TIFF launches its own market and adds an Oscar route for non-English films

Celebrating its sixth decade, TIFF introduces TIFF: The Market, a North-American-wide venue where more than 6,000 delegates from over 80 nations can pitch, fund and acquire movies. The festival also offers a rare Oscar pathway: the winner of the Platform section will qualify for the Best International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards. This year’s lineup includes the Nagaland-language film Angh, the Malayalam vampire thriller HALF and the Tamil drama Dorothy, highlighting a growing presence of Indian cinema at the event.

Marking 50 years of operation, the Toronto International Film Festival expands its scope by launching TIFF: The Market, a dedicated marketplace that will host over 6,000 industry participants, including nearly a thousand buyers, from more than 80 countries. Festival chief Cameron Bailey describes the initiative as the first North American market formally linked to a film festival. In addition, TIFF will grant a direct Academy Awards berth to the winner of its Platform competition, joining only five other festivals with such a privilege.

Indian entries this year feature Theja Rio’s Angh, a Konyak-language drama set in 1960s Nagaland, the genre-bending vampire film HALF in the Midnight Madness slot, and Karthik Subbaraj’s noir-tinged Tamil film Dorothy. Organizers emphasize the diverse storytelling and commercial opportunities the new market and Oscar pathway bring to filmmakers worldwide.