TIFF gratefully acknowledges the continuing support of the public sector. Their contributions allow them to foster a more successful Canadian film industry, stimulate tourism activity in Ontario, and promote the widest possible enjoyment of Canadian cinema throughout the regions of Canada. Federal sponsors include Telefilm Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Canadian Government. Provincial sponsors are the Ontario Media Development Corporation, Ontario Yours to Discover, Ontario Arts Council, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation. AwardsGiven that the festival lacks a jury and is non-competitive, regular awards handed out at other festivals for categories such as "Best Actress" or "Best Film" do not exist at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The major prize, the People's Choice Award, is given to a feature-length film with the highest ratings as voted by the festival-going populace. The festival also presents seven other awards for People's Choice Best Documentary, People's Choice Best Midnight Madness film, Best Canadian Feature, Best Canadian First Feature, Best Canadian Short Film, FIPRESCI's Special Presentation Winner and FIPRESCI's Discovery Section Winner.The first two were inaugurated in the 2009 edition of the festival. Advantages ;amp; Disadvantages Some advantages to Toronto International Film Festival are that the major award, the People’s Choice award is voted upon by the public, so the movie that wins the award was the favourite among the public. Also this film festival promotes Canadian films with its three Canadian awards, which is great for Canadian directors or just Canadian films in general. Some isadvantages to TIFF are that there are only eight awards so it is not quite as big as some of the other festivals.
As well the awards given at the festival are not regarded as highly as other awards such as an academy award. Another disadvantage is there are no awards for actors or actresses, so the festival attracts less big name actors then festivals with actor/actress awards. Uniqueness The Festival continues to show the best of international and Canadian cinema, and act as an important launch pad for independent film.This is demonstrated by the many films premiering at the Festival that go on to win international awards. The celebrated UK/Australia production The King’s Speech is an example; it won its first award at the Festival with the Cadillac People’s Choice Award and went on to win Best Picture, along with other Oscars. TIFF partnered with Canadian universities and colleges to introduce Higher Learning – a free programme examining film, new media and gaming from a variety of social, political and technological approaches.
The initial season, running late September through mid-December included screenings, workshops, lectures, panel discussions and master classes for nearly 2,000 students, faculty and administration. Interesting Facts TIFF encourages those who want to experience and understand film and filmmakers more deeply. This year they published five new books, welcomed hundreds of people to the Film Reference Library, and opened the first exhibitions in their two new galleries at TIFF Bell Lightbox.The Film Reference Library carried out a successful move, closing for less than two months to move its entire collection, the world’s largest resource of English language Canadian film and filmrelated materials, augmented by international film resources. This meant relocating 19,000 books, 2,000 scripts, 12,000 posters, 6,000 soundtracks, hundreds of special collections and many other items.
Our Opinion The Toronto International Film festival is great for Canada and Toronto in particular.In brings in millions of dollars in revenue, and promotes several Canadian films. We believe the People’s Choice awards is a great idea in that the winner is voted on by the public, so often the winner is a favourite of everyone. We think that as the film festival progresses, it will become bigger and better. In future years we would like to see some actors awards added, and also a few more categories as well.
Overall, we think the festival is great for Canada and Toronto, and believe that it is one of the best film festivals out there!
