Marketing For Success: Strategic Use of Arts Marketing at the Toronto International Film Festival

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Marketing For Success: Strategic Use of Arts Marketing

at the Toronto International Film Festival

Matthew da Silva

m.da.silva.1@rug.nl

S2543354

MA Marketing

Professor Kim Joostens

University of Groningen

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Abstract

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is one of the largest, most-‐ renowned public film festivals in the world. With an extensive history, I set out to study the festival in a way that had never been carried out previously: to examine how the marketing policy at TIFF grew and developed with the festival to hold on a large contribution to the festivals success. By looking at the elements of programming, the atmosphere of the festival, as well as the volunteer program and alternate festivals, it was found that the marketing policy may have contributed to the success of the festival quantitatively, but left its qualitative success in question.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), previously known as the “Festival of Festivals”, was founded in 1976, hosting 127 feature films from 30 different countries with an approximate audience of 35,000 in its inaugural year. In the present day, the film festival has grown exponentially from its first year. In 2012, the festival hosted 393 films from over 70 countries – 143 of those films being world premieres – and with an attendance rate of approximately 400,000. In literature, though, we find that the discourse on programming at film festivals is rarely addressed (Chin & Qualls 1998: 38). Furthermore, the move from an artistic oriented viewing of film towards a market view has changed the way that film festivals create their programmes (Chin & Qualls 2001: 34).

The Toronto International Film Festival can be viewed as an example that has utilized a number of arts marketing methods to combat the problems proposed by Chin & Qualls. With their diverse range of programmes and effective use of spatial marketing (Klaic 2014), TIFF has developed a marketing strategy that has promoted growth without compromising the artistic value of the products they display as an arts organization. An in depth case study of the use of strategic arts marketing concepts and the creation of customer value for the organization will offer a guideline as to how similar arts organizations can effectively put arts marketing concepts into practice effectively.

1.1 Research Problems

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groundwork is laid out, I will look at specific components of TIFF’s marketing strategy and demonstrate how they are embedded in the theoretical discussion, and use methodological research to explain how they have contributed to the growth and success of the film festival. With this being said, my research questions are as follows:

Main Question

-‐>How was the Toronto International Film Festival’s success a result of its arts marketing policy? How was the creation of customer values integrated into TIFF’s marketing strategy?

Sub Questions

-‐>How can we define success in an arts organization?

-‐>What marketing strategies did TIFF use, and continue to develop, to create this success?

-‐>How were the methods of marketing altered to account for the different types of consumers, and their differing wants and needs?

-‐>What theoretical model(s) can be used to analyze the Toronto film festival experience?

-‐>In what ways did the film festival alter these model(s) from the inaugural year to the present?

-‐>What empirical research can be viewed to realize the outcome of the strategies?

1.2 Research Objectives

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city of Toronto, and the world of film as a whole, “it is common to introduce several programme series that run in parallel during the festival, in addition to the main, ‘official’ programme” (Klaic 2014: 51), a notion that will make up the bulk of my discussion on strategic arts marketing concepts. In terms of spatial diversity of the film festival, I will look to Klaic again, through the scope of “the spatial dimension of festival activities, both in the city and in the countryside, the variants of the site used and the importance of the spatial context and a festival ́s impact upon it” (Klaic 2014: 67). The recent building of the TIFF Bell Lightbox (a film theatre/library/museum) that serves as the festival “hub”, as well as the use of theatres around the city during festival time, will result in an important discussion of the effective development of spatial marketing for arts festivals.

Where Klaic’s book focuses mostly on the ways in which festival programming works, which will constitute a broad portion of my discussion, it does not look at how marketing has to adapt for a variety of different customers. This is a gap I would like to fill with my research, where I will focus more so on how the film festivals marketing caters and adapts to each type of consumer at the festival. How the festival develops strategies for the red carpet screening, the regular screening, regular moviegoers, non-‐moviegoers (but observers) and volunteers will all be important in this discussion.

