EXCLUSIVE: The Toronto International Film Festival’s new market has a name, dates, and eight new industry heavyweights joining the committee that will help bring it to life – all of which Deadline can reveal.
The Toronto team are here in Cannes pressing the flesh as plans for their new market, which kicks off in 2026, gather pace. TIFF: The Market – which will be its official name – will run September 10 through 16.
TIFF: The Market has also added eight new members to its Advisory Committee: Moses Babatope, Founder & CEO, Nile Media Entertainment Group; Michael Barker, Co-President and Co-Founder, Sony Pictures Classics; Arianna Bocco, Head of Global Distribution, MUBI; Janet Brown, President, Global Content Sales, BBC Studios; Diana Bustamante Escobar, Producer; Jeongin Hong, CEO, Megabox; Laura Michalchyshyn, CCO & Co-President, Content Production, Blue Ant Studios; and Vicki Dobbs Beck, VP, Immersive Content at Lucasfilm & ILM.
They join previously announced members Niv Fichman, Vincent Maraval, Jérôme Paillard, Noah Segal, Monique Simard, Roeg Sutherland, and Kerry Swanson.
The new event will take in TV, interactive and digital content, as well as film. It has considerable backing from Canada’s Federal Government in the shape of C$23M ($16.5M) of funding. There’s no avoiding the challenges the indie film biz faces, but the generous financial support, TIFF’s reputation as top-tier festival, and the industry names offering counsel mean hopes are high that the newbie market can deliver. Given it has hosted an unofficial market for decades, many buyers and sellers already make the trip to Toronto.
“We’re designing TIFF: The Market to meet the fast-changing needs of the global screen industries,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. “We plan to grow the power of screen storytellers by bringing dealmakers, talent and audiences together in a new, much bigger way.” Bailey has previously told Deadline that he wants to see industry attendance, which currently numbers about 5,000, to more than double.
TIFF’s Chief Programming Officer, Anita Lee, added: “As the momentum continues to build for TIFF: The Market’s launch, we have gathered together experts across all parts of the screen industries. Their extensive global knowledge and experience will be invaluable in helping us shape and deliver a best-in-class event that will support the industry of today and for the future.”
Clockwise Top L-R: Niv Fichman, Vincent Maraval, Jerome Paillard, Noah Segal, Monique Simard, Kerry Swanson and Roeg Sutherland
TIFF
Some of those names on the Advisory Committee shared their take exclusively with Deadline.
DEADLINE: What is the opportunity in terms of launching a new market?
Vincent Maraval (Goodfellas): First, there are, today, only two markets that incorporate a festival and a market: Cannes and Berlin. Over the last decade, Berlin suffered the growing importance of Cannes and the competition of Sundance and the festival lost its attraction and power.
The year is now split in two seasons, Cannes and the fall festivals (Telluride, Venice, Toronto, San Sebastian). None of them have a real market while Toronto is the only one that screens the best from the fall festivals. Buyers can’t go to all fall festivals. Toronto screening a large number of Venice, Telluride and San Sebastian films is their most convenient festival in order to cover the maximum number of films.
If you add that AFM has difficulties to find its location and its slot in the year and buyers’ calendar (it is attached to no festivals and comes at a period of the year where most of the buyers budget has been spent), Toronto has the potential to become the other big market of the year; Cannes being the first semester market, Toronto the second.
DEADLINE: What are the essential elements required to make this a success?
VM: They just need to attract buyers from all over the world by probably opening an Asian section as well as a Middle East and African section and a LatAm section as they are three regions where there is a growing inter-regional business and less appeal for Western films.
DEADLINE: What does the launch of TIFF: The Market mean for you, what opportunities do you hope it creates for Canadian firms?
Noah Segal (Elevation Pictures): We’re thrilled with a homegrown opportunity to have an international presence. For our company, as we start to be a production hub, the TIFF market will provide us convenient access to international buyers and sellers. As TIFF continues to build on its position as an efficient, economical place to conduct business, TIFF: The Market will also make it easier for Canadian producers to meet with agents and managers from Hollywood to build more commercially accessible content.
Deadline: How do you hope TIFF: The Market will bring Nigerian and African stories to the world?
Moses Babatope (Nile Media Entertainment Group): Nile Media Entertainment Group was created to build a complete ecosystem for African storytelling, not just to make great films, but to ensure they travel, find audiences, and build lasting value. The new TIFF: The Market offers the kind of intentional, global space we need, where African stories can meet opportunity.
This isn’t just about distribution deals or red carpets. It’s about rewriting the rules. We’re building bridges between Lagos, Accra, Nairobi, Joburg and the world, bridges made of stories that carry the heartbeat of our people. TIFF’s intentionality matters because it means our creators won’t have to shrink to fit old molds. Here, a Nollywood epic can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Hollywood, not as niche, but as art that demands its rightful spotlight.
DEADLINE: How impactful will a new market at this time of year be in terms of TV distribution, how will it fit with the buying cycles of the main players?
Janet Brown (BBC Studios): This isn’t just a new market. It’s a new stage for the cultural ambition and curatorial excellence of TIFF. The festival has long had a stake in the ground for bringing buyers and sellers of the entertainment industry back to life after the late summer slowdown in North America, and now it can deepen that impact. I’m excited to see TIFF expand its role in the global marketplace by creating new opportunities for intrepid storytellers to seed and place episodic content projects.
Content shared from deadline.com.