ActionFest, the first and only festival devoted exclusively to championing the action genre, announced on May 13th, that Colin Geddes, programmer at the Toronto International Film Festival best known for curating the popular Midnight Madness selection, will be taking the post of Festival Director. The position is effective immediately in preparation for next year's ActionFest, April 7th-10th, 2011, to be held once again in Asheville, NC.

Geddes, a longtime fixture on the festival circuit, is a wide ranging mix of fan-boy talents: launched his own monthly curated series of action films, Kung Fu Fridays; amassed one of the largest private Asian collections of 35MM prints (recently donated to University of Toronto); published Asian Eye, the first North American zine dedicated exclusively to Hong Kong cinema Asian Eye; runs a successful alternative Canadian distribution arm, Ultra 8 Pictures; and is solely responsible for introducing superstar Tony Jaa to North America, securing the TIFF World Premiere of ONG BAK.

ActionFest founders Bill Banowsky and Aaron Norris both commented, "Colin Geddes is exactly the kind of passionate and experienced individual we need to take ActionFest to the next level. Our long term goal is to reinvent the film festival model and to evolve this festival and the ActionFest brand into all facets of action oriented content production and distribution."

Colin Geddes proclaims "I'm thrilled to be joining the ActionFest team and to explore the wide reaching definition of action in cinema. Our plan for next year is to knock people's notions of what film festivals are right off their shoulders with a cinematic roundhouse kick, and then blow them up for good measure."

The inaugural edition of ActionFest, launched earlier this year in April, was a resounding success.  The LA Times called it "a touch of Cannes, a touch of monster-truck rally."  The festival showcased 25 films from all over the world and enjoyed appearances from international superstar Chuck Norris, and multiple mind-blowing live demonstrations from Kinnie "The Rocketman" Gibson.  Other events included a historic panel of some of Hollywood's greatest stunt heroes, and the first ever Awards show dedicated to Action, dubbed the Action Oscars.

Geddes will report directly to Tom Quinn, one of the creators and Executive Director of ActionFest.  Geddes will continue his programming duties at TIFF.

About ActionFest

ActionFest was founded by Bill Banowsky, Aaron Norris and Dennis Berman. Tom Quinn is one of the creators and Executive Director of ActionFest.  For more information about ActionFest please follow us on twitter @actionfest, Facebook, or at www.actionfest.com.

About Colin Geddes

Colin Geddes is a Toronto-based film archivist, curator, writer and consultant, and since 1997 is well known for his role as one of the international programmers and hosts of Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival. At TIFF he has introduced new talent and hosted the premieres of films including Miike Takashi's Ichi The Killer; Johnnie To's Full Time Killer; Eli Roth's Cabin Fever and Hostel; Wilson Yip's SPL (Kill Zone) starring Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung and Pratchya Pinkaew's Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior. In addition, Geddes has one of North America's largest collections of Hong Kong cinema promotional materials, posters, and lobby cards and in July 2008, held an exhibit of fifty posters from the collection at the Cinémathèque Québécoise.

Geddes' additional programming and festival affiliations include Fantasia, Toronto After Dark, the Asian rep theatre Golden Classics Cinema, Cinematheque Ontario, Reel Asian Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, and has served on the juries of several international film festivals.