Toronto Film Festivals collaborate with the City of Toronto on new website

TORONTO, Oct 5 /CNW/ - Mayor David Miller was joined by prominent members of Toronto's film festival community at TIFF Bell Lightbox to celebrate the launch of the http://www.torontofilmfestivals.com website.

This collaborative effort between more than 70 of the city's film festivals, the City of Toronto and George Brown College School of Design, has resulted in a new information portal that allows the public to easily find and learn about Toronto's many film events and festivals throughout the year.

"Toronto's film festival community is unique in the world for its size and for its diversity," said Mayor David Miller. "Many of these festivals are recognized internationally for their innovative programming. Their collective efforts, mirrored in this new website, constantly add to the artistic vibrancy of the city while also expanding the understanding that residents and visitors have of our many ethnic and cultural communities."

The website reveals the depth and diversity of Toronto's film festivals. This community of film festivals is the largest in the world, screening films in multiple genres and formats in more than 20 languages. Many of these festivals reflect the local and international experiences of Toronto's numerous ethnic and cultural communities as well as providing a forum for emerging filmmakers to explore and hone their craft. Their collective operating budgets, excluding TIFF, annually exceeds more than $11 million dollars, with thousands of individuals working as volunteers and employees to make these festivals successful.

"As an independent film festival, this collaboration is a historic opportunity to align ourselves with the brand of Toronto," said Moe Jiwan, Chair of the ReelWorld Film Festival. "Toronto is recognized worldwide for being a cinematic centre; known for its innovation, audiences and talent and also for being the second largest film industry in the Americas. Participating in this collaboration allows us to access many of the benefits that Toronto's international film reputation has to offer."

The website allows the public to search festivals by name and date as well as by classification categories (audience type, ethno-cultural focus, genre, language, programming, themes). Each festival is summarized on the site with links to its own website. The website also shows that there are film festivals occurring every month of the year and that in five months of the year, seven or more festivals take place each month.

More than 25,000 individuals make their living in film, television and digital arts in the city. This important cluster of screen-based business annually contributes approximately $1 billion dollars to the local economy.

Toronto is Canada's largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. Toronto has won numerous awards for quality, innovation and efficiency in delivering public services. Toronto's government is dedicated to prosperity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents. For information about non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can dial 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Media contact:Shane Gerard, Senior Communications Coordinator, 416-397-5711, [email protected]