Toronto Film Festival Launching An Official Market In 2026, Boosted By $17M Of Government Funding: Organizers Aim To Double Industry Attendance

deadline.com:

The Toronto International Film Fest will launch an official market, kicking off in 2026 and boosted by a generous C$23 million (US$16.9 million) of funding from Canada’s Federal Government.

TIFF organizers said the new market will be a “game-changer” for the Canadian and wider international business. Festival CEO, Cameron Bailey, told Deadline he wants to see industry attendance more than double. “We have been a great platform to buy and sell and pitch for so many years, but I think there’s so much more we can do by providing bigger, more robust infrastructure, and more opportunities for people to meet,” the festival boss said. “We have plans to grow from about 5,000 industry delegates to over 12,000 in the next few years.” The hefty government investment, announced as part of the Federal budget in April, will be spread across three years.

Bailey and Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF, are here in Cannes to talk to industry about the plans. “There’s an unofficial market at TIFF and has been for years, and companies that have been coming to TIFF for very long time and it works very well for them,” Lee said. “But what we’re also seeing is that there are a lot of new companies and new markets, and they’re very interested in TIFF as a gateway to North America.

To have an official market and to actually have visible infrastructure will really allow [attendees from] new markets and new companies to participate more fully.” With the indie film business challenged there have been changes in the landscape — AFM’s move from LA to Vegas is a notable shift.