Mickey Reece met Dustin Sanchez in the ninth grade, and the two wasted no time pursuing their mutual interests in the arts. Over the course of their 29-year friendship, they created six full-length albums, twelve feature films, and more than forty short films together.
Before his tragic passing in August of last year, Dustin traveled to Mexico for an undetermined length of time and gave Mickey most of what he couldn’t take with him. His belongings were fairly organized into several tubs, and there wasn’t much Dustin was sad to leave behind—except for one tub he specifically asked Mickey to keep safe, no matter what. There were occasional phone calls over the four to five months that followed, and everything seemed mostly normal. Then came the day Mickey was told there would be no more movies, no more albums, no more laughs, and no more ideas. In mourning this immense loss, he eventually opened the tub Dustin had been so concerned about and discovered every short film, every feature, and every piece of recorded music the two had created together since they first met at age fourteen.
This discovery is the reason for this retrospective: A Tribute to Dustin Sanchez. On January 16, 2026, at 7:00 PM, the evening will open with Children of the Lord (1998), a twenty-minute short on VHS that has never been shown publicly. It will be followed by Dustin’s most acclaimed performance in Tarsus (2013). A Q&A, moderated by TIFF Midnight Madness Programmer, Peter Kuplowsky with Mickey Reece and surprise guests will follow, before the final feature of the evening: Knights of Malice (2012), a film that not only stars Dustin in the leading role but also credits him as co-writer alongside Reece. All screenings are first-come, first-serve pay-what-you-can admission.
With your written permission, you may also be featured in a film project that blurs the line between fiction and reality, shooting simultaneously during the three-night retrospective.
Genre: Drama (Tarsus); Drama (Knights of Malice)
Runtime: 20m (Children of the Lord); 89m (Tarsus); 71m (Knights of Malice)
Rating: NR (Children of the Lord, Tarsus); R (Knights of Malice)