As the fest plans to launch an official market in 2026, this year’s crop of sales titles offers dealmakers a wealth of options.
At this time last year, picketers were walking outside of studio gates, still two months away from resolving Hollywood’s dual strikes. Of the big festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), with its focus on star-heavy independent projects, was hardest hit by the labor action, with empty red carpets turning much-hyped premieres into damp squibs. Heading into TIFF this year, Hollywood is contending with less uncertainty (M&A and cost-cutting aside) and release calendars have fewer holes as strike-halted productions have started to roll out again, all of which should be good news for dealmakers headed to TIFF.
“I think you’re going to see things moving relatively quickly, especially given the languid pace that has pervaded film festival markets since COVID,” says Kent Sanderson of Bleecker Street, who is bringing three titles to the fest while looking for new acquisitions. “If anything is going to slow the pace of film sales, it will be the volume of available films.”
Sundance pickups like Thelma have bolstered confidence in the North American specialty box office, while everyone is pointing to Neon title Longlegs as this year’s gold standard of indie success.
Toronto has long been a spot where business gets done — major deals for the (unsuccessful) The Crow reboot and Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour were inked at or just before TIFF last year — but unlike Cannes or Berlin, the festival has never had an official market where buyers and sellers can set up shop. Instead, U.S. and international film buyers and sellers networked and did business informally while circulating around the festival or in hotel rooms, rather than under one roof.
TIFF’s new market — launching in 2026 and bankrolled by the Canadian government to the tune of $23 million over the next three years — will test the size and strength of the post-strike bounce back over the next several years. Many industry veterans are skeptical.
“From our perspective, Toronto is too soon after Cannes to have enough new projects to show buyers,” says Susan Wendt, managing director of Scandinavian group TrustNordisk. “Fewer European buyers are going, and the Asian buyers have never been there in big numbers. So the focus likely will be on American and Canadian buyers.”
So far, the titles on offer look promising, but the real test will be the size of the checks signed for finished films and packages. Here are some of the titles likely to attract the most market attention.
Back to Reality (working title)
Director Anders Thomas Jensen
Stars Mads Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Buzz Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen reunites with the stars of his cult 2020 action comedy Riders of Justice for this new drama-crime-comedy mashup. Kaas plays a bank robber who needs the help of his traumatized brother (Mikkelsen) to recover his stolen loot. The only way to unlock his brother’s memories is to return to their childhood home and start digging, physically and psychologically.
Sales TrustNordisk
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