History
TIFF, known originally as "The Festival of Festivals", was founded in 1976 at the Windsor Arms Hotel. Beginning as a collection of the best films from film festivals around the world, it had an inaugural attendance of 35,000. Ironically however, Hollywood studios withdrew their submissions from the festival due to concerns that Toronto audiences would be too parochial for their products. In the years following, the festival continued to concentrate on bringing the best films from around the world. Through consistent investment and promotion by its organizers and sponsors, TIFF has also grown to become a vital component of Hollywood's marketing machine.
In 1994, the decision was made to replace the name "Festival of Festivals" with "Toronto International Film Festival". From 1994 to 2009, the umbrella organization running the festival was named "Toronto International Film Festival Group" (TIFFG). This was replaced in 2009, with the acronym TIFFG jettisoned in favour of naming the umbrella organization as the same as the festival itself, "Toronto International Film Festival" or TIFF.
In 2001, Perspective Canada, the programme that had focused on Canadian films since 1984, was replaced by two programmes:
- Canada First!, a forum for Canadian filmmakers presenting their first feature-length work, featuring eight to 15 films, and
- Short Cuts Canada, which includes 30-40 Canadian short films.
In 2004, TIFF was featured as the site of murder mystery in the film Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, a comedy film starring Martin Short.
In 2008, Rose McGowan caused controversy at a TIFF press conference for her film Fifty Dead Men Walking, when she noted that "I imagine, had I grown up in Belfast, I would 100% have been in the IRA." Later that year in October, TIFF Group was named one of "Canada's Top 100 Employers" by Mediacorp Canada Inc., and was featured in Maclean's newsmagazine. Later that month, TIFF Group was also named one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper. In 2012, the TIFF Group was one of the winners in the GTA’s Top Employers contest, with judges using the same criteria that is applied in the national competition for Canada's Top 100 Employers.
In 2009, TIFF's decision to spotlight films from Tel Aviv created a controversy with protesters, saying it was part of an attempt to re-brand Israel in a positive light after the January 2009 Gaza War.
The TIFF Group occasionally polls critics, programmers, and industry professionals, asking them to identify their top 10 Canadian films. The TIFF Group has conducted three such polls, in 1984, 1993, and 2004.
In 2007, it was announced that the festival generates an estimated annual impact of $67 million CAD. By 2011, that benefit had grown to $170 million CAD.
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