The Archivists - A Transfigure Films Production
Transfigure Films celebrated the world premiere of director Dallas Harvey’s sci-fi body-horror short The Archivists at Toronto’s Blood in the Snow Film Festival (BITS) in November 2025.
The film screened on November 18, 2025, at Toronto’s Isabel Bader Theatre as part of the festival’s Monsters & Martians program, a 95-minute showcase dedicated to Canadian science-fiction short films. The program was described by the festival as “a collection of the finest sci-fi shorts from this planet—or any other.”
For Harvey and Transfigure Films, the screening marked an important milestone for The Archivists, bringing the film to a Toronto audience for the first time as part of one of Canada’s established showcases for independent genre filmmaking.
A Dark Collision of Science Fiction and Body Horror
Running 7½ minutes, The Archivists follows a desperate agent who becomes host to a parasitic alien relic while a secretive doctor and his assistant race to prevent a potentially world-ending catastrophe.
The film combines Lovecraftian science fiction, body horror, creature effects and practical makeup FX within a tightly contained genre story.
Written and directed by Dallas Harvey, The Archivists reflects Harvey’s background in both filmmaking and practical special effects. Through Transfigure Films and DHFX Studio, his work brings those disciplines together, developing genre projects in which practical creature, prosthetic and makeup effects are incorporated directly into the storytelling and visual design.
The short stars Miles Wilkinson and Andre Rehal, with cinematography by Kirk Gilchrist, editing by Matt Sipple, and key makeup by Natasha Klock.
Monsters & Martians
The Monsters & Martians program showcased a collection of Canadian science-fiction shorts exploring extraterrestrial threats, strange worlds, creatures and darker genre concepts.
Screening The Archivists as part of the program placed the film within Blood in the Snow’s broader celebration of Canadian independent science fiction, horror and genre filmmaking.
The 2025 Blood in the Snow Film Festival took place November 17–22 at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto, presenting six days of Canadian horror, science fiction, fantasy and genre filmmaking.
From Short Film to a Larger World
The world premiere also represents another step in the continuing development of The Archivists universe.
What began as a contained sci-fi body-horror short has provided the foundation for a larger feature-film concept currently being developed by Harvey and Transfigure Films, expanding the mythology, characters and extraterrestrial threat introduced in the original film.
The Blood in the Snow premiere gave audiences their first look at that world on the big screen and marked the beginning of The Archivists’ festival journey.
For Transfigure Films, the project represents the company’s continued focus on developing bold horror, science-fiction and practical FX-driven genre cinema from Vancouver for Canadian and international audiences.
THE ARCHIVISTS
Written & Directed by Dallas Harvey
A Transfigure Films Production
World Premiere — Blood in the Snow Film Festival
Monsters & Martians: Sci-Fi Shorts Program
November 18, 2025 — Toronto, Canada
Blood In The Snow 2025
