色色啦

Cameron Bailey (current TIFF CEO) From my vantage point, it didn鈥檛 feel like a seismic shift. We had 鈥淭he Big Chill鈥� in 1983 and 鈥淭he Princess Bride鈥� in 1987, both of which were world premieres. Those are major films. I feel like we had been moving in that direction for a while as a festival, but (the name change) was about declaring it.

Piers Handling Between 1980 and 1999, there was a steady growth in Oscar nominations from TIFF films, including 鈥淭he Crying Game,鈥� 鈥淭he Shawshank Redemption鈥� and 鈥淎merican Beauty.鈥� Everyone in the studios noted this. These nominations built credibility for the festival.

Mich猫le Maheux In 鈥�93 and 鈥�94, we doubled the press corps. We had more press than Major League Baseball. We had more press at the festival than they had for the pennant race. That鈥檚 when things really started to evolve. The Hollywood studios looked at TIFF differently; they could do one-stop shopping. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (who put on the Golden Globes) started coming. Roger Ebert called us the most important film festival in North America.

Handling 色色啦 and the festival grew up hand in hand. TIFF created an international profile for the city in a way that no other organization did: the Leafs, Blue Jays, Canadian Opera Company, Royal Ontario Museum. We literally branded the city through the festival.

The festival also helped position the city as a film production centre. Directors and actors became familiar with the city through the festival, especially from the U.S. When tax incentives were put in place, our reputation and profile helped immeasurably. In one study, we were second only to Christmas in terms of consumer spending in the city. Remarkable! Hotels, restaurants, taxis and retail stores all noticed the massive increase in spending during TIFF.

Steve Gravestock (former TIFF senior programmer) There have been a lot of great programmers and a lot of great decisions, but to me, the whole thing runs on how film crazy this city is and how diverse it is. You don鈥檛 need to worry 鈥� there鈥檚 a community for everything.

Handling Because of the international complexion of the films we screened, new immigrants could find themselves in the fest. We brought in their directors and stars, and that was huge. Jackie Chan at TIFF was as crazy as Brangelina.

R.T. Thorne (filmmaker, chair of Directors Guild of Canada BIPOC Members Committee) 色色啦 is a film-loving, art-loving city and the audience here comes out in force. Before I was a filmmaker, I was going to TIFF just to be around people who love film and to get in conversations with random people, just chatting about filmmaking.

And then, of course, there were the celebrities who began flocking to the festival in the 鈥�90s.

Katie Boland (actor and filmmaker) One of my first TIFF memories is when I was 17 and going to see a film with my mother, (director) Gail Harvey. Before we saw the film, we were sitting next to Natalie Portman eating lunch at an Italian restaurant. It was my first time seeing a celebrity in 色色啦, not to mention sitting next to a celebrity who I had admired so much. It made it feel very real how international and important the festival was. I felt so proud of 色色啦 in that moment.

Sarah Polley (actor and filmmaker) My first memory of TIFF is attending with 鈥淭he Sweet Hereafter鈥� (in 1997), arriving on the red carpet and not knowing I was supposed to stop for photographers and press. I ran into the theatre because I鈥檓 an early person and I didn鈥檛 want to miss the movie.

Gabrielle Free (former TIFF head of communications) My first festival was in 1995. There were two emergency tickets for every screening that could be used even after the film started. They made it very clear that these tickets were for a real emergency. I took it to heart. One night, I was at the theatre as the audience was being let in for a big film, 鈥淒evil in a Blue Dress,鈥� starring Denzel Washington. Clement Virgo, the director of the festival鈥檚 opening night film, 鈥淩ude,鈥� saw my staff pass and politely said, 鈥淭his screening is sold out. Can you get me a ticket?鈥� I said, 鈥淎bsolutely not.鈥� I later mentioned this to someone and he was like, 鈥淕ab, that鈥檚 the definition of an emergency!鈥�

Maheux One of my best TIFF moments was for 鈥淭hat Thing You Do!鈥� (the 1996 musical). Tom Hanks was in the green room. That night we had a government minister visiting. He had his family with him, and the minister was in a tuxedo. Hanks went up to him and said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e the best-dressed person in this entire room. This makes me think you must be important. How do you do? My name is Tom Hanks.鈥� Then he introduced himself to his wife and daughter. I turned to Allison Bain, who was our head of government relations, and said, 鈥淲hat do you think the chances are we鈥檙e going to get our funding this fall?鈥� It was so smooth, sweet, generous. He didn鈥檛 have to do that.

Handling Jean-Luc Godard agreed to come to TIFF in 1996 with two conditions: he wanted us to provide a tennis pro who he could play with every day. And he asked for a video editing system to be installed in his hotel room. The first request was an easy one. The second was more complex. But we did it and he was very happy with his stay.

Bill Murray was a different challenge. Everyone was asking for the festival to do 鈥渟pecial鈥� things for them in those days, and the distributor asked if we could do something along these lines to attract Bill, who was famously elusive. We came up with the idea of declaring a 鈥淏ill Murray Day鈥� early in the festival one year, to get him to attend.

Barbara Hershenhorn (a.k.a. 鈥淧arty Barbara,鈥� former event producer for TIFF) I ordered an advertising blimp from California. We had it flying from the roof of what was the south tower of the Park Plaza. By midday Friday or early morning Friday, the blimp went missing in action. It was frosh week at U of T and (some students) had managed to get that blimp off the rooftop. The director of finance called me and said, 鈥淭he blimp is on Avenue Road.鈥�

In 2007, a TIFF study shows that the festival is enriching the local economy by $67 million annually, more than double the figure of the 1993 report.

Patrick Tobin (general manager, Economic Development and Culture, City of 色色啦) TIFF has elevated our industry and our sense of self. By celebrating Canadian films, it uplifted our stories, voices and talent, and by drawing international industry leaders here, it created familiarity and trust that鈥檚 enabled 色色啦 to achieve a dominant position as a home for production with an annual spend approaching $3 billion and a workforce of more than 40,000 skilled workers. As a cultural landmark with both style and substance, since 1976 TIFF evolved 色色啦鈥檚 identity well past 鈥溕� the Good,鈥� into one of pride, ambition and excellence. If success begets success, much of what 色色啦 has achieved since 1976 owes a debt to TIFF.

Guillermo del Toro (filmmaker) TIFF has been growing into its present stature and its present duties. There has always been a common denominator: to love what you do. That is the one thing that hasn鈥檛 changed, even as the festival has become an international powerhouse. You have huge Hollywood movies vying for position. You have a natural sort of metronome between London and Venice (festivals) and the awards seasons. It鈥檚 part of the heartbeat of the fall season in a way that is not as hidebound or as rigid as other festivals. It鈥檚 equally rigorous and equally important, but it鈥檚 got its own personality.

David Cronenberg TIFF seems to grow from strength to strength. I think it goes back to the idea of Festival of Festivals, which was incredibly innovative. I was well aware at the time that most film festivals were incredibly possessive about the films that they showed and would not show films that have been shown at another festival. 色色啦 just exploded that, and that was its incredible superpower at the time. And it still underlines the festival that it鈥檚 willing to consider any kind of screening of any film from anywhere. It doesn鈥檛 have such a rigorous set of rules that it automatically excludes things. And that feels very Canadian to me.

Read part 3: How the festival grew its empire