1.3 Relevance

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strategies can be beneficial for all film festivals. I hope to prove that marketing strategy, if utilized correctly and effectively, has the potential to bring other festivals into greater prominence as well.

1.4 Outline

In the following section, I will break down my theoretical approach towards

my objective. I will look at a number of texts and theories, starting with the description of the artistic and extended products TIFF offers, the role of marketing for arts organizations, and finally the explanation of intrinsic/semi-‐ intrinsic/extrinsic values that marketing practice attempts to evoke through strategy.

My main research is based on the “success” of the film festival, and because success is such a broad term, I believe I need to place it into context. My definition of success will explain how there must be a level of progress made on a quantitative level without hindering the qualitative development of the film festival, and will focus on the notion of growth. I will then describe how we can measure this success, and bring in a number of academic texts that demonstrate effective ways an arts organization can evaluate its output both quantitatively and qualitatively. Finally, I will describe my own methodology, describing how the culmination of my own qualitative studies as well as archived quantitative and qualitative information from the organization itself will aid in fulfilling my research objectives.

After this conceptual groundwork is laid out, I will move towards the case study of the film festival, first outlining how the festival has grown on a quantitative since the inaugural year. I will then move on to the discussions of festival programming, volunteer relations and the atmosphere created by the festival in relation to the ways in which the quality has continued to improve as well.

Finally, I will conclude by bringing the bulk of my research together, describing how I have come to realize my research objectives, while also speaking of the problems I encountered through the course of my research.

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Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework

2.1 Artistic/Extended Products

Before delving into the discussion on how TIFF has effectively used strategic arts marketing concepts, it will be important to define what the artistic and extended products are for the Toronto International Film Festival. With the use of Joosten’s onion (2012: 211), labelled ‘Figure 1’ in the appendix, I have placed TIFF’s artistic and extended products into a chart that clearly illustrates the sequence of how these products interact with each other.

At the core of the diagram is our main artistic product, which we can define as the film’s shown across the entire festival. Stripped of all other aspects that surround the film (marketing, programming implications, etc.), the film itself resides as the sole artistic core of the festival.

Moving towards our first extended product, this group can be defined as the supporting facilities and properties that compliment the artistic core. TIFF operates with the use of nine different cinemas across the city, as well as the addition of an outdoor screening area during the last film festival in 2014. These theatres all have differing aesthetic qualities, aesthetics that compliment the films and events that take place in each location. The discussion about these complimentary aesthetics of the cinema will be further elaborated upon in the discussion of the “space” of the festival during the case study.

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Day” (2014) event) that compliment films or themes that are prevalent during each annual festival.

Elements that TIFF has little to no control over make up our next group of extended products, occupied by reviews in the media, word-‐of-‐mouth discussion, and external factors. Reviews in the media might discuss either the festival itself, or films shown throughout. Though they can be either positive or negative, they always set up a discussion surrounding the festival that spreads through word-‐of-‐mouth discussion. Lastly, external factors might come into play that the festival does not have control over, such as a recession in the economy that might coincide with a drop in attendance, or construction around a cinema site that may affect customer moods and feedback.

In the final section, consumption implications bring in all aspects of the artistic and extended products already mentioned. This section is marked by the ways in which the aesthetic values are received by attendees throughout the festival, illustrating how all the elements of the extended products have effected the reception of the artistic product that is complimented. To better understand this concept, a discussion on the intrinsic/semi-‐intrinsic/extrinsic values of art, as well as the role of marketing in the arts and the idea behind the customer-‐value approach to arts marketing will follow in the next section.

