From THE LIAISON OF INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS OF TORONTO (LIFT):
Toronto, January 21, 2026—In December, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT), in partnership with the Screen Industry Training Hub (SITHub), announced a new training initiative for 2026 funded by the Canada Media Fund (CMF). We are pleased to announce that the Call for Applications is now open!
The Virtual Production Storytelling with Unreal Engine program is an intensive 36-hour training initiative scheduled over an eight week period from March to April 2026. This program is structured to educate ten (10) Ontario-based independent creators from equity-deserving groups on the leading-edge creative workflows and tools in Unreal Engine. Using a hybrid model, the program will deliver a comprehensive curriculum that incorporates practical training, live labs, mentorship, guest speaker presentations and an in-studio experience.
Each week filmmakers will explore the workflow with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 5.7 to learn the fundamental tools and techniques used to create short previsualization or animated films. Using real-time tools, this hands-on training will introduce and mentor students to the concepts of visualizing their scripts using high quality virtual environments, digital characters and animation to bring their stories to life.
Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, Fortnite’s online video game platform developer. It has since been used in a variety of genres of games and adopted by other industries, most notably the film and television industry for Virtual Production.
With UE, filmmakers have unprecedented creative control with 3D assets and developer tools that they can reuse across every phase of pre-production and production. The toolset allows artists to build stunning photoreal sets or uniquely stylized worlds, create compelling digital characters, visualize and block scenes, animate characters and cinematics, explore versions through editing and power entire productions from first concept to finished experience.
Because of the intensity of the project and the focus on supporting equity-seeking groups as outlined by the funder, interested participants need to apply in order to take part in this initiative. Once selected, participants will be sent a registration confirmation form and a payment form.
Cost:
– It is free to apply to the program,
– If selected for the program, the registration fee is $500.00 CAD.
– Additionally, non-members are required to join LIFT as an individual member. (Information about the various levels online at https://lift.ca/lift-membership)
Deadline: Monday, February 2, 2026 at 10:00am ET