Cabbagetown Short Film Festival

Overview

Since 1992, the festival has grown from a funky local event to a beloved celebration of the outstanding shorts from across Canada and around the world. The Cabbagetown Short Film Festival selects a diverse program of productions from both experienced and emerging filmmakers. A panel of industry professionals juries the entries and cash prizes are awarded in each category including comedy, drama, animation, documentary and Peoples Choice. Smartphone Films is a new and exciting category. In addition to streaming the program across Canada, September 10-12, 2026, there will be a Gala Screening at the 200 seat Central YMCA Auditorium, in Toronto on Wednesday September 9, 2026.

Last updated Sep 17, 2026

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• Filmmaker

  A wonderful film festival and many thanks to festival for selecting an d screening my animated short film The Music Box!

• Filmmaker

  We thoroughly enjoyed attending Cabbagetown Short Film Festival. Gina Dineen put together a program with a good variety of films which engaged and entertained the sold out audience. It felt like a true community event in the heart of Cabbagetown.

• Filmmaker

  I love this festival. It's always sold out and Gina's selection of shorts in every genre from all over the world never fails to be entertaining and enlightening. I was so pleased to be part of the program.

• Filmmaker

  It was so amazing to be included at this festival of a closely knit community. The other films I watched were also so diverse and amazing and the crowd was great too! Dina was great in communicating and making the experience so great, she introduced me and other filmmakers to the audience who were interested about learning more and asked questions to me during the intermission. I loved it!

• Filmmaker

  SOMETHING POINTLESS played in the main auditorium at the YMCA on Grosvenor to a packed house. What struck me was the audience — welcoming, genuinely passionate about short film, and there for the whole programme rather than just for their own slot. The selection was diverse and well curated across documentary, animation and live action, and festival director/founder, Gina Dineen, introduced every film herself with real care and enthusiasm. That sounds like a small thing. It isn't. It sets the tone for how a room receives the work, and you could feel it. The intermission deserves its own mention: free pizza, a modestly priced cash bar and a room full of filmmakers and audience members actually talking to one another. Some of the best conversations I've had on the circuit this year happened standing in that queue. Filmmakers in attendance were recognized on stage at the end of the evening, which is a generous gesture and one plenty of larger festivals don't trouble themselves with. Between Gina, the jury's selection and the audience itself, you leave feeling celebrated rather than processed. Over thirty years in, Cabbagetown knows exactly what it is and does it extremely well. Recommended without hesitation.

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