2.2 Intrinsic/Semi-‐Intrinsic/Extrinsic

In the discussion surrounding marketing implementation for the Toronto

International Film Festival, focus is placed primarily within the distribution domain, where “aesthetic utterances and the users of them meet” (van Maanen 2009: 241). This domain envelops all of what will be discussed through the case study, which includes, but is not restricted to, the programming of the festival, volunteer management, and the constructed “space” of the festival. van Maanen’s description of the distribution domain is summarized as follows:

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the realization by the participants and groups of participants addressed of possible values of an event. (van Maanen 2009: 243)

Marketing, then, is integral in bridging the gap between the aesthetic utterance, which is formulated by the artist in the production domain, and the eventual reception of the aesthetic utterance in the reception domain. To more effectively bridge the gap between the production and reception domains, though, attention must be placed on the ways in which art consumption affects the user.

In How To Study Art Worlds, van Maanen (2009) breaks down the categories

of artistic consumption effects into three categories: intrinsic/semi-‐ intrinsic/extrinsic. The intrinsic value of art is described as a value “which is realized as a direct effect of the mental engagement with artistic communications and which emanates from the typical character of these utterances as well” (van Maanen 2009: 150). This value can be placed as the internal, emotional effect the aesthetic utterance has on consumer, which, in this case, is concerned with the ways in which films have an emotional effect on viewers at TIFF.

The extrinsic value of art does not require the viewer to be in direct contact with the film, but rather focuses on “the economic value of artworks that is realized through trade, with the social value that is realized through contact with visitors at performances, concerts or expositions…or with a physical/psychological ‘restorative value’ by means of a temporary escape from everyday reality, initiated by presence at an aesthetic event” (van Maanen 2009: 150). If intrinsic values are concerned with the viewers’ internal emotions, then, extrinsic values focus on the social aspects surrounding the event of the film itself.

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intrinsic values of art, as they set up a forum to interrelate the intrinsic and extrinsic values brought on by a film.

With the discussion of the values that an aesthetic utterance brings forth to the consumer touched upon, we can turn to the role of marketing in the arts, which Simona Botti describes as “involved not in the moment of artistic creation but in the subsequent diffusion process of the artistic value to the different publics that constitute the art world” (Botti 2000: 14); a diffusion process that attempts to effectively bring forth all of the intended values brought on by the original aesthetic utterance.

2.3 The Role of Marketing In The Arts

Having explained the numerous values that are inherent in an aesthetic

utterance, marketing’s prime motive can be generally described as the bridging of the gap between the production and reception domains in the most effective manner. To elaborate on this general analysis, we can turn to Simona Botti’s “What Role for Marketing In The Arts?” (2000), where she breaks down the notion that “the role of marketing in the arts is one of preserving the “solitude” of the artist while allowing the artistic value to flow into society” (Botti 2000: 14).

Tied to the values van Mannen (2009) has already discussed, Botti outlines

four benefits of consuming art, which can be placed in correlation with the values of art consumption. The benefits of art consumption can either be functional (cultural), symbolic, social, and emotional. The functional (cultural) benefit of art consumption is achieved when “it has an educational benefit and enhances culture” (Botti 2000: 17). In the context of TIFF, films screened from a high amount of different countries and cultures all contribute to this benefit, and quench the “thirst for knowledge” (Botti 2000: 17) that art consumers might strive for.

The symbolic benefits that are acquired through arts consumption “relate to

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interests, where horror film buffs and melodrama fans alike can all gain symbolic benefits when attending the film festival.

Similar to symbolic benefits, but not necessarily tied to artistic choice of the patron, the social benefits of art consumption “are those whereby the product conveys a message about one and one’s social status…related to the function of artistic products as ‘gathering places’ or ‘talking points’” (Botti 2000: 17). Though TIFF has been referred to as the “people’s festival” for dropping the exclusionary practices of other large-‐scale film festivals, there is still a feeling of exclusivity when attending the film festival: the feeling of being on the inside rather than the outside. This social benefit is also gained for attendees at the film festival by greater exclusive events such as red carpet screenings or celebrity parties.

