As the 22nd Toronto International Film Festival shifts into high gear, a record number of international buyers grounded in Hogtown for the week are placing high expectations on market opportunities for film sales.

The Rogers Industry Centre Sales Office is reporting 42 new companies with 55 new acquisitions execs registered as of Sept. 1. Of these participants, 23 hail from Europe, with most of the stepped-up presence coming from Italy, Switzerland and Germany. From Latin and South America, six new buyers are on the list, five each from Scandinavia and the Asia Pacific Rim, two from the u.s., and one from South Africa.

In total, over 420 sales agents and buyers have registered as of Sept. 1, up 70 from last year’s comparable figures, with at least 50 more companies expected. Representation includes 85 American, 11 German, nine British, six Japanese and four Australian companies.

The initial buzz around Canadian titles, generated in no small part by Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter and the success of some of last year’s Canadian offerings, is sparking the interest of international buyers, says sales office executive Kelley Alexander.

Mina Shum has a large following in the u.s. with the success of Double Happiness, so her latest feature Drive, She Said has buyer interest perked, as does Gary Burns’ follow-up comedy Kitchen Party. Buyers impressed with Clement Virgo’s Rude are looking to screen The Planet of Junior Brown. ‘The film has a broad-based appeal – it’s the type of film that can work commercially,’ says Alexander, who is also fielding calls from buyers looking for information on first-time comedy feature filmmakers such as Josh Levy and Andrew Hayes (Hayseed). Psychological thrillers are seldom produced on Canadian soil, leaving distribs eager to screen Vincenzo Natali’s feature debut Cube, says Alexander.

But while Canadian films are on the must-see list, the sales windows are wide open. Foreign and domestic distributors alike will have access to ‘huge opportunities,’ says Marina Cordoni, vp international for Norstar Entertainment.

‘There are always the usual suspects who tour the festivals – the high-profile reps who buy multi-territories and the studio guys, but this year I am hearing from many more independent, individual territory buyers from around the world.’

Whereas France has been represented mostly by large distributors in the past, Cordoni has been contacted by a number of independents making the tiff trek. She is also noting increased participation among Australian companies.

With 281 films from 58 countries unspooling over the course of 10 days, the general consensus among buyers is that the Toronto fest is a must.

‘Many films start their festival run at Toronto and this venue exposes us to a broad range of pictures,’ says Daniel Gerst of PFG Entertainment, an l.a.-based company which financed and distributed Killing Zoe, written and directed by Pulp Fiction cowriter Roger Avery. He says he ‘would jump at the opportunity’ to come on board a Canadian project as coproducer and take advantage of the government funding incentives available in the country.

pfg prebuys projects budgeted between $2.5 million to $10 million and acquires finished dramas, comedies, thrillers, docs and foreign-language films in the $1-million to $6-million range.

‘Toronto is one of the most important festivals because of the variety of films,’ agrees Oded Horowitz of United King Films in Tel Aviv, which distributes films theatrically in Israel and also sells for tv and video. ‘Most of the titles I want to see are here.’

With Israel becoming increasingly Americanized, Horowitz is seeking English-language art house films, particularly from the u.s. and Canada, and with the competition for film rights heating up, United King is increasing its slate of presales.

Aiming to talk copros as well as acquisition sales is l.a.’s Kuzui Enterprises, producers of Telling Lies In America. Laurie Fisher, vp of acquisitions and coproductions, picks up art films as well as more commercial fare for theatrical, video and pay-tv distribution.

Kuzui has a distribution base in Japan, where Fisher says shelf space for features is growing with Star tv and Direct tv developing satellite networks. On the copro front the company is interested in projects under $10 million, and she says opportunities are ripe for small indies with up-and-coming writers/directors.

The high quality of titles programmed at tiff is drawing back veterans of the fest.

‘At some festivals you sit through a lot of rubbish and that certainly wasn’t true of tiff last year,’ says Steve Jenkins, bbc’s editor of feature films, who is eager for titles for BBC 2’s Sunday night slot with strands for edgy, independent films and foreign-language flicks. He acquires roughly 50 first-run features per year ranging in budget from £20,000 to £1.5 million.

With acquisition prices rising, market competition fierce and many territories closed by the time films hit the festival circuit, Jenkins says the bbc is venturing further into presales. BBC 2 prebuys roughly 10 films per year and is increasingly taking not only free tv rights but also pay-tv, theatrical and video.

The u.k. market is flooded with titles looking for screen space, so provocative material that stirs controversy, generates press and ultimately draws audiences is high on Jenkins’ wish list as are scripts centering on internationally known historical figures/subjects or literary properties.

Buyers are commenting on the public component as an additional plus to tiff. As pointed out by bbc’s executive producer single drama David Thompson, viewing films with an audience helps gauge a film’s commerciality, particularly indie films without recognizable names attached.

The bbc is widening its array of films to include not only what he dubs the broadcaster’s traditionally ‘sedate period films’ but an increasing number of darker, edgier films.

High levels of controversy and emotion as well as universal themes are on the shopping list for Ellen Pittleman, a buyers rep for three l.a.-based companies: Bottomville World Wide Entertainment, which recently wrapped Let’s Ruin Dad’s Day, and produces and distributes family-oriented films without sex, violence or rough language; Initial Entertainment, which produces and acquires films of all genres and just locked the Oliver Stone picture Saviour; and American World Pictures, headed by Commando director Mark Lester, which primarily deals in thrillers and action adventure.

Also with a number of irons in the fire is New York-based Gotham Entertainment Group. Company partner Joel Roodman is sniffing out ‘commercially viable’ projects under $10 million with writers and directors attached, which Gotham would finance, produce or exec produce. Roodman is also tracking films to pick up later for the college distribution arm.

Documentaries and musical/ arts films are the specialty of Sydney Neter Distribution in Amsterdam, which sells to European television markets. Demand is high for light, entertaining docs which rely more on visuals and action rather than talking heads and voice-overs, says Sydney Neter.

He’s finding expanding windows at nhk, which offers licence fees of roughly us$10,000 per hour, and Spain, generally a difficult market to break, is opening up with the launch of new pay-tv upstarts.

Scandinavia, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Holland are also hot markets for docs, he says, as are the public broadcasters in France, Germany and Switzerland. arte in France and Germany is programming theme evenings for social lifestyle, political and music programs, paying up to $40,000 per hour, he says.

Also eyeing the docs, Jan Rofekamp of Montreal-based international distributor Films Transit is particularly interested in films on internationally known filmmakers and cinema in general, which he says make for solid sales on the world market.

A contingent of roughly 20 u.k. producers under the banner of the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television is scouting copro and financing opps as well as bringing over a number of buyers and distributors.