TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The 'Toronto International Film Festival' ('TIFF') is a prestigous, publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, 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 23 screens in downtown Toronto venues.
The TIFF is widely considered one of the top two 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 more useful and more important...." It is the premiere film festival in North America, from which the Oscars race begins, and the world's largest festival open to the general public.[1]
The festival is centred around the Bay and Bloor area, a part of town with several luxury hotels and movie theatres. Although the Festival has begun to give more attention to mainstream Hollywood films, it still maintains its independent roots. It features retrospectives of national cinemas and individual directors, highlights of Canadian cinema, and a variety of African, South American, and Asian films.
The festival is considered a launch pad for many studios to begin "Oscar-buzz" for their films; for example, 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).
The Director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival, since 1994, is Piers Handling. In 2004, Noah Cowan became Co-Director of the festival. This began a three-year transition period after which Piers Handling will relinquish the directorship to focus on his role as Festival CEO.

Contents

History

Particular years

External links

References

History

TIFF, known originally as "The Festival of Festivals", was founded in 1976 at the Windsor Arms Hotel.^[1] It began as a collection of the best films from festivals around the world. It has since, through consistent investment and promotion by its organizers and sponsors, grown to become a vital component of Hollywood's marketing machine.
Many notable films have had their global 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'', and ''Crash''.
In 2001, Perspective Canada, the program that had focused on Canadian films since 1984, was replaced by two programs:

★ Canada First!, a forum for Canadian filmmakers presenting their first feature-length work, featuring eight to 15 films, and

★ Short Cuts Canada, which includes 30-40 Canadian short films.
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 2007, TIFF was named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean's magazine, the only arts group in Canada to receive this honour.^[2]
In 2007, the Festival Group will begin construction on a new facility at the corner of King and John Streets in downtown Toronto (on land donated by Ivan Reitman and family). Opening in late 2009, 'Bell Festival Centre (working title)' will provide extensive year-round galleries, cinemas, archives and activities for cinephiles.

Particular years

★ 2007 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2005 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2004 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2003 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2002 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2001 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 2000 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 1999 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 1998 Toronto International Film Festival

★ 1997 Toronto International Film Festival

External links

★ Toronto International Film Festival official festival site

★ TIFFG Toronto International Film Festival Group official site

★ Bell Lightbox (Festival Centre) - breaking ground in 2007, opening in 2009

★ TOfilmfest.ca - list of 2007 films, links to reviews, sortable by star-rating

★ tiffreviews.com - the online meeting place for fans of TIFF

★ TIFF coverage @ TheGATE.ca

★ Toronto Film Festival coverage on DigitalHit.com

★ FilmFest.ca - Daily coverage at Filmfest.ca

★ Celebrity Restaurants - From Dine.TO

★ CBC TIFF 2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Film Festival Coverage

★

★ "The terrors of TIFF"

★ TIFF 2007 full coverage @ AOL Canada

★ CBC Digital Archives - Front Row Centre: The Toronto International Film Festival

References

1. CTV News
2. Reasons for Selection, 2007 Canada's Top 100 Employers