Festival prepares for year without Bell sponsorship

Flow, Listerine, Beyond Meat among dozens of new event backers

- TARA DESCHAMPS

While Bell and Bulgari are missing from this year's roster, Toronto International Film Festival CEO Cameron Bailey said the number of partners it has gained shows just how highly regarded the event remains.

When the Toronto International Film Festival rolls out the red carpet to welcome Hollywood’s top stars this week, it will do so with dozens of new brand supporters that organizers hope will put to rest any notions the event has lost some of its corporate cachet.

TIFF said Tuesday the number of companies backing this year’s iteration of the festival reached 94, a number that is up 25 per cent from 2023 and includes 37 new backers including water purveyor Flow, mouthwash label Listerine and food firm Beyond Meat.

While major sponsors Bell and Bulgari are missing from this year’s roster, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said last week that the number of partners they’ve gained shows the public just how highly regarded the event remains.

“I think they will see the confidence the business community holds in TIFF,” he told The Canadian Press.

TIFF did not disclose the monetary value of any of its deals, but Bailey has said the amount raised is “enough to do what we need to do.”

Bailey’s remarks come nearly a year after lead sponsor and 28-year backer Bell revealed 2023 would be its last as a TIFF partner. The telecommunications firm said it was pulling its support “to invest in other opportunities that are core to our business.”

Also gone is luxury jeweller Bulgari, which reportedly inked a threeyear deal in 2022 for “major sponsor” status but was not listed in this year’s festival material and did not respond to requests for comment.