The Toronto International Film Festival is reducing the amount of films in its 2017 programming lineup by 20% and cutting two of its 16 curated streams. 

The 2016 festival, which some called “too big,” featured a whopping 296 features and 101 short films. In comparison, the Sundance Film Festival screens approximately 200 features and shorts combined each year, while The Berlinale hosted a similarly large 395 films in 2016.

In a release announcing the decision, the festival’s artistic director, Cameron Bailey said TIFF’s challenge is to balance “a generous choice of movies for over 400,000 festival-goers with maintaining strong curatorial focus.”

To help to do so, the festival announced it will no longer offer its Vanguard and City to City programs. The Vanguard section featured dark and edgy art house flicks, while City to City showcased films and filmmakers from a different international city each year. Last year, the festival focused on Lagos, Nigeria’s booming film industry, dubbed “Nollywood.”

TIFF also announced additions and changes to its programming team. In addition to Peter Kuplowsky, who takes over for long-time Midnight Madness curator Colin Geddes, Kiva Reardon will now handle Africa and the Middle East.

Kathleen McInnis, who programmed the Short Cuts section for three years, is no longer with the festival. Jason Anderson and Danis Goulet will now handle the section.

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