As the countdown from ten began and a beaming Toronto International Film Festival director Piers Handling raised his giant ceremonial scissors, the tears started to flow.

At the count of one, Handling sliced through a great strip of celluloid film Sunday to inaugurate Bell Lightbox, the festival’s new year-round home, ending years of hurdles and delay.

“We’ve sweated for this. We’ve raised money for this. I always thought that we would do it. Even when we had challenges in our way, I always thought we’d do it,” Handling said minutes after the ribbon-cutting.

At his side during the official opening was Bell Lightbox artistic director Noah Cowan and TIFF executive director Michelle Maheaux, both overcome with emotion.

“It’s been an amazing journey, with a lot of support from the community and staff,” Maheux said.

“It’s the best gift for the organization, to get this building. It’s young and hip and an invitation for everyone in Toronto to come in and hang about,” she added.

The ribbon-cutting had been preceded by the start of a giant block party on King Street, complete with rock bands and free cupcakes for a throng of ordinary Torontonians joining in the celebration.

Also joining in the revelry was Hollywood director Ivan Reitman, who had a hand in building Bell Lightbox on family-owned land contributed to TIFF for a permanent home.

“I’m going to keep shooting. I have to get it for my archives as well,” Reitman said as he held up a smartphone to capture a home movie video of the moment while a phalanx of news cameras captured his broad smile for the evening news.

“It’s a beautiful building, which has been their [TIFF’s] dream for decades, and it’s been a dream for my family. That it’s finally real is meaningful for them and certainly for my family,” Reitman said later after a cake cutting.

Also attending Sunday was Jason Reitman, Ivan’s son, who had no doubt about the potential jolt to TIFF from the opening of a first-ever festival hub on King Street.

“[Bell Lightbox] only secures the Toronto film festival as the most important film festival in the world,” he said.

Other front row players on hand for the Bell Lightbox ribbon cutting: TIFF founders Bill Marshall, Henk van der Kolk and Joan Cohl, wife of the late Dusty Cohl, and Canadian filmmakers Richie Mehta and Chris Chong Chan Fui.

Bell Lightbox will host festival events through September 19, before reopening on September 23 for a fall film and event lineup, the first of many to come.