The Toronto Film Festival has confirmed it expects to hold an in-person event in the fall for its 47th edition.
The planned Sept. 8-18 festival will see TIFF’s industry networking and parties return on the ground in Toronto, including an opening-night party, the industry conference, filmmaker dinners, dealmaker networking events, press conferences and the TIFF Tribute Awards gala.
Those physical event plans follow two years of a mostly digital-first festival in Toronto with international guests participating online and limited physical screenings in the city. Dealmakers being welcomed back to TIFF follows the informal film market mostly taking place online for two years running during the pandemic.
TIFF organizers gave no indication on the number of films expected as part of the 2022 lineup after scaled-down 2020 and 2021 editions. The return of a physical event next September as the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Ontario begins to wane will be crucial to the success of Toronto’s 47th edition as the event relies on the broad support of the city’s film-going audiences to woo Hollywood and other international talent, the global media and local advertisers.
Also Thursday, TIFF said it had hired five new film curators for its programming team. That includes Kelly Boutsalis joining TIFF as associate programmer for Canadian feature films, Ravi Srinivasan becoming senior manager, TIFF programming and Robyn Citizen, who started at TIFF in 2018, being named director of festival programming & Cinematheque.
In addition Andréa Picard becomes senior curator, TIFF & TIFF Cinematheque, Jason Ryle is named international programmer, indigenous cinema, while long-time Toronto programmer Jane Schoettle becomes senior international programmer, special presentations at TIFF.
TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey will select the festival’s glitzy Gala Presentation lineup for Roy Thomson Hall.
Source: Hollywood
