Savvy buyers and sellers will, of course, keep their best insights to themselves. And film festival markets are unpredictable at best. But with every Toronto International Film Festival comes speculation about trends in the deal-making. And so we ask:

What will be hot, or not, at the TIFF market?

After last year’s TIFF, buyers are wary of war/political/pro-social titles. Given the credit crunch, uplifting narratives and ‘feel-good’ pics will be high on people’s agendas.
Robert Walak, SVP, worldwide acquisitions,
Alliance Films

I actually think that Canada is hot. There are great comedies, high-concept fare and some accessible, potentially commercial movies. And, as always, there are beautiful, sophisticated films from newcomers like Charles Officer and high-profile veterans like Atom Egoyan and Deepa Mehta. We’re investing our time and money in Canada. I think that the scene here is really mature and balanced, with a wonderful diversity of voices and styles.
Charlotte Mickie, managing director,
Maximum Films International

No one has a crystal ball – it could be anything. You use your flare, what you hear, what you read. It could be something not even on your radar…But [Bill Maher’s doc] Religulous – there’s terrific buzz around it from what I understand. This is going to be the highlight of the festival. It’s so unusual.
Yves Dion, president,
TVA Films

Midnight Madness has been gaining a ton of attention over the last few years and is becoming one of the hottest programs at TIFF for potential buyers. Hats off to Colin Geddes and TIFF for consistently great programming. Not so hot are the gala presentations – often these films are already assigned to a North American studio or distributor, so for domestic buyers, these screenings are usually a wash. And foreign-language films, too. It’s sad but true. The Canadian marketplace has gotten extremely tough on exploiting anything with subtitles.
Robin Smith, president,
KinoSmith Films

We’ll see films from Bavaria that have both the quality and marketability to reach out to broader audiences.
Thorsten Ritter,
Bavaria Film International