Toronto International Film Festival
Over 130 films will be shown during the festival
"The Festival of Festivals" returns for its 33rd year in September 2008
Toronto International Film festival, or TIFF for short is a celebration of film in Canada’s largest city. It takes place from the 4 - 13 September.
Known in previous years as "The Festival of Festivals", TIFF is in its 33rd year. It prides itself on selecting only the best pictures and is considered by some, to be second only to Cannes, as the place to discover Oscar winning films. However, this is part of the criticism: Toronto has unfortunately become incredibly mainstream, although it is still known for showing little-seen foreign films.
It is one of those festivals where it's not so much the prizes on offer which are important, but the actual prestige of having a film shown at Toronto. Many now-famous flicks have had their debut there, such as Crash and American Beauty. It’s a glitzy, party-filled affair, but somehow they manage to squeeze in 130 films in just over a week.
The main award is the People’s Choice Award and there are several awards for Canadian films, as well as others for international pictures.
by Charlie Duff