Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival logo
Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hosted by Toronto International Film Festival Group
Number of films 300 - 400
Language International
Official website

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is a publicly-attended non-competitive film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival begins the Thursday night after Labour Day (the first Monday in September in Canada) and lasts for ten days. Between 300-400 films are screened at approximately 37 screens in downtown Toronto venues. Total attendance at TIFF has exceeded 250,000 in the last few years, with figures from the most recent 2009 edition at 287,000 for public and industry admissions and a further 239,000 from the free programming scheduled at Yonge-Dundas Square.[1]

Founded in 1976, the TIFF is now one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. In 1998, Variety magazine acknowledged that "the Festival is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity." Quoted by the National Post in 1999, Roger Ebert claimed "...although Cannes is still larger, Toronto is just as great...." In 2007, Time noted that the festival had "grown from its place as the most influential fall film festival to the most influential film festival, period."[2] It is the premiere film festival in North America from which the Oscars race begins.

The festival is centred around the Yorkville neighbourhood, an upscale area in the downtown core.[3] The festival is known for the celebrity buzz it brings to the Yorkville area with international media setting up near its restaurants and stores for photos and interviews with the stars. With the Fall 2010 opening of the Bell Lightbox,[4] the festival's permanent home in the Entertainment District, it seems likely that the festival will increasingly spread out from its traditional centre to embrace other locations in the city.[5] Content-wise, though the festival has begun to give more attention to mainstream Hollywood films, it still maintains its focus on independent cinema. It features retrospectives of national cinemas and individual directors, highlights of Canadian cinema, as well as a variety of African, South American, and Asian films.

The festival is considered the launching pad for many studios to begin "Oscar-buzz" for their films due to the festival's easy-going non-competitive nature, relatively inexpensive costs (when compared to say European festivals), eager film-fluent audiences and convenient timing.[6][7][8] In recent years, films such as Taylor Hackford's Ray premiered at the festival and garnered much attention for Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles (for which he ultimately won the Academy Award for Best Actor); and Slumdog Millionaire, that went on to win 8 Oscars at the 2009 Academy Awards. Precious, which won the 2009 People's Choice Award at the festival, went on to win 2 Oscars at the 2010 Academy Awards.

The Director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival has been Piers Handling since 1994. In 2004, Noah Cowan became Co-Director of the Festival. In late 2007, Cowan was promoted to Artistic Director of Bell Lightbox, the Toronto International Film Festival Group's (TIFFG) future home, while long-time programmer Cameron Bailey succeeded as Co-Director.

Contents

History

Festival box office at the Manulife Centre in 2006

TIFF, known originally as "The Festival of Festivals", was founded in 1976 at the Windsor Arms Hotel.[9] It began as a collection of the best films from festivals around the world. Ironically in its inaugural year, Hollywood studios withdrew their submissions from the festival due to concerns that Toronto audiences would be too parochial for their products.[10] This did not seem to phase organizers as the festival concentrated on continuing to bring the best films from around the world. Through consistent investment and promotion by its organizers and sponsors, TIFF has also grown to become a vital component of Hollywood's marketing machine.

Many notable films have had their world or North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, including Chariots of Fire, The Big Chill, Husbands and Wives, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Downfall, American Beauty, Sideways, Crash, Antichrist and Up In The Air.

In 2001, Perspective Canada, the programme that had focused on Canadian films since 1984, was replaced by two programmes:

The TIFF Group occasionally polls critics, programmers, and industry professionals, asking them to identify their top 10 Canadian films. The TIFF Group has conducted three such polls, in 1984, 1993, and 2004.

In October 2008, TIFF Group was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. Later that month, TIFF Group was also named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper.[11]

In 2004, TIFF was featured as the site of murder mystery in the film Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, a comedy film starring Martin Short.

In 2007, the Festival Group began construction on the Bell Lightbox, a new facility at the corner of King and John Streets in downtown Toronto on land donated by Ivan Reitman and family. The facility is named for founding sponsor Bell Canada, with additional support from the Governments of Ontario and Canada. The facility will open in 2010 and will provide extensive year-round galleries, cinemas, archives and activities for cinephiles.

