, @coldroomheady, and @gabe__sousa. Thank you to our on-site team, composed of @s.ilvana, @instablowyomind, @cns7nz, Markus Lemme, and @itahokow. Thank you to our generous friends of the festival who promoted our event. To @affinityproductiongroup, @insideoutfestival, @ottawafilmoffice, @canadianfilminstitute, and @tadfilmfest — we love and appreciate you all! Thank you to our volunteers, @superficial.storm and Lucy Sinclair. Thank you to @lee_demarbre and the entire @mayfairtheatre staff for letting us host Genre Gems at your beautiful cinema. Thank you to @winstonhacking for designing our electrifying poster and @crescendoangst_ for directing our iconic signal film! And most importantly, thank you to all our pass-holders and ticket holders who attended our historic inaugural edition. Without you guys, there wouldn’t be a festival! Genre Gems will return.... Dates TBA! #ottawa #ottawathingstodo #ottawafilm #ottawalife taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
8
a year ago
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Genre Gems is thrilled to present the definitive director's cut of our 2025 signal film. After a successful inaugural edition, Chiu's iconic 2-minute short film won over the hearts of Ottawa audiences during the sixteen-screening event. Today, we're honoured to present the complete vision of his project, in collaboration with the Montreal-based comic-book shop @1000000comixmtl. Directed by Terry Chiu Co-created by Henri Gillespi Adam Honigman Joshua Lai Cole Paquet Produced by David Cuevas We’ve long admired Terry Chiu's underground filmography. After premiering his debut feature, Mangoshake, at the Vancouver International Film Festival, Chiu returned to do-it-yourself micro-budget filmmaking with his expansive three-hour opus Open Doom Crescendo. Since its release, the ambitious film has garnered a cult-audience at underground screenings and festivals around the globe. “This marks an earlier-than-imagined return to filmmaking [along with a segment in Adam Thorn’s upcoming FARCES OF DEATH 2], told in a format closer to 2 minutes, rather than 2 hours 55 minutes," says Terry Chiu. "I grew up around comic book shops and VHS rental stores. I was never an expert on any comics title or genre of cinema, but being a part of these spaces was palpably formative to my geek passion. 1000000 Comix has, since my childhood, been and still is to this day my most cherished pop culture space, and I’m grateful that the store and its owners, Frank and Emilio, are still going decades later. I hope to give back with this signal film, showcasing this iconic local business, and help bring new customers and fans to 1000000 Comix." In an earlier press release, Terry touched upon why the signal film was so personal to him: "These last few years have resulted in constant exposure to gatekeeping, alienation from my peers, and doubts about continuing creatively. I loathe edgelord complicity. I loathe hipster passivity. I loathe vogue cynicism. I loathe virtue signalling, hypocrisy, and the black hole where non-performative sincerity used to be. May this signal film be a calling to creative resistance.” The first edition of Genre Gems ran from October 1st to 5th, 2025. by @genre_gems
23
a year ago
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The reviews are in ✨ There were so many diary entries to choose from, but here’s a sample of our favourite audience reactions, written by YOU GUYS 🫵 the attendees of Genre Gems 2025. Don’t forget to tag us in your @letterboxd entries 🧡💚🩵 by @genre_gems
2
a year ago
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Thank you to all our generous patrons who picked up their physical media this weekend and participated in our Criterion Fundraiser! Without your support, we wouldn’t have been able to run our inaugural edition. For Toronto Pickups/Shipping orders, we’re working on your orders right now! Please check your email inbox for updates. Thank you to everyone who participated in our fundraiser! We look forward to inviting you all to the Genre Gems Film Festival next year. taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
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a year ago
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The final day of Genre Gems is now upon us, and we have a magnetic slate of meta-movies in store. First up is Fil Freitas’ The Regulars, a Kevin Smith-esque hangout comedy set completely in the historic Prince Charles Cinema. At 1:30 PM, we have The Ice Tower, an atmospheric mood-piece by the great French filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović that combines a glacial coming-of-age narrative with a foreboding tale about the dangers of stardom. In the mood for batshit insanity? Radu Jude’s Dracula is the film for you! Don’t miss out on this sardonic takedown of artificial intelligence, that boldly exorcises the iconography of its titular fanged protagonist. From the same people who brought you The Wolf House, The Hyperboreans is the sophomore feature from Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña. Combining pixilation, puppets, and stop-motion into an idiosyncratic fusion, this boundary-pushing feature is an enchanting exploration of our collective negligence towards understanding political history. And finally, we’re finishing our festival with a bang! Bi Gan’s transcendent Resurrection is an indescribable and boundary-pushing cinematic experience; an unmissable film about dreams, 20th century cinema, and the power of the moving image. 🎞️ by @genre_gems
3
a year ago
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Announcing our inaugural Midnight Mystery Movie: Grand Ciel (2025) Dir. Akihiro Hata Told exquisitely through its brooding atmosphere, this working-class horror brilliantly utilises its insatiable atmosphere and supernatural suspense to punctuate its survival-of-the-fittest narrative. Grand Ciel is a piercingly relevant horror that effectively borrows tropes from its genre to produce an insightful commentary on neoliberalism and the pitfalls of late-stage capitalism. We’re honoured to host Grand Ciel at this year’s festival, as part of our vanguard visionaries program. Come on out for one more day of great programming; lots of bold new visions are in store! taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
1
a year ago
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Tonight. Only at Genre Gems 🇪🇸 taken in Mayfair Theatre by @genre_gems
1
a year ago
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