Streetcars pass by TIFF Lightbox on King Street in Toronto on May 15, 2024.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
As the Toronto International Film Festival prepares for the launch of its official content market in 2026, organizers on Friday announced the formation of its global advisory committee, which will provide essential guidance as TIFF builds the landmark initiative.
Seven entertainment-industry leaders have been named to the committee: four from Canada (Elevation Pictures co-president Noah Segal, Rhombus Media’s Niv Fichman, Indigenous Screen Office CEO Kerry Swanson, Quebec producer Monique Simard); two from France (acquisitions and distribution executive Vincent Maraval, industry consultant Jérôme Paillard); and one from the United States (Roeg Sutherland, co-head of media finance at Hollywood agency CAA). Additional members are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, with the goal of representing other key international markets, including Asia.
The news was revealed on the second day of the Berlinale film festival, which runs parallel to the European Film Market (EFM), an annual hotbed of buying and selling that TIFF aspires to recreate every September in Toronto.
“We have the building blocks, but there’s a lot we could use advice on in terms of not just what we’re going to do, but how we do it,” says TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey. “What do the major U.S. sales companies need most from a market going forward? What does the international contingent want? We hope to land about a dozen people, to meet about four times a year for very targeted conversations.”
The 2026 market – which will come complete with all-new infrastructure, from staff to venues – is made possible thanks to a $23-million investment over three years from the federal government. That figure represents the single-largest government source of funding that TIFF has received since its campaign to build its Lightbox headquarters, which opened in 2010.
“We’re thinking about the government money as a start-up investment – it can get the market up on its feet, but it will not sustain it for the long term,” says Bailey, who adds that TIFF is looking to the private global screens sector and provincial and municipal levels of government for increased revenue streams for the event, which the festival hopes will double the number of industry delegates who visit Toronto every September.
There are still open questions as to how timing will affect the market. TIFF’s committee announcement arrives just a few weeks after the Sundance Film Festival delivered a rather soft sales environment, with many distributors currently in contraction mode. Meanwhile, TIFF will have to reckon with whatever the future holds for the November-timed American Film Market, which moved to Las Vegas last year after spending decades in Santa Monica, Calif., to mixed results.
“Everyone is looking for reliable indicators in terms of how the industry is looking and feeling now, but they’re not always easy to come by,” says Bailey, who is also in the midst of preparing for TIFF’s 50th anniversary edition this September. “But the people who have been doing this for years are incredibly resilient and incredibly adaptable. I expect the EFM to be strong, and you have to look closer at the marketplaces in Asia: Filmart in Hong Kong, the market in Busan. But we all need to be super nimble.”
As to whether that nimbleness can extend to the continuing threat of U.S. tariffs, Bailey is as optimistic as anyone in the industry can be. At the moment, any government action is being directed at goods but not services, the latter area where the film and television sector mostly operates.
“There are concrete things to look for in terms of indicators and then there are more ‘vibes’ questions, for lack of a better word,” says Bailey. “When there’s a contraction of engagement with the rest of the world and nationalism begins to rise up, that can have both positive and negative impacts. I hope this means that we’re going to watch more Canadian movies, but we can never forget how deeply Canada and the U.S. are both embedded in the industry. We’re stronger together when we’re not talking about walls.”