The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled the selections for its second annual Industry Selects program, with three Canadian projects among them.

The program, which was introduced in 2020, gives a select number of films access to the TIFF market, with buyers and sales agents able to screen them via the festival’s digital platform. It was launched as a way to give more global films market visibility at the festival, after the pandemic limited the number of titles TIFF could program as official selections.

TIFF chose 22 films in total for the 2021 Industry Selects group. Among the Canadian projects are the thriller The Last Mark (Gearshift Films/High Star Entertainment), directed by Reem Morsi; the drama Night Blooms (Shut up & Colour Pictures), directed by Stephanie Joline; and Canada/Malta copro Carmen (Toronto’s Aiken Heart Films/Malta’s Falkun Films), directed by Maltese-Canadian filmmaker Valerie Buhagiar.

“These titles, hand-selected by TIFF’s festival programming team and presented on our TIFF Digital Cinema Pro platform, are sure to garner interest from buyers,” said Diana Sanchez, senior director, film, in a statement. “They reflect the festival’s global spirit and showcase a host of new voices and international talent.”

The festival also revealed the full jury for its Platform programme, revealing Canadian filmmaker Kazik Radwanski as one of the five members. Radwanski competed in the category in 2019 with Anne at 13,000 ft, earning an honourable mention. The jury is led by actor Riz Ahmed, who was previously announced, along with British documentary filmmaker Clio Barnard, film critic Valerie Complex and Singaporean director Anthony Chen.

Drunken Birds (Les oiseaux ivres), the sophomore feature from Montreal director Ivan Grbovic, is among the films competition in the Platform programme.

TIFF updated its safety protocols this week, stating that all staff members, audiences and visitors to its indoor venues must either show proof that they are fully vaccinated or provide a confirmation that they’ve received a negative COVID-19 test within 48 hours of entry.

Image courtesy of TIFF