TORONTO – A new festival celebrating English and French-language Canadian programming is set to debut this fall.
The Canadian International Television Festival (CITF) will open on November 16, 2013 at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, with Bell Media, the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Canadian Media Production Association (CMPA) as key supporters.
As the first event of its kind in Canada, the not-for-profit CITF is open to the public, journalists, broadcasting students, advertisers, and the industry to discover and enjoy new and returning English and French-language Canadian programs.
The festival will also salute the diversity of the global television community, in acknowledgement of Canada's expanding presence internationally, with screenings of full episodes and retrospectives, as well as previews and other short-form content. Live events will include cast reunions, Q&As, script readings, and more.
“The CITF will become an annual event for creators to directly interact with consumers in a dynamic and supportive environment. Social TV does not get any more social than at a public festival,” said David Heath and John Galway of the CITF’s board of directors in a release.
“Television has never been more engaging, relevant, and transformative,” said Kevin Crull, president, Bell Media. “We can’t think of a better way to mark this golden age of television than by supporting a public festival that invites viewers and creators to celebrate TV.”
CMF president and CEO Valerie Creighton noted: “The festival model has been a great marketing tool for other cultural products in Canada, and this festival will enable Canadians to appreciate our home-grown productions in a whole new setting. Our partnership with the CITF will support our objective to rally the industry around the promotion of Canadian audiovisual content and get Canadians excited about the quality and success of our industry.”
The new festival also supports a group initiative spearheaded by the CMF and Telefilm, said CMPA president and CEO Michael Hennessy. “The new Eye on Canada campaign was announced in Banff and is making headway on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag ‘eyeoncanada’.”
Additional details about the CITF, including information about events, schedule, tickets, and more will be made available in the coming months.