In 2009, TIFF's decision to spotlight, with financial support from the Israeli government, films from Tel Aviv created a controversy with protesters, saying it was part of an attempt to re-brand Israel[12] in a positive light after the January 2009 Gaza War.[13][14][15]

People's Choice Award

Given that the festival lacks a jury and is non-competitive, regular awards handed out at other festivals for categories such as "Best Actress" or "Best Film" do not exist at the Toronto International Film Festival. The major prize, the People's Choice Award, is given to a feature-length film with the highest ratings as voted by the festival-going populace.[16] The following list shows past winners:

Other Awards

The festival also presents seven other awards for People's Choice Best Documentary, People's Choice Best Midnight Madness film, Best Canadian Feature, Best Canadian First Feature, Best Canadian Short Film, FIPRESCI's Special Presentation Winner and FIPRESCI's Discovery Section Winner. The first two were inaugurated in the 2009 edition of the festival.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Toronto International Film Festival Sponsorship". September 2009. http://tiff.net/sponsorshipfiles/tiff-sponsorship.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-28. 
  2. ↑ Keegan, Rebecca Winters (August 2007). "Big-Screen Romance". Time (magazine). http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1657363,00.html/. Retrieved 2010-05-28. 
  3. ↑ Moran, Andrew (September 2009). "Yorkville the hot spot in Toronto during film festival". Digital Journal. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/279106. Retrieved 2010-05-29. 
  4. ↑ Adams, James (May 2010). "Largest TIFF theatre to be open for this year's festival". The Globe and Mail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/largest-tiff-theatre-to-be-open-for-this-years-festival/article1569901/?cmpid=rss1. Retrieved 2010-05-29. 
  5. ↑ Phaneuf, Ingrid (September 2008). "From car wash to new home of the stars". The Globe and Mail. http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080902.wprtiff02/BNStory/INGRID+PHANEUF. Retrieved 2010-05-29. 
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger (September 2008). "Starting off the season". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080904/FILMFESTIVALS03/809049995/-1/FILMFESTIVALS. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
  7. ↑ "TIFF unspools with celebrities eager to connect with fans". CTV. September 2009. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090908/TIFF_fans_090908?s_name=tiff2009&no_ads=. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
  8. ↑ Rich, Joshua (January 2005). "Fest intentions". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,695291,00.html. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
  9. ↑ Stavrou, Philip (September 2005). "Film Festival events return to their roots". CTVglobemedia. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050912/WindsorArms_20050912/20050912/. Retrieved 2008-07-19. 
  10. ↑ Sterritt, David (April 2010). "Film Festivals - Then and Now". FIPRESCI. http://www.fipresci.org/undercurrent/issue_0609/sterritt_festivals.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
  11. ↑ "Reasons for Selection, 2009 Canada's Top 100 Employers Competition". http://www.eluta.ca/top-employer-toronto-international-film-festival. 
  12. ↑ Brand Israel set to launch in GTA, Canadian Jewish News, August 21, 2009.
  13. ↑ TIFF focus on Tel Aviv draws protests. Globe and Mail. September 8, 2009.
  14. ↑ We don't feel like celebrating with Israel this year, Globe and Mail, September 10, 2009.
  15. ↑ Canadian director protests TIFF Tel Aviv spotlight, CBC News.
  16. ↑ Walmsley, Katie (September 2009). "Oprah flick 'Precious' wins top award at Toronto". CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/09/21/toronto.film.festival.wrap/. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 
  17. ↑ Knegt, Peter (September 2009). "'Precious' tops Toronto winners". Indiewire. http://www.indiewire.com/article/toronto_film_festival_award_winners/. Retrieved 2010-06-08. 

See Also

External links

Toronto International Film Festival

1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 · 1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010
FIAPF accredited film festivals
Competitive feature

Berlin · Cannes · Cairo · Karlovy Vary · Locarno · Mar del Plata · Moscow · Montreal · San Sebastian · Shanghai · Tokyo · Warsaw · Venice
Competitive specialized

Antalya · Bogota · Brussels · Cartagena · Courmayeur · Frankfurt · Ghent · Gijon · Goa · Istanbul · Jeonju · Kerala (Trivandrum) · Kiev · Los Angeles (AFI FEST) · Namur · Pusan (Busan) · Sarajevo · Setúbal · Sitges · Stockholm · Sydney · Tallinn · Thessaloniki · Turin · Valencia Jove · Valencia Mediterranean · Wiesbaden (goEast) · Wrocław
Non-competitive

Haugesund · Kolkata · London · Toronto · Vienna
Documentary and shorts

Bilbao · Krakow · Oberhausen · St. Petersburg · Tampere
Cinema of Canada

Films A–Z • Films by year • Animation • Comedy • Documentaries • Drama • Horror • LGBT • Sci-Fi • Short
Actors • Awards • Directors • Cinemas • Cinematographers • Composers • Critics • Editors • Festivals • Producers • Quebec • Schools • Screenwriters • Soundtracks