This week saw the first program preview of the Toronto International Film Festival, with 25 world premieres and special presentations. This festival can sometimes be confused with a Class A festival, but it must be clear that Toronto has a different category than Cannes, Berlin, Venice, or San Sebastian.
Class A festivals are those that are part of the Competitive Feature Film Festivals category established by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, FIAPF. This classification is the most important in the world and is divided into four categories:
- Competitive Feature Film Festivals
- Competitive Specialised Feature Film Festival
- Non-competitive Feature Film Festival
- Documentary and Short Film Festivals
Competitive feature film festivals for world and international premieres comprise a select list of 15 festivals: Berlin, Cannes, Shanghai, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Montreal, Venice, San Sebastian, Warsaw, Tokyo, Tallinn, Mar del Plata, Cairo, and India-Goa. It should be noted that Montreal has been experiencing many problems in recent years, and its accreditation is under review.
Although international and world premieres are, a priori, a requirement for Class A festivals, there are some cases that admit premieres in their countries of origin or very specific geographical areas, such as Mar del Plata in Argentina, Tokyo in East Asia, and Tallinn in Europe (although always prioritizing world and international premieres).
As we can see in this list, the Toronto Festival does not appear; it is part of the non-competitive festival category along with Viennale. Although Toronto awards some audience prizes, it lacks a jury and an international competitive feature film category. This is one of the keys to its development over the years, allowing it to have a broader film program where films do not compete for a major award.
The specialized festivals category consists of a broader list, dedicated to very specific themes. There are several types: festivals dedicated to young audiences, to first and second films, to fantasy and horror cinema, etc. These total 26 festivals, including the Spanish ones in Gijón, Cinema Jove, and Sitges, and their complete list is also published at this link.
The classification of documentary and short film festivals is somewhat outdated and shows that this classification (and FIAPF’s own website) needs revision. It consists of only 5 festivals: Tampere, Oberhausen, Krakow, Saint Petersburg, and Zinebi in Bilbao. Considering the development of short film and documentary festivals, I find it hard to understand why there are so few, and why there aren’t two different classifications.
When we start preparing the distribution strategy, we must take this classification very seriously, as it comprises 48 festivals, including some of the most important in the world, and not just the Class A festivals.
Special attention should also be paid to specialized festivals, where we might have more options, both for feature films and for the short film sections of these festivals.