California-based Next Wave Films is among the first to register a presence at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, toting a top-up fund exclusively for low-budget independently produced features.

Commenting that Canadian filmmakers have a particular knack for the low-budget genre, Next Wave president Peter Broderick is on board to run a Rogers Industry Centre micro-meeting. His Santa Monica company’s new top-up funding initiative has financing available for up to four fiction or non-fiction features per year with budgets not exceeding us$200,000.

Sponsored by the Independent Film Channel (sister service to Bravo! in the u.s.) the top-up is capped at us$100,000 and kicks in only at the post-production stage. In return for financing, the filmmaker antes up basic cable rights to the ifc.

New Wave is also prepared to help producers develop and implement a festival strategy and carve out other financing and distribution networks.

Although the fund is available to all English-language productions, Broderick says he’s particularly interested in Canadian filmmakers. ‘At one of my first Toronto festivals, I saw Live Bait (Bruce Sweeney), The Suburbanators (Gary Burns) and Curtis’s Charm (John L’Ecuyer) and I was very impressed. They were amongst those getting the most attention at the festival. Then Kissed (Lynne Stopkewich) happened. There’s a lot of talent there.’

Advisors to the New Wave fund include Neil Jordan, Stephen Frears and John Sayles. Atom Egoyan, Mina Shum and Stopkewich make up the Canadian contingent.

In other ramp-up news to tiff, taking place Sept. 4-13, a trade mission of u.k. filmmaking reps as well as producers under the banner of a newly formed pan-European association have confirmed plans to scout deal-making opportunities in Hogtown.

The Producers Alliance For Cinema and Television (pact), representing u.k. indie feature filmmakers, is organizing roughly 20 of its producers seeking copro and financing opportunities, as well as a number of the country’s buyers and distributors.

Confirmed participants at press time are Nik Powell of Scala Productions (The Crying Game), Steve Clark-Hall of Skyline Films (coproducer of Love and Death on Long Island) and distributor Jane Balfour.

European filmmakers will be heading to tiff under the banner of the European Film Promotion, a recently formed umbrella group of 17 film marketing and export organizations from 16 countries. Reps of the member organizations will be based at the Rogers Industry Centre where they will assist the entourage of European producers.

‘The Toronto festival is an important gateway to the North American marketplace,’ says efp spokesperson Susan Norget, noting that the organization will act as a liaison service in Toronto, facilitating meetings between European and North American filmmakers and buyers.

As well, the efp will be working with the festival to set up a series of coproduction get-togethers to match up European directors and producers with their North American counterparts.

‘It’s difficult for us to get to the other side of the ocean and tiff is a good boat,’ says Swiss Films’ managing director Kathrin Muller. Director Peter Liechte will attend the screening of his film Martha’s Garden with Muller, who is also shepherding a number of other filmmakers and distributors seeking prods. She says the festival is a crucial venue for the Swiss film industry to meet up with North Americans.

Other efp members and their key reps attending tiff are British Screen Finance’s Simon Perry, the Austrian Film Commission’s Martin Schweighofer, Bruno Berthemy at Unifrance Film International, the Swedish Film Festival’s Stephan Gronberg, Danish Film Institute’s Lissy Bellaiche, Christian Dorsch of the Export-Union des Deutschen Films, Flanders Image’s Rita G’egebeur, the Finnish Film Foundation’s Kirsi Tykkylainen, and Jan Erik Holst of the Norwegian Film Institute.

Also attending are Vvoula Georgakaou from the Greek Film Centre, Holland Film’s Claudia Landsberger, Icelandic Film Fund’s Anna Maria Karlsdottir, Carmelo Romero at Instituto de Cine (ICAA Spain), Ana Costa Almeida from the Instituto Portugues da Arte Cinematografica, Juliette Duret at Wallonie Bruxelles Images, and the Irish Film Board.

Industry Centre micro-meeting sessions, roughly four to five one-hour meetings per day over an eight-day run, are currently being programmed. At press time, confirmed industry guests included Sydney Levine, president of Film Finders, an American company that tracks films from start to finish; and pact chairman Graham Benson, who will discuss what England has to offer Canadians.

Booking micro-meeting spots, limited to 15 participants per session, begins Aug. 20.

The Sept. 8-9 Symposium program will devote a day to changes on the British landscape, with BBC Drama’s David Thomson taking part in a session on tv. Reps from Channel 4, Granada, Carlton and Channel 5 have been invited.

A non-broadcast tv panel moderated by pact’s Benson will hear from the new satellite and cable operators, and two sessions on film production ­ one dealing with the franchise lottery winners and possible international copro opportunities, the second on non-franchise producers ­ will be headed by Perry at British Screen.

Keynote speaker lined up for Sept. 8 is l.a.-based Tom Shulman, who penned the script for Dead P’ets Society and What About Bob, executive produced Indecent Proposal and recently wrote and directed Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag.

The workshop slate includes ‘Show Me The Money: Sorting out Telefilm and CTCPF’s Status,’ moderated by Michael Donovan of Salter Street Films, Halifax, with panelists Garry Toth from the ctcpf and Telefilm Canada’s Danny Charlifour.

Ann Frank will run a hands-on screenplay workshop, ‘Telling It,’ and Levine of Film Finders is heading up the panel ‘New Financing Models.’

Also on the Symposium sked are ‘New Horizons: An Exploratory Look at Canada/Asia Coproductions;’ ‘Rogers, Hammerstein and Me,’ on how to put together a successful soundtrack deal; ‘Hot Shots,’ an intro to the rising stars with debut films at the festival; and ‘The Toy Story: Merchandising and the Producer’s Role.’