Continuing their partnership, Telefilm Canada and UniFrance have organized a series of premiere screenings of trailers of French and Canadian films programmed at TIFF for industry professionals, held between August 22 and 28 in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London.
A program initiated by Telefilm Canada in 2011, the Eye on TIFF events attract the industry's attention to French and Canadian films selected at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) ahead of the festival by presenting a series of exclusive screenings of trailers to international distributors, exhibitors, and film buyers.
First held only in New York, this initiative has been extended to Los Angeles in the past six years, and to Paris and London in the past three years. For the fifth consecutive year, UniFrance joined forces with the initiative to present screenings of trailers of recent French films from the TIFF lineup that have not yet secured a local distributor.
Key staff from UniFrance (in Paris and London, as well as in New York and Los Angeles thanks to the participation of Adeline Monzier) provided details on the French films included in the show reel, working alongside representatives from TIFF: the festival's artistic director Cameron Bailey (photo) and Christa Dickenson, executive director of Telefilm Canada, for the screenings in Los Angeles, and Joana Vicente, the new executive director and co-head of TIFF, and EJ Alon, director of Telefilm Canada's Talent Fund, for the New York screenings. TIFF's senior director Diana Sanchez came along to the Paris screening held on August 27 at the newly opened Canadian Cultural Center, accompanied by Canada's Ambassador to France, Isabelle Hudon.
All of the guests invited to the Eye on TIFF screenings received the official catalogue of TIFF 2019 prior to the event, as well as the screening schedule to facilitate their business dealings at the festival.