The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is set to host a groundbreaking film summit for trans and non-binary creators, industry partners and allies.

The Trans Filmmakers Summit x TIFF, scheduled for Sunday (Sept. 11), stems from the Trans Film Mentorship (TFM) organization, which is led by Gabrielle Zilkha and Anna Daliza and runs hands-on career development programming for trans and non-binary people on sets. The TFM’s founding partnership was made with writer-director Luis De Filippis’ transgender story Something You Said Last Night (pictured), a Canada/Switzerland copro from JA Productions having its world premiere at TIFF on Saturday (Sept. 10).

“I think this could be the first … mainstream big festival that has hosted a trans film summit, if I’m not mistaken,” Zilkha, a filmmaker and educator, tells Playback Daily. “Even amongst the queer film festival circuit, I’m not sure too many have the capacity to host a summit in general. I know Outfest has a trans film summit but it dawned on me: to have TIFF host something like this is such a huge move in visibility.”

Adds Something You Said Last Night producer Jessica Adams, who is helping organize the event: “With our film being a part of TIFF, we felt ‘What a great opportunity to highlight the Trans Film Mentorship and the projects that it’s been on and the creators that have been a part of those projects, and continue the conversation at TIFF.'”

Set to take place at TIFF Bell Lightbox’s Malaparte rooftop venue following the Inside Out TIFF Queer Brunch, the summit will have a Trans Creators Panel featuring De Filippis, Sort Of co-creator and star Bilal Baig, and Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, co-director and writer of the upcoming Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. They’ll discuss building trans community on set.

That will be followed by a Trans Actors Panel with actors Carmen Madonia (TIFF’ Rising Star and lead in Something You Said Last Night), Alina Khan (Joyland, TIFF ’22) and Miyoko Anderson (Soft, TIFF ’22). They’ll discuss building trans inclusivity into the filmmaking process.

The TFM will also present the first-ever Trans Barrier Breaker Award, which honours “a trans leader who is actively challenging the limitations of the media industry and disrupting the system, paving the way for more and better trans representation and storytelling,” according to a release. This year’s recipient is actor TS Madison (Bros, TIFF ’22).

The summit has a capacity for about 120 attendees. Support for the event has come from TIFF, Inside Out Film Festival, the Canada Media Fund, xoTO Screen Industry Pathways initiative, CBC and Ontario Creates.

Something You Said Last Night is De Filippis’ debut feature and stars Madonia as an aspiring 20-something writer, who is trans, and reluctantly goes on a family vacation. Adams says the film’s founding partnership with TFM came after the filmmakers realized “that in order to have trans representation behind the camera, there’s a need for training programs to allow for more opportunities for a lot of positions.”

Zilkha says she worked with Adams and De Filippis “on their vision of what this program is meant to achieve and what we could realistically achieve,” resulting in mindfulness-based career development workshops with skills training and work placement.

The partnership made them realize “it would be such a waste to stop there,” so after speaking with Sort Of producer Laura Perlmutter, they began the second cohort of the TFM on the CBC and HBO Max series.

There are now 10 graduates of the TFM training program and a third iteration is in the works with the Jackie Shane Documentary, produced by Banger Films and executive produced by Elliot Page.

“There’s just something about this moment that feels like there are a lot of people looking for ways to use film as an opportunity for change,” says Zilkha. “And not just the stories we tell, but the way we work. It’s such a collaborative medium. Imagine what that collaboration could look like in a little bit of a more inclusive and healthier way.”