Finally, the emotional benefits that are acquired by art consumers are the most personal, where the “emotional ones do not relate to consumption as a way of resolving a problem or filling a void; they relate to feelings, fantasies and fun” (Botti 2000: 17), which relates to the escape from daily routine and the transport into a different world that art, and in this case watching films, oftentimes allows. By looking at figure 2 in the appendix, we can better see how these benefits tie into the values ascribed by van Maanen (2009), where some fit closer to extrinsic values and others are more intrinsic in nature.

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In her piece, Boorsma described the notion of customer value, where arts organizations must study “consumers’ needs and wants, perceptions and attitudes, as well as their preferences and levels of satisfaction, and acts on this information to improve what is offered” (Boorsma 2006: 74). This does not mean that the artistic product itself will be altered, but rather an arts organization must utilize marketing to better communicate the aesthetic utterance, allowing for the optimal consumption for arts consumers. Marketing, in this sense, should be customer-‐ centred, an approach that should be “applied to the way the work is described, priced, packaged, enhanced and delivered” (Boorsma 2006: 74). The customer-‐ centred approach should then focus on conveying a message that relates the work of art to the experience that it will allow the art consumer to have.

To better grasp the idea of customer value in the arts, we should note the idea that art is a relational experience, and that “the value of art lies in its evocation of a specific response” (Boorsma 2006: 75). Going back to the values and benefits described by van Maanen (2009) and Botti (2000), arts organizations must work to reinforce the concept that the consumer completes the work of art by consuming it, and that these values and benefits can be enhanced by the proper use of marketing around the artistic output. With this in mind, Boorsma (2006) adds a fifth benefit to Botti’s classification, which encompass the “artistic benefits linked to the experience to complete a work of art” (Boorsma 2006: 81). Marketing, then, should not only serve the purpose of enhancing the communication between the aesthetic utterance and the consumers, but should also enrich how the consumer completes that work of art. It should be noted that all of the values and benefits associated with arts consumption do not have strict barriers between them, but rather each benefit and value has the potential to influence other benefits and values.

Following the discussion of values and benefits, Boorsma (2006) outlines

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piece solely to satisfy the wants and needs of the consumer. Upon completion of the artistic product, though, marketing should strive to reinforce this co-‐creative aspect, whereby the consumer gives “meaning to the artifact by means of their imaginative powers” (Boorsma 2006: 85).

The second condition enforces that “arts marketing should aim to support

and facilitate the artistic experience as the core customer value” (Boorsma 2006: 85), which entails that this is the reward for the customer’s role in the co-‐creation of the artwork. This value will decrease if there is a degree of predictability to the artwork, or if the consumer senses that the work of art has been shaped or formed with their desires in mind. As an arts organization, focus should be placed on how the artistic output has been carefully selected and curated to bring the consumers a high level of artistic experience, and that the surrounding facilities and experiences are byproducts of that core artistic output.

Boorsma’s third condition outlines that “the selection of art consumers

should be driven by the artistic objectives” (Boorsma 2006: 86). Essentially, this ties in with the notion of frequent or recurring customers; their knowledge of the organization and the artistic output it provides work best to complete the co-‐ creational aspects of arts consumption. At the same time, though, an arts organization should not gear its marketing strategies directly towards these frequent customers, but to encourage expansion of the customer base by marketing their artistic objectives in a more public sense.

Lastly, the fourth condition states that “performance measurement should

focus on the contribution to the artistic objectives” (Boorsma 2006: 87). This entails that arts marketing should not be focused solely on the generation of revenue and attendance, but devote a high level of focus in the responsibility to optimize the co-‐ creative role of arts consumers. This notion is important in understanding what we can define as success, and how we can measure it, which will be explained in the upcoming sections.

