After 20 years in operation, VIFF’s venerable professional development events kick off Sept. 27 with a new director, a new name, and a new focus.

‘It was time to update the image and direction to reflect the needs of today’s more seasoned filmmakers, in addition to emerging ones,’ says new program director Helen du Toit of the renamed Film & Television Forum.

‘We dropped ‘Trade’ from our name because it was misleading,’ she continues. ‘People thought it was exhibits. It’s a forum, where industry professionals come to talk about the art and business of TV and filmmaking and make contacts.’

Du Toit takes over the reins from Melanie Friesen, who helmed the forum for two decades. (Friesen now hosts a monthly Cinema Salon event at the Vancouver International Film Centre.)

‘We have different backgrounds, and naturally what Melanie brought and what I bring to the programming is different,’ says du Toit.

Du Toit has previously been involved in independent film and TV production as well as festival programming. She was a programmer for the Toronto and Palm Springs film festivals, and taught independent producing for the Canadian Screen Training Centre. As producer of the Genie Award-winning feature Treed Murray, du Toit earned her business chops pitching to distributors and sales agents and at international film financing conferences.

‘What excites me most is the creative side, but I’m also interested in the business side that supports it,’ she says. ‘I’m aware that a lot of filmmakers here are in the indie world, so with my background, I hopefully have a strong perspective on what will appeal to them.’

This year the focus is on content, pitching, packaging and more intimate access to forum and festival guests. With this in mind, du Toit has booked a slate of creative kingpins to head up master classes.

On Sept. 29, Desperate Housewives writer and supervising producer Alexandra Cunningham will address the differences between writing for Canadian and U.S. TV, and will hone in on the art of writing the ‘teaser’ for TV drama. Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September) – who brings The Last King of Scotland, a new drama about reviled Ugandan president Idi Amin – will explore dramatic narrative in documentaries (Sept. 29). Meanwhile, screenwriter Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, The People vs. Larry Flint) dissects writing dramatic features (Sept. 28).

On the business side, du Toit believes that ‘Canadians need a paradigm shift.’ A highlight in the financing sessions is sure to be Open Forum: The Way Forward (Sept. 27), featuring Vancouver producer William Vince (Capote) of Infinity Features and Telefilm Canada executive director Wayne Clarkson talking about new sources for financing.

‘What I really hope is that producers come out and – gloves off – talk about what they need from government to attract the private sector back to the table,’ du Toit says. ‘They’ve done it in the States with hedge funds, so there’s no reason we can’t.’

New this year is Industry Hour, in which local professionals get an opportunity to mix, mingle and schmooze over nightly cocktails with VIFF and forum guests.

Meanwhile, the new Speed Dating Sessions are geared to emerging filmmakers who get 10 minutes to pitch projects to local producers, senior execs and broadcasters from the likes of Infinity, Insight Film Studios, Omni Film Productions, Global Television, Brightlight Pictures and Crescent Entertainment.

For those directors and cinematographers who are more familiar with video imaging but want to get their hands on some film technology, Kodak is offering the ‘Stop By. Shoot Film’ workshops (Sept. 27-28), which allow guests to shoot 16mm film and learn the basics of the format.

New Filmmakers’ Day – always a standing-room-only event for newbie filmmakers – returns on Sept. 30 with appropriately cast thesp Sarah Polley – who screens her feature directorial debut Away from Her at the fest – heading a class examining the relationship between actors and directors.

The Film & Television Forum holds court at the year-old Vancouver International Film Centre.

www.viff.org/forum