(Toronto) The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced that it has reached an agreement with Rogers to make the telecommunications company its new presenting sponsor.
Rogers’ support for the annual event comes about a year after TIFF lost a sponsorship deal with longtime partner Bell.
Rogers spokeswoman Sarah Schmidt said her company’s deal was a one-year sponsorship that encompassed the festival, but not TIFF’s annual activities, which Bell has supported. She declined to share financial terms of the deal.
As part of the agreement, Rogers will support the TIFF Audience Awards and, along with the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto, will host a festival kickoff event in Yorkville on September 3. The partnership will also give