TIFF Industry: Telefilm Canada’s Pitch This!

Applications are now closed!

Telefilm Canada’s Pitch This! returns for its 21st consecutive year at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival. This is your chance to bring a feature-film project to life. All genres and styles of presentation are permitted. The most original and compelling story will be awarded a prize of $15,000. Six teams will have six minutes to pitch their feature-film idea to a live audience of industry delegates and a jury of development and production experts.

What’s Included

  • $15,000 in prize money to put towards the making of the pitched feature film
  • Mentorship from an expert pitch coach
  • Complimentary access to the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival
  • Complimentary access to TIFF’s Industry Conference, Business Centre, and Delegate Resources

Eligibility

Applicants need to be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. At least one of the pitch-team members needs to meet one of the following criteria:

  • Alum of Talent Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival
  • Alum of, or participant in, TIFF Studio
  • Director or producer of a short or feature film selected for a previous edition of the Toronto International Film Festival
  • Director or producer of a short or feature film selected for a previous edition of the Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival, or TIFF’s year-round Canada’s Top Ten theatrical screening series
  • Director or producer of a short or feature film selected for a major international film festival OR one of the following major Canadian film festivals:
    • Atlantic Film Festival
    • Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
    • Montreal World Film Festival
    • Festival du nouveau cinéma
    • Sudbury Film Festival
    • Calgary International Film Festival
    • Edmonton Film Festival
    • Vancouver International Film Festival
    • Whistler Film Festival
    • TIFF Kids International Film Festival
    • TIFF Next Wave Festival

Please provide the name(s) of the team member(s) who fulfill the eligibility criteria and the name of the major international film festival their film(s) played at, if applicable.

Key Dates

Applications open
April 9
Standard application deadline
June 24
Participants notified of selection
July 30
Submission Guidelines
  • One submission per applicant.
  • Applicants must not have more than three feature films to their credit, in order to be eligible.
  • Please note that finalists of the 2019 Telefilm Canada’s Pitch This! competitions are not eligible to apply for this year’s event.
  • Applications must be submitted in English.
Materials

Applicants are required to submit the following supporting documents:
  • A copy of each team member’s filmography
  • A link to a short clip of the primary team member’s work (maximum five minutes)
  • A brief description of the project you will pitch
  • A project overview
  • A brief outline of your audience-building strategy
  • Financing projections (approximate estimate of development, production, and post-production costs)

Credit Requirements

The winning team will be required to include the logo of the Toronto International Film Festival and the following credit line in their film credits:

“This film was made possible in part through Telefilm Canada’s Pitch This! at the Toronto International Film Festival.”

Selection Process

Each submission to Telefilm Canada’s Pitch This! is carefully reviewed by up to three members of the TIFF Industry programming team. A shortlist of candidates will then be presented to a pre-selection committee of industry professionals to review, deliberate, and select this year's participating teams. The winning project will be selected at the event by a jury of select Festival industry delegates.

Questions?
Email us at industry@tiff.net.

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