TIFF 2019: Study Reveals Toronto Film Festival May Not Be a Blessing for Canadian Filmmakers

As the red carpet is rolled up for another year, Canadian filmmakers may wonder and wonder if the Toronto International Film Festival has raised their projects in the air – or just deflated them. Will this honorable mention by the jury of the prestigious Platform program, along with some critical reviews, maintain Kazik Radwanski's momentum? Anne at 13,000 feet? Albert Shin's thriller in Niagara Falls Clifton Hill The hope of a continuous international exposure based on the flashes of interest that emerged during the 11 days of the event? Will Atom Egoyan Guest of honor get enough mixed reviews here and at the Venice Film Festival to reach a Canadian audience?

TIFF 2019: Update – The latest Globe notes and reviews about film screening at the festival

A new study of the industrial and professional impact of TIFF raises such questions and reveals that the festival is not necessarily a blessing for Canadian film. The study was commissioned by TIFF, underwritten by Ontario Creates, the provincial funding agency for the cultural industry, and prepared by Olsberg SPI, British cultural consultant. The idea was to measure the impact of TIFF on the international and Canadian film industries. Preliminary results, compiled from TIFF statistics and interviews with 23 industry insiders, were shared with delegates at the closing of the festival.

There is a lot of good news. Research confirms that TIFF has been a pivotal event in the Hollywood calendar so far, fueling Ontario's growth as a center of film production. Each year, more than 5,000 types of industries participate in TIFF, more than a third of which are American. Canadians are a slightly smaller group (30%), the rest coming from other countries. For their business needs, the TIFF is considered a must, third in importance after Cannes and Berlin, and a crucial launch pad for fall as preparation for the winter price season seems to be moving earlier each year. Toronto's status as a public event, not a private gathering like Cannes, is important: Producers and buyers see the public's response to TIFF as a good indicator of how a film will land in America. North.

This important presence is the business card from Toronto to Los Angeles: TIFF ensures that producers feel comfortable with Ontario as a workplace, thereby stimulating the film and television production industry in many ways. billions of dollars from the province. Nevertheless, Canadian industry complains that the key creative jobs in these "service productions", mainly from the United States, are not large enough for Canadians. Under the slogan "Hey, Hollywood," CAF launched a blatant festival-related advertising campaign advertising Canadian directors, editors and designers. These ads are directed to producers, the largest professional group present. The second group of the festival is made up of buyers: you can spot them during screenings in the press and in the industry; they are the last ones to turn off their phones and the first to go out quickly if they feel a failure. They told the researchers that they were not looking for any particular genre; they come to the festival in search of a quality for which the TIFF, its programmers will be happy to know, has a solid reputation.

But are buyers looking for quality when screening Canadian films? The study argues that this may be unfair, but there is a kind of "homer" discount: International delegates suspect that Canadian films, which are well represented in programming, are programmed solely because they are Canadian. At the same time, with Toronto being Canada's largest market, the study also warns that a bad reception at TIFF can spoil the chances of a Canadian film at home.

More generally, as the TIFF has become a major international event, the study records complaints that small projects are lost in confusion. Indeed, this was one of the motivations behind the launch of the 2015 Jury Platform Program and Award, to highlight some particularly commendable efforts that could be overlooked.

There are notable achievements. The study, which covers the 2014-18 period but not this year's TIFF, includes several case studies of independent Canadian and other films that have exploded outside the festival. The biopic Maudie, about Maud Lewis, Nova Scotian folk artist, and Aboriginal drama Falls around her Here are two Canadian examples that have benefited from the warm welcome of the public and critics at TIFF, just like the dark Australian Western Sweet country and Lion, the international drama with Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman. And, outside of September, TIFF programming throughout the year includes several initiatives designed to bring Canadian audiences to Canadian cinema.

Nevertheless, the study reveals how the emergence of the event as an international heavyweight is a double-edged sword that can create an industry in Canada, while eclipsing the Canadian film. In 2004, the TIFF "kicked off" and removed the dedicated Perspectives Canada program which, in the opinion of many Canadian filmmakers, looked more like a ghetto than a showcase. Fifteen years later, the time seems to be ripe for a new discussion on the relationship between the festival and Canadian film.