TORONTO - The Toronto International Film Festival says it won't be scaling back because of the recession.
Festival director Piers Handling says the same number of titles will unspool when the annual movie marathon gets underway in September.
"We want to present the same size festival," Handling said Monday following an elaborate press conference to announce federal funds for TIFF and other cultural events.
"We're obviously being sensitive to the climate out there ...but we have no plans to make the festival smaller. We think it feels very comfortable this year -- it's still a relatively cheap ticket for the audience to come to the festival that's important for us to keep it still accessible."
The assurance came as Peter Kent, minister of state of foreign affairs, announced a $3-million boost for the film festival. The cash is part of Ottawa's marquee tourism events program, designed to pump $100 million into various festivals and attractions.
Other funding recipients include the Calgary Stampede, the Edmonton Fringe Festival, the Shaw and Stratford theatre festivals and the Montreal jazz festival.
The Stratford festival recently announced it was putting 30 performances on hold due to slumping ticket sales in the economic downturn.
Kent said the government believes tourism is a key driver of the Canadian economy, and noted it contributes about two per cent annually to the GDP.
"Tourism has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world," Kent said as dozens of film industry guests noshed on popcorn and mini-cupcakes while sipping wine at the media event, held in a window-panelled ballroom at the top of a downtown hotel.
"Further expansion of Canada's tourism brand can increase tourism export revenues at home and provide stimulus to the economy at a very critical time. Given the global economic uncertainty, now is the time to act to strengthen our investment."
Handling said the cash injection will allow TIFF to aggressively court U.S. tourists, especially those in the border states. Festival co-director Cameron Bailey said it will also allow TIFF to offer more free events such as outdoor movie screenings and music concerts.
Bailey said the federal funds come with clear guidelines on what they can and cannot be used for.
"This money is for marketing, to draw tourists," Bailey said. "It's not operational funding at all so none of our regular activities can we put this towards."
Although the economic downturn was not expected to curtail the typically splashy red carpet events planned for the festival, the financial meltdown will likely colour the event in other ways, he added.
"The festival really is an arena to generate debate around films and ideas including the recession, including how the economy is effecting people," Bailey said.
"You'll see this happening in the theatres, in the Q&A sections and in some of our industry events at the festival. We want to give people an opportunity to just talk about what's going on and how the last year's been for them."
Handling said it was too early to say what kind of films will come to TIFF, and whether they will be coloured by the financial meltdown.
"Filmmakers tend to be ahead of the trend, to be honest, so I think the last year or two you've probably see work that's been a little bit darker, a little bit more unsettled," he said.
"People are just less secure in terms of their position in the world, their space in the world. I think we've seen that since 9-11, to be honest. I think the economic downturn is just a continuing reflection of the general uncertainty that everybody feels in the world around them."
TIFF runs Sept. 10 to 19.