To conclude, I will turn to Boorsma, who wraps up the goals of arts marketing very neatly:

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Arts marketing can be defined as the stimulation of exchange with selected customers, by offering service-‐centred support for the co-‐ creation of artistic experiences and by building and maintaining relationships with these customers for the purpose of creating customer value and achieving the artistic objectives simultaneously. (Boorma 2006: 87)

In the discussion of the Toronto International Film Festival, this notion will be crucial in the understanding of how marketing has created success for the organization, as their marketing strategy from the course of the festival’s inception to the present has helped to enhance and improve the co-‐creational aspects of consumption at the festival, which has allowed for the optimal reception of values and benefits for consumers.

2.4 What Is Success?

Success is oftentimes measured in quantitative terms: the rise in attendance,

the increase in revenue, and the growing number of sponsors are all ways in which shareholders and politicians deem that an organization is worthy of subsidization and government backing. Commonly, though, the growth in the market realm may skew the artistic value of the organization, and lead to an exchange of values in the distribution domain that results in a loss of the artistic purpose (van Maanen 2009: 265). Success, then, should not only be measured by the quantitative growth that an arts organization demonstrates, but that it should also be measured by the exchange of values that remain unhindered or improve along with quantitative growth.

Beyond the quantitative discourse in measuring success for an arts

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possible values of an event” (van Maanen 2009: 243). Along with the upward trend of quantitative growth, van Maanen’s notion of effective discourse in the distribution domain lies at the core of my idea of success, where quantitative growth must run parallel to an improving realization of the artistic product by the consumers. The extended products as outlined by Boorsma (2006) are the tools and methods utilized in the distribution domain, and the sound use of these methods aids in the effective realization of values brought on in the reception domain.

Turning to figure 3 in the appendix, van Maanen’s chart illustrates the elements that go into the creation of an aesthetic event. These should all contribute to the realization of values and needs for the customers at the artistic event, an attribute that is core to the success of an arts organization. For this section, I will continue to work with van Maanen’s text to describe how the exchange of values occurs in the field of marketing, and suggest ways in which the exchange of values can be compromised by quantitative growth. At its barest form, success should be measured by a combination of quantitative data and qualitative data, where an increase or decrease in one won’t compromise the other.

2.5 Methodology

As my thesis will look at the way in which marketing strategy has developed at TIFF, my research will be mostly historical. I will look at qualitative surveys conducted by the organization over the years to back up the discussion of their artistic objectives. To look at the proper use of marketing strategy, I will blend a mix of quantitative and qualitative data, looking at instances where new strategies were put into place, and relating how those strategies affected audience members by way of attendance, as well as experiential outcomes defined by audience surveys.

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as time passes. After the research is completed, I will be able to determine what problems are still present, and how the organization can help to solve these problems through marketing strategy. All research conducted will be placed in the appendix for reference.

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Chapter 3: Case Study

3.1 Toronto International Film Festival

Founded in 1976, the 38 years since Toronto International Film Festival’s inception has allowed it time to improve into one of the most prestigious film festivals globally. In those 38 years since its launch, there have doubtless been numerous structural, logistical and fundamental changes that have shaped the film festival into what it is today.

For my case study, I will look at large scale changes to the marketing strategy, and how those changes effected quantitative and qualitative data. In this section, I will first give a general overview of the quantitative data, and the general growth the film festival has shown in the form of attendance and films shown. This will give us a better understanding of the general trajectory of the film festival, which will be crucial to contextualize the qualitative analysis.

To do so, I will point out specific changes in the format of the film festival. These changes will be grouped into three categories: programming, volunteer relations, and spatial/atmospheric changes. I will mention these specific points as build up to my in depth study of the changes that occurred in these three domains, and relate how marketing strategy was at the core of the changes, and how the exchange of values was effected as a result of the changes.

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was very artistic, whereas now we try to make it feel like it’s a festival for everyone, which is key to what our marketing is focused around” (Freeman 2015). Rather than focus on the films, marketing at TIFF now focuses on the element of inclusion, and as such it will be important to determine how this change in marketing discourse has affected the outcome of the festival.

