Industry › Talent Development
TIFF Industry provides emerging filmmakers with critical professional development training during the Festival and throughout the year. Industry meetings and workshops push participants to explore film as a business, and to expand their creative approach. Award-winning alumni include Tracey Deer (Beans), Shasha Nakhai (Scarborough), and Luis De Filippis (Something You Said Last Night). TIFF has also committed to ensuring at least 50% of selected participants will be BIPOC and at least 50% will be women.
Alumni Directory
Discover the extensive pool of Canadian and international talent that TIFF's professional development programmes have cultivated over the years.
Discover TIFF Talent
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If you’re an alum of TIFF’s talent programmes, contact us for information on how to opt in to the Alumni Directory or update your profile.
Contact UsEach year, 20 Canadian and international directors receive an exceptional professional development experience at the Toronto International Film Festival, and an introduction to the global community of filmmaking. Over a five-day period, participants have the opportunity to interact with and learn from internationally acclaimed filmmakers and guests.
Fellowships generously supported by Every Story and Share Her Journey donors ensure that programme participants are given additional financial support to help them fulfill their creative vision.
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Launched at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, the Series Accelerator programme, presented by Canada Media Fund, is a two-day mentorship intensive that will offer tailored training for eight Canadian series creator teams from underrepresented communities to refine their pitches and develop a business plan for their projects, with guidance from a pitch coach and industry professionals.
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A new initiative putting science in the spotlight at TIFF and equipping filmmakers with creative support and industry connections to strengthen and highlight their feature-length or episodic projects about science and technology.
Funding for this programme, which includes a pitch event, writer fellowship, and film showcase, provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Public Understanding of Science and Technology program.
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Writers’ Studio selects eight Canadian and international screenwriters to consolidate skills, exchange ideas, and develop scripts, all within a collaborative five-day intensive lab at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Participants take part in workshops, artist talks, table reads, peer-to-peer mentorship, and one-on-one project development with story consultants.
Alumni are invited to participate in the CHANEL Women Writers’ Network, which provides women and non-binary participants with ongoing script development support after the programme ends.
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A cash award is provided to the Canadian writer of an outstanding feature-film screenplay. Presented in partnership with CBC Films.
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TIFF Rising Stars is part of our ongoing commitment to promoting Canadian and international cinema and talent on the world stage. This programme showcases new talent from all over the world, putting an emphasis on the next generation of actors poised for international success.
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TIFF Every Story Accelerator, presented by the RBC Screen Creators’ Initiative, is a new programme that aims to help advance projects from emerging creators with diverse backgrounds, who identify as Black, Indigenous, a person of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ and/or from other equity-deserving groups. Each year, two producer/director teams with feature-length projects in post-production will receive targeted support to pitch their projects to industry decision-makers in three key markets. Both participating teams in 2023 will receive a Micki Moore Fellowship, supported by Toronto-based broadcaster, journalist and actor Micki Moore.
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