The Toronto Film Society was founded as "the Toronto Film Study Group" in 1948 by Dorothy and Oscar Burrit, and is one of Canada's oldest film appreciation societies. The "Summer Series" of film screenings the association presented began in a converted coachouse at 321 Church Street (the then home of photo agency Panda photography). The gorup was officially renamed the Toronto Film Society in 1950, and designated as a not for profit organization for the "study and apprecaition of film as an art". The original focus of the society was the screening of lesser known, non-commercial, independant, banned, or foreign films and eventually grew to include their preservation and restoration. As of 2013, the society ran serveral film screening series, showing films of all genres, produced from the 1920's to the 1960's, and membership was open to the general public.