3.2 Programming History & Progression

3.2.1 Programming History

Programming strategy is essential to any successful festival in the arts

domain. Programmers who work for a film festival take on the role of “cultural gatekeepers, who triage worldwide film production, guiding audiences through the multitudes of movies produced annually” (Ruoff 2012: 3). As a result, my case study will explore the importance of programming strategy and its influence at TIFF, as the discussion is heavily placed in the exchange of values between the artistic product and the consumer. By taking a look at the ways in which programming has changed from the festivals inception in 1976 until today, we can develop an understanding of how changes in programming, and the inevitable change in market strategy, affects the outcome of the festival.

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Before outlining the major changes over the years within the programming strategy at TIFF, it will be important to look at a general description of programming strategy. In Klaic’s Festivals in Focus (2014) chapter “Programming Strategies”, he explains how most large scale film festivals do not have just one programme, but rather “several programme series that run in parallel during the festival, in addition to the main, ‘official’ programme” (Klaic 2014: 51). As a result, the discussion will revolve around how “programmers like to explore a specific geographic area and a distinct cultural realm, and highlight it in the programme, or to identify and emphasise some thematic or conceptual line that interconnects individual artistic works featured in the festival” (Klaic 2014: 53). Since its inaugural year, TIFF has always utilized this dispersed method, creating programmes that group films based on category and style. What will be important to discern later on is how the change in programming, based on name and feature changes, might effect the outcome and values implemented on the consumer, while also keeping in mind the “inherent risk with several programme series or packages of diffusing media attention and fragmenting the interest of the audience…[and the] chance of attracting an extended, additional audience” (Klaic 2014: 53). Do some programmes get more attention than others? There are critics who believe that dispersed attention is well at play, and this notion will be important to explore in the study of programming changes.

Another notion that Klaic discusses in his chapter on programming revolve

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less financially lucrative than the U.S. film industry, it will be interesting to study if precedence and attention at the festival is placed on films that will more often than not have the ability to generate bigger crowds and greater revenue. Bill Marshall, one of the founders of TIFF, noted that the goal of programming for the festival was to “predict the cinema of tomorrow for the audience today…[and] act as a greenhouse for Canadian talent” (Marshall 2005: 8), but with alternate viewpoints from the present festival director, we may find that this narrative has changed.

Another programming addition that Klaic mentions revolves around an

extension of the films being played at the festival, where “educational and outreach activities are becoming an area of experimentation and rapid development” (Klaic 2014: 60). Looking at recent changes in film festival programming at TIFF, a recent boom in audience interactions with directors, producers, actors and film industry workers has been a major addition to programming efforts at the festival. Screenings where Q&A’s occur have been marketed heavily throughout the festival, and the creation of an “Industry” segment during the festival has encouraged education for upcoming filmmakers and producers. Beyond this, TIFF has also implemented a number of community outreach programs that intend to bring those interested in the film world, that may not have had the resources to get involved, to be incorporated into the festival where they may not yet be part of the regular festival public. As a result, a discussion on this recent phenomenon will be included in the discussion on programming at TIFF, and how it may help to curb the presumed exclusivity and “red tape” surrounding the festival.

Klaic’s study on festival programming offers a substantial introduction to the

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work of art to enact these values on the audience. Before any more analysis is carried out, we must look at how programming has changed since 1976 until the present at TIFF.

3.2.2 General Overview: The Progression of Programming

By glancing over the programming categories at TIFF, which can be found interspersed through this section, it is evident that festival programming has changed drastically since the start of the festival in 1976. To understand the changes, we can turn to film festival scholar Marijke de Valck, who has written a fair amount about the history of programming at film festivals. By taking a look at the history outlined by de Valck, we can see a distinct correlation between her studies and TIFF about how early film festivals programmed, and how they program in the present.

Phase one of festival programming style runs from roughly 1932, when the

Venice International Film Festival was founded, to 1968, the year that riots broke out and upheaval occurred at Cannes International Film Festival. During this period, “festivals were organised as showcases of national cinemas, which meant that nations were invited to submit one or more films to the competition programme of the festivals” (de Valck 2012: 27), a number that was based on the country’s size, annual film production, and perhaps most importantly, its political standing.

