R.I.P. Adam Lopez – 1972-2025

The Toronto film community lost one of its own yesterday when Adam Lopez, founder of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, passed away at the age of 52. Lopez had been battling Stage IV cancer of the head and throat since 2021. Initially given only a year to live, Lopez defied all odds and went into remission enough to appear at the 2022 and 2023 editions of Toronto After Dark. However, the cancer began to worsen last year, resulting in the festival’s postponement and Adam Lopez stepping down as Festival Director.

An immigrant from London, England, Adam Lopez founded Toronto After Dark in 2006 as the Toronto equivalent of Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival. The festival was a stepping stone for Canadian genre filmmakers, including Steven Kostanski and Jesse Thomas Cook. Toronto After Dark was also the first programming job for Peter Kuplowski, who would use the job as a stepping stone to become TIFF’s Midnight Madness Programmer. Kuplowski was also the one assigned to take over as the “Legacy Director” for the 2025 Edition of Toronto After Dark.

I began attending Toronto After Dark with one screening each year, seeing Trick ‘r Treat in 2009 and The Last Exorcism in 2010. The number of films would increase to three in 2011 and in 2012, Toronto After Dark become one of the first film festivals to grant me a press pass. It was during this time that I started getting to know Adam Lopez personally. He was a man who always appreciated the writing of independent film bloggers like myself, and even as Toronto After Dark had to slim down press accreditation allowance, I was always one to be invited back to cover the film festival.

My friendship with Adam Lopez continued when I first decided to make the trip a decade ago to attend the Fantasia Film Festival. Fantasia was always one the main places where Toronto After Dark programmers, including Lopez and Justin McConnell, would go and scout films for the October festival. Adam Lopez always appreciated my feedback on what films would be good fits for Toronto After Dark, which I continued to give, even after his cancer fight prevented him from making the trip himself.

The last five years was a struggle for both Adam Lopez and Toronto After Dark. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of both the 2020 and 2021 editions of Toronto After Dark, with the 2021 edition occurring virtually. Soon afterwards, Adam Lopez received his cancer diagnosis, and despite only being given a year to live, he committed himself to trying any method he could find to treat his cancer, often posting updates on social media. However, despite his health improving enough to return to Toronto After Dark in 2022 and 2023, things began to take a turn for the worse last summer. By the end of last year, Adam Lopez had lost the ability to speak, and the question was when, not if, his time on Earth would come to an end.

@skonmovies

R.I.P. to #AdamLopez. The #TorontoAfterDark Film Festival will not be the same without him. #Toronto #TorontoFilm #TADFilmFest #TADFF

♬ original sound – Sean Patrick Kelly 🇨🇦

Before the closing night screening of the 2023 Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Adam Lopez received a standing ovation from the crowd as he was preparing to begin what would turn out to be his final round of chemotherapy. Even though it would turn out not to be the case, Adam Lopez was still optimistic that he was going to beat his cancer and return for Toronto After Dark in 2024. Instead, this would turn out to be the final edition of Toronto After Dark that Adam Lopez would attend.

It has been a full day since Adam Lopez’s passing, and I am still trying to process it. It happens to be the eve of my 43rd birthday today, and it makes me reflect on my mortality that someone only a decade my senior can be taken away one month before his 53rd birthday. Adam Lopez is survived by his wife Maria and daughter Zoë, and I will conclude this obituary by sharing the tribute video I made yesterday.

See You After Dark, Adam