TIFF Market Prep & Intelligence: Toronto Is Coming for AFM
- Gato Scatena
- 15 hours ago
- 9 min read
TIFF launches its first official marketplace in September. What I'm hearing from other buyers and sales agents suggests this could be much more than another stop on the calendar—and filmmakers need to prepare accordingly.
For decades, the Toronto International Film Festival has been one of the most important unofficial film markets in the world.
Deals happened everywhere. Hotel suites became sales offices. Buyers bounced between screenings and meetings. Sales agents worked out of the Hyatt, the Ritz-Carlton, rented homes and wherever else they could find enough space to open a laptop and show a trailer.
The only thing missing was an official market.
That's about to change.
From September 10–16, TIFF will launch the first edition of TIFF: The Market, a seven-day marketplace running alongside the festival. TIFF is promising dedicated exhibition space, market screenings, matchmaking, business programming and infrastructure designed specifically for buyers, sellers, financiers and producers.
On paper, that sounds like a logical expansion of something Toronto has effectively been doing for years. In practice, it could fundamentally reshape the North American film-market calendar.
Because only eight weeks later, on November 10, the American Film Market opens in Los Angeles.
That creates a question nobody can answer yet: Does the international film business really need two major North American markets within two months of each other?
Based on the conversations I've been having with other buyers and sales agents, 2026 may be the year we find out.
TIFF Didn't Create a Market. It Formalized One.
Toronto enters this fight with an enormous structural advantage: the industry was already there.
That's fundamentally different from launching a marketplace from scratch.
TIFF already attracts international distributors, studio acquisition executives, sales agents, producers, financiers, press and talent. The festival itself remains one of the most important launching pads on the fall calendar, which means the new market isn't being asked to convince the industry to travel somewhere new. It's attempting to organize and monetize business that has been happening around the festival for decades.
The scale of TIFF's ambition shouldn't be underestimated. The market is backed by a CAD $23 million federal investment, and TIFF has talked about eventually growing industry attendance to more than 12,000 delegates. The inaugural edition will occupy the Metro Toronto Convention Centre and is expected to include more than 150 distribution, finance, sales and technology companies, along with hundreds of market screenings.
That's not an expanded industry lounge; it’s an attempt to build another Cannes or Berlin.
The timing may prove to be one of TIFF's strongest advantages. September is generally easier for many international buyers than November, particularly those working around European holiday calendars, and Toronto is considerably closer to Europe than Los Angeles.
More importantly, TIFF gives buyers two reasons to make the trip. There's a market and a major festival.
AFM remains the outlier among the major global film markets because it isn't attached to a festival of comparable international stature. Cannes has Cannes. Berlin has the Berlinale. Toronto now has TIFF.
AFM has AFM. I just can’t find the right emoji for this one
That distinction has always mattered, but it may matter considerably more now.
The First Battle May Be Decided by the Buyers
Here's where the public announcement ends and the market intelligence begins.
In conversations S&R has had with international buyers over the past several months, numerous companies have indicated that they're prioritizing Toronto this year. One buyer put the decision to me about as clearly as possible: "If and only if TIFF is a bust, then we'll go to AFM."
🔓 PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER CONTENT
That buyer isn't alone. I'm hearing enough variations of the same thing that anyone planning to finance, package or sell a film through the end of 2026 should be paying very close attention.
TIFF is creating a market nobody has worked before, international buyers are deciding whether they need to attend AFM eight weeks later, and some sales agents are already planning to conduct business outside TIFF's official marketplace entirely. If you're relying on the same fall-market strategy you've used in previous years, you may be preparing for a market that no longer exists in quite the same form.
Continue reading to learn about:
What other international buyers are telling us about TIFF vs. AFM
Why TIFF may have already made its first major mistake
Why some sales agents are skipping the official marketplace
Where the real business may actually happen in Toronto
Why buying a TIFF badge doesn't necessarily buy you access
How to get in front of buyers and sales agents before their calendars fill
What studio-level executives are already planning for AFM
Why TIFF's success—or failure—could determine what AFM looks like eight weeks later
This isn't speculation based on TIFF or AFM press releases. It's market intelligence based on conversations S&R is having with buyers, sales agents and executives who are currently making these decisions.
If TIFF or AFM factors into how you intend to finance, package or sell a film through the end of 2026, you need to understand what's changing before you book the flight—not after you land.