News of the Festival closures comes shortly after Mongrel Media boss Hussein Amarshi and director Atom Egoyan took a step back from Camera, passing day-to-day management of their west-end bar/screening room to gallery owner and next-door neighbor Stephen Bulger.

"We found it quite difficult to manage, given our own businesses," says Amarshi, though he stressed Camera has not been sold.

The trendy nightspot opened in 2004 with a weekly schedule of small and experimental films. It stopped regular screenings in November.