TIFF and Bell clarify end of 28-year sponsorship partnership

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The Toronto International Film Festival and telecom giant Bell have jointly clarified the end of their partnership.

Earlier this week, sources told The Globe and Mail that Bell was set to exit its position as lead sponsor of TIFF after this year’s edition of the annual September festival, concluding a long relationship between the two organizations that stretches back beyond the 2010 opening of the flagship TIFF Bell Lightbox multiplex in downtown Toronto.

Bell, a subsidiary of BCE Inc., contributes roughly $5-million each year to TIFF, making the company by far the largest single sponsor in TIFF’s portfolio of corporate partners, which also includes lower-tier “major” sponsors RBC, Visa and Bvlgari. In 2022, corporate sponsorships accounted for $13.4-million, or 28 per cent, of TIFF’s total earned revenue.

The Globe did not name its sources because they were not authorized to comment on the situation, while TIFF and Bell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, however, Judy Lung, TIFF’s vice-president of public relations and communications, released a statement to The Globe regarding the shift.

“Over the past 28 years, TIFF and Bell have enjoyed an historic partnership that has greatly contributed to the growth and success of our organizations. Earlier this year, we mutually agreed that this partnership would come to a close at the end of 2023. We extend our sincere gratitude to Bell for their unwavering support, dedication and collaborative spirit, and look forward to working with them in new ways.”

In a separate statement, Bell’s director of communications Ellen Murphy said that “earlier this year, we decided that the end of 2023 would be the right time to step back from our partnership with TIFF and opted not to renew our sponsorship in order to invest in other opportunities that are core to our business.”

“We are confident TIFF will continue to develop and showcase the world’s leading content to inform, educate and entertain the best audience in film. We’re grateful to have been a part of it all,” Murphy added.

Over the summer, BCE has been raising concerns about the economic realities facing its media division amid a challenging ad market and competition from foreign-owned streaming services. In June, the company cut 1,300 jobs and said it would shutter six radio stations and sell three others.

TIFF, meanwhile, now faces a significant challenge in securing a new lead sponsor. Not only are corporations re-examining their sponsorship priorities due to shifting market headwinds, but there is also a limited number of companies operating in Canada with the size, reach and mandate to make a deal with TIFF make sense from a financial and branding perspective.

The country’s remaining major banks might not appreciate sharing the spotlight with RBC, for instance, while putting a Netflix logo atop the Lightbox would surely alienate TIFF’s many studio and distribution partners.

“We look forward to continuing to grow and innovate with the support and collaboration of current and future partners,” Lung said.

The Bell news arrives as TIFF, still recovering from two massively stripped down pandemic-era festivals, faces financial uncertainty due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes. With U.S. screenwriters and actors currently walking the picket lines, this year’s TIFF will not have the full range of high-wattage celebrities that the Toronto festival has been renowned for attracting.