TIFF leaders are taking a big swing with a new dedicated film marketplace. Here’s how this ambitious project could pay off

When the lights dim inside cinemas at the Toronto International Film Festival beginning Sept. 10, another side of the movie business will be shining brightly just a few blocks away.

Thousands of international film and TV creators, financiers and distributors will descend on the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Thursday for the inaugural edition of TIFF: The Market, a high-stakes attempt to give the festival a new revenue stream by formalizing the business of buying, selling and financing films that has been happening alongside the public movie-going for decades.