Figure 3.1 1970s – TIFF Statistics

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Luckily, a country’s political standing has moved down in the list of importance of programming in a film festival, but one aspect holds true for this era: “programming along national lines” (de Valck 2012: 28). Though the idea of showcasing national cinemas was diminished in the second phase of programming, film festivals still employ the use of “geographical markers…in the labelling of newly discovered trends…the so-‐called new waves – such as the recent New Romanian Cinema – are predominately identified by their country of origin” (de Valck 28: 2012). If we look at TIFF’s early years, found in figure 3.1, we can find that the influence of national cinemas was at the forefront of its programming. In the early years, from 1976 through to 1984, the festival featured as many as three different programmes a year that each featured a different national based film movement. In a sense, TIFF overlooked the promotion of its own national cinema to showcase a multitude of other national cinemas. Whether this was a result of Torontonian multiculturalism, or if it was simply due to a lack of Canadian film production, it is important to note that early festival programming was based on the cinema of the other nations. It will be important to keep this programming strategy in mind during the coming sections, as we may begin to see that Canadian cinema is placed on the backburner.

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In programming’s second major phase, de Valck describes a shift from a national cinema based category selection to selections made by the cinephile warranted through genre, a period that ran through the 1980s. During this phase, “a new class of festival directors, who loved cinema and believed in the power of programming, called the shots…thus new ‘specialised’ or ‘themed’ (sections at) film festivals could emerge” (de Valck 2012: 29). Taking a look back at the programming data in figure 3.2, this second phase shift runs parallel with TIFF’s programming from 1982 to the mid 1990’s, where the plethora of rotating nationally based programming sections were removed and supplemented by programming that focused on stylistic qualities of film. Perhaps the greatest exemplification of this trend can be seen in 1984, when the festival had a total of thirteen different programming categories with no national based categories whatsoever. 1984, for TIFF, was a year of experimentation in this changing narrative of festival programming, as the following year would find the number of programming categories reduced by exactly half. From the experimental year of 1984, though, TIFF would begin a phase of recurring festival programs from year to year that were based on style and genre over national ties.

Where TIFF’s first programming phase differed from de Valck’s in its

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rather than the cinema itself. “Winds of Change: New Latin American” in 1986 and “Eastern Horizons: New Asian Pacific Cinema” in 1987 are prime examples of this growing trend, as the titles of the programmes themselves showcase the political narrative that is implied onto the audience. This programming as political tool narrative was not just restricted to issues surrounding national repression, but also highlighted political issues of any repressed group, embodied by programming like the “Surfacing: Canadian Women’s Cinema” section in 1989.

Another element de Valck brings up in this second phase is the extension of cinema beyond the screen, where there is a “belief that festival programming is more than exhibiting films to a public; it is about offering the public a variety of ways to engage with films…including providing synopses and background information in catalogues, programming statements to themed sections, tributes and retrospectives, Q&As after screenings, talk shows and discussions, interviews and reviews” (de Valck 2012: 31), and much more. When comparing the evolution of the TIFF programming catalogue from 1976 until the present, one notices a shift from a flyer style pamphlet of film screenings in the early years to a 600-‐page catalogue in the present containing interviews with actors, directors, and festival personnel, as well as in depth descriptions of each film. No doubt that the increased size of the catalogue was also a result of the growing number of corporate sponsors for the festival, but much of the size increase can still be attributed to the rollout of a new line of extended products that offered a closer interaction between the consumer and the original product by adding supplementary material that the audience could engage more deeply with. Though this has its benefits, where benefits range from both a semi-‐intrinsic and extrinsic level, there are also a number of negative drawbacks from the inclusion of greater ‘behind-‐the-‐scenes’ access to the film, which will be discussed in length in the following section.

