TIFF parted ways with long-time sponsor Bell at the end of last year and has just announced that Rogers Communications will be the head sponsor of its 49th annual festival. The 2024 festival runs from September 5 to 15.

“This is a big vote of confidence in what we’ve been doing at TIFF, for the festival specifically, for almost 50 years,” TIFF chief executive Cameron Bailey said. “This is a little different for us, it’s a new partnership for a new time and context. Rogers is excited to get onboard.”

Previous sponsor Bell roughly attributed $5 million per year to TIFF while Rogers’ contribution is currently unknown.

For 2024, TIFF looks to stand on its own two feet as the pandemic halted the festival back in 2020 and 2021, leading to digital screenings on the TIFF Bell Lightbox platform (most of the festival took place there).

Last year, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA went on strike in Hollywood, halting the entire industry, including TIFF. There was an overall absence of red-carpet attendees (such as actors and directors), losing TIFF $2.76 million in 2023 revenue.

“The festival is still the biggest thing that we do, with the largest number of people who we’re engaging with,” Cameron Bailey said. “And this includes the People’s Choice Awards, which are a big deal for us and in the industry’s awards season, and will be prominent and visible in terms of how the Rogers partnership works.”

This year, TIFF looks to be undisturbed and could lead to the biggest festival since before the pandemic.

In April, the federal government committed $23 million over three years for TIFF to launch a “game-changing” content market in 2026, similar to the European Film Market that corresponds to Berlinale or Marché du Film at Cannes.

TIFF’s 49th edition will open with Ben Stiller comedy ‘Nutcrackers,’ with buzz surrounding the world premieres of the Amy Adams dramedy ‘Nightbitch,’ and A24 distributed Florence Pugh/Andrew Garfield romance/drama film ‘We Live in Time.’

Top Film Magazine will be covering all the latest news live from TIFF this September.

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