After a long buildup, Toronto has finally launched an official market, called, straightforwardly, TIFF: The Market, which runs alongside North America’s biggest film festival from Sept. 10-16.
In typically Canadian fashion, TIFF’s plans are both modest and boldly ambitious. Alongside a core finished film market, TIFF will feature opportunities for presales, co-financing and packaging, and include television as well as interactive projects and games. But market boss Charles Tremblay has made it clear Toronto is not setting up as a direct competitor to the AFM in November, or global TV confab MIPCOM in Cannes in October.
TIFF: The Market is looking to be something for everyone, and its freshman year will be a time for experimentation. A variety of projects at various stages of production with different financing and distribution strategies will be pitching at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to see how the market responds and how TIFF’s industry event evolves. International auteurs (Werner Herzog, Malgorzata Szumowska) will set up alongside new projects from actors turned filmmakers (Courteney Cox, Tim Blake Nelson) and blockbuster directors slumming in the indie world (we’re looking at you, Zack Snyder). Art house fare mixed together with commercial genre plays, political documentaries next to indie animation.