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Finally, we reach the third phase of festival programming that runs from the

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competition, and how this might affect the influence on the consumer for the festival.

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additions of ‘Dialogues’, ‘Mavericks’, and ‘Real to Reel’, and though not shown, past 2009 with the inclusions of ‘Vanguard’, ‘Next Wave’, ‘Masters’, and ‘Discovery’. These new programmes add a sense of intrigue and mystery into the films that will be shown, while allowing for more freedom for programmers in placing films in certain categories. These observations are echoed by de Valck, who states that the increase in interest in the experience economy led to traditional cinephiles being joined by urban professionals, students and leisure seekers, which in turn led to “festival programmers responding to these developments with broader programmes that also catered to the needs of less cine-‐literate audiences” (de Valck 2012: 33). As a result, the broader, ambiguous categories were created to attract greater audience diversity, and, as a result, a higher attendance level. Moving back to de Valck’s earlier sentiment, we can see the problem with creating broader programming revolves around the notion that the festival is no longer catering to the world of film, but rather the needs of the consumer and general public, a sentiment that will be discussed in the following breakdown of programming.

3.2.3 Programming Analysis

Now that the historical outline of TIFF’s programming has been conducted

with help from Marijke de Valck’s historical study of film festival programming, we can now turn to the analysis of the implications that TIFF’s programming changes have caused. In this section, it will be important to recount Figure 1 in the appendix Joosten’s model that I have altered to better illustrate the functionality of the Toronto International Film Festival. In this model, programming, as well as other extensions of programming like Q&A sessions and seminars, fall into the category of the second extension past the artistic output and the cinema facilities themselves. What will be important to note, and what will be discussed about each ‘phase’ of TIFF’s programming, is the way in which this category of extended product moves further away from the original artistic output as the years progress for TIFF.

This movement away from the artistic output in Joosten’s model also causes

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be discussing how programming changes have affected the ways in which the audience consumes and absorbs the original artistic product, and how this shift away from the artistic product has altered the entire dynamic of viewing films at TIFF.

TIFF’s first phase of programming was defined by categorisation based on

national lines, where the majority of groups were focused on showcasing new national movements, or the retrospective of a former national movement. Rather than focus on a political narrative in this style of programming, TIFF brought viewers “an encounter with the unfamiliar, the experience of something strange, the discovery of new voices and visions” (Nichols 1994: 17). The viewer wasn’t focused on the glitz and glamour of Hollywood during this phase, but rather focused on the discovery of new stories and new narratives around the world. Not restricted to national lines, though, this narrative was encountered through most of the programming during this phase. Programmes like ‘Silent Classics’, ‘Filmmakers Choice’, ‘Buried Treasures’, and general ‘Retrospectives’ were all focused on the illumination of the filmic world that wasn’t previously known or seen to a vast majority of Torontonians. Without most of the distractions that became more prevalent in the modern era, this first phase allowed the audience to connect and experience the films more closely then the following phases.

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a semi-‐intrinsic level, elements like Q&As, seminars and interviews were not as prevalent, which allowed the viewer to fully engage and have their own opinion on the original artistic output of the film, without influence from a variety of exterior narratives. This lack of distractions is also aided by the blatant programming titles, which focused on illuminating film to the audience through both national lines and filmic history.

In the second phase, the original artistic output starts to become skewed by

an increasing influence from the extended products brought on throughout the film festival. Programming moved from national and historical lines to stylistic tendencies, outlined by programmes like ‘Midnight Madness’, ‘The Edge’, and ‘Real to Reel’, each highlighting horror, independent, and documentary respectively. Not only did programming change to stylistic categorisations, but also programming along national lines was greatly reduced and focused more on political narratives rather than national styles. Programmes like ‘Winds of Change: New Latin American’ and ‘Eastern Horizons: New Asia Pacific Cinema’ all added a tinge of political narrative to programming that is immediately imposed on the viewer.

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