The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is a prestigious, publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario,Canada. The festival begins the Thursday night after Labour Day (the first Monday in September, in Canada) and lasts for ten days. Between 300-400 films are screened at approximately 23 screens in downtown Toronto venues.

The TIFF is among the top film festivals in the world. In 1998, Variety magazine acknowledged that "the Festival is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity." Quoted by the National Post in 1999, Roger Ebert claimed "...although Cannes is still larger, Toronto is more useful and more important...." It is the premiere film festival in North America, from which the Oscars race begins.blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4228552.stm

The festival is centred around the _Yorkville, Toronto neighbourhood, a part of town with several luxury hotels and movie theatres. Although the Festival has begun to give more attention to mainstream Hollywood films, it still maintains its independent roots. It features retrospectives of national cinemas and individual directors, highlights of Canadian cinema, and a variety of African, South American, and Asian films.

The festival is considered a launch pad for many studios to begin "Oscar-buzz" for their films; for example, Taylor Hackford's Ray premiered at the festival and garnered much attention for Jamie Foxx's portrayal of Ray Charles (for which he ultimately won the Academy Award for Best Actor).

The Director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival, since 1994, is Piers Handling. In 2004, Noah Cowan became Co-Director of the festival. This began a three-year transition period after which Piers Handling will relinquish the directorship to focus on his role as Festival CEO.