The non-competitive Toronto IFF  presents features produced in every part of the world and Canadian shorts.

History:
Starting out in 1976 as a collection of films from other festivals -- a 'festival of festivals', the Toronto International Film Festival® has become one of the most successful cinematic events in the world, universally regarded as an ideal platform to premiere films. Boasting a public eager for the best in contemporary film, as well as international attention from media, distributors, producers, and buyers along with a galaxy of stars, the Toronto International Film Festival is considered the premiere film festival in North America. In 1998, Variety acknowledged that "the Festival is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity."1

Last year Roger Ebert conceded "...although Cannes is still larger, Toronto is more useful and more important...."2

The Toronto International Film Festival® has undergone countless changes, beginning as a small upstart on the international circuit in 1976. Nevertheless, throughout its years of growth in size and influence, the Festival has remained committed to its principal objectives: to celebrate and promote the moving image and to highlight and place Canadian achievements in an international context. As the years show, the Festival has successfully maintained these objectives by bringing together a remarkable diversity of local, national and international films and personalities to the delight of enthusiastic audiences, who have continued to grow over each of the past 27 years. From the halcyon days in the seventies, to the eighties when the Festival came of age, into the nineties when the event really entered the big leagues, and now as the Festival matures and grows post-millennium, reminisce about the lore and legacy that is the Toronto International Film Festival.

1Variety, September 21, 1998
2National Post, September 9, 1999