The Toronto International Film Festival Symposium is largely focused on new media this year. ‘We are looking at what’s new, what’s hot and, given these new initiatives, who is making deals. We also want to look into what role is out there for traditional producers,’ says Symposium head Debbie Nightingale.

The Symposium is also doing a roundup on Europe, something that hasn’t been done in years, she says. Moderating the session, ‘Euro Cash or Euro Trash,’ is Telefilm’s European chief Bill Niven. Speakers include efdo distribution president Dieter Kosslick and bbc film head Mark Shivas.

Last year it was Mexico, this year it’s Brazil that is the subject of a producers conference. Moderating is the Sundance Institute’s Geoffrey Gilmore. Panelists include Jose Carlos Avellar, director of Riofilm, three Brazilian filmmakers, and the Brazilian Ministry of Culture’s Vera Zaverucha. Plans are to discuss coproduction opportunities between Canada and Brazil, following the signing of the official coproduction treaty earlier this year.

Nightingale says she expects 1,200 registered delegates by the time the event is underway, matching last year’s attendance. The reason the symposium moves from its usual weekend slot to Monday and Tuesday this year is because of a wedding, says Nightingale, although she says she was losing more and more people each year to the Canadian Film Centre’s weekend barbecue, so it works out for the best this way.

The Toronto International Film Festival Symposium this year has introduced an industry center that Nightingale says is intended to ‘incorporate everyone under one umbrella. We were looking for better ways to serve the industry – to service producers who do and who don’t have films in the festival and to facilitate presales.’

Nightingale emphasizes that the new creation is not a market and ‘not meant to be a market.’ The plan is to have a center where buyers, prebuyers, distributors, sellers and producers from in and out of town can meet and deal.

To facilitate deals, Nightingale and her team have set up a presales desk which will be operated each day of the festival by the likes of Charlotte Mickie, senior vp of international film sales at Alliance International; Shane Kinnear of Telefilm Canada’s sales and distribution office; Deborah Drisdell, manager of coproductions at Telefilm; Barbara Barde of Upfront Entertainment; and Dan Johnson of the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters.

Also on the center slate are micro-meetings – limited gatherings of prebuyers, festival directors, directors and producers who will meet to hear what someone like Shivas is looking for and what kind of coproductions he deems possible.

‘These are mini-symposiums that offer an opportunity to talk to these people on a much more intimate scale,’ says Nightingale.

Meetings will be limited to 10 or 12 people and will take place daily. Daniel Weinzweig, managing director of Mayfair Entertainment, Michael Donaldson, founding partner of Berton and Donaldson, and Perspective Canada co-ordinator David McIntosh will also be hosting meetings.

Extending the ever-expanding collection of pitching workshops, Jan Miller, executive director of the National Screen Institute, will be on hand to share her expertise in pitching, conducting one-on-one sessions with producers.

Keying into some of the unexplored wonders of the Internet, the center offers the opportunity for international buyers, who are not in Toronto at festival time, to access registered delegates online and vice versa.

The industry center is adjacent to the long-standing Sales and Industry Office, which will, for now, operate as it always has. PC