The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is a marvel. What started as a small film festival in a city with almost no film presence has grown into one of the premiere movie events in the world. How did it happen? That’s exactly what Bill Marshall, one of our GLIDE speakers and a founder of TIFF, shared with us this evening.
Bill, with his Scottish brogue, believes in telling it like it is. So we paid attention when he noted that “process is the enemy of progress,” and urged Louisville to take this advice: “When you have an idea, don’t stop and listen to the people who know better. Because they don’t.”
According to Bill, TIFF was grown by leadership with a passion for films and a willingness to think big – and ignore assumptions. So what if Toronto had no film industry to speak of and Hollywood barely cared that it existed. The Festival founders believed in its potential, and found a way to capitalize on it.
The festival now generates a $200 million a year economic impact for Toronto. And as Bill explained, its function is every bit as important as other city services, like snow removal. It raises awareness of Toronto to new groups of people. In fact, a recent poll asked people across the world what they knew about Canada. Twenty percent named TIFF.
It’s the kind of growth that some of Louisville’s home-grown attractions could capture. The IdeaFestival, the Flyover Film Festival, St. James Art Fair, Humana Festival of New American Plays… you can imagine the possibilities.
We know this is a hot area of interest for our GLIDE attendees and the community at large. Today’s session was the start to a very exciting and passionate discussion in Greater Louisville.