Cameron Bailey, CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), at the TIFF Lightbox on May 6.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
The Toronto International Film Festival will launch what organizers say will be a “game-changing” official content market that will serve as the premiere North American hub for buying and selling screen-based projects across all platforms.
The initiative, which was announced by TIFF officials Thursday during the thick of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is made possible by commitments laid out in the latest federal budget, which pledged $23-million to the film organization over three years. That investment is the single-largest government source of funding that TIFF has received since its campaign to build its Lightbox headquarters, which opened in 2010.
Cameron Bailey, TIFF’s chief executive, has spent the past year lobbying all levels of government for the support, hoping that TIFF’s annual September festival can establish an official marketplace along the lines of the European Film Market, which runs parallel to the Berlin Film Festival, or the Marché du Film at Cannes.
“Whether you’re buying, selling, pitching or connecting, Toronto has long been a great place for the film industry to do business,” Bailey said in a statement. “As screen storytelling and how it reaches audiences evolve, we plan to grow the platform and the services we offer to professionals telling stories on every possible screen. We’ll bridge Canada’s advantages as a globally connected, North American nation with the exciting talent, ideas and resources cropping up all around the world.”
TIFF will spend the next two years building plans and developing infrastructure for the market, which will launch during the organization’s 51st edition in 2026.
“This market will be a game-changing catalyst for the international industry overall and will further drive the importance and economic value of not only TIFF’s work, but also of the entire cultural sector, within Canada and globally,” Anita Lee, TIFF’s chief programming officer, said in a statement. “It will enable us to champion Canadian content within the larger industry in an even more meaningful way.”
The 49th edition of TIFF runs Sept. 5 to 15.