TIFF: The Toronto International Film Festival

Our TIFF Bell Lightbox guide covers the building. This page is about the festival itself, which launched in 1976 as the "Festival of Festivals," created by Bill Marshall, Dusty Cohl and Henk Van Der Kolk. Their premise was to gather the best films already premiered at other festivals around the world and screen them in one city, while making Toronto unusually hospitable to filmmakers and press.

A public festival, not an industry-only one

The inaugural edition ran October 18–24, 1976, showing 127 films from 30 countries, drawing about 35,000 filmgoers. The festival was officially renamed the Toronto International Film Festival in 1994, reflecting its shift from a festival-of-festivals showcase model to a first-run launchpad for new films. TIFF built its reputation as a publicly attended festival — unlike industry-only events such as Cannes — letting ordinary moviegoers buy tickets alongside press and industry.

An Oscar-season bellwether

TIFF's People's Choice Award became closely watched as an informal Oscar-season bellwether, since many past winners went on to Best Picture nominations or wins. By the 2020s, TIFF was screening in the range of 200 to 300-plus films from roughly 70 to 80 countries over about ten days each September, with recent editions drawing more than 700,000 attendees.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — Toronto International Film Festival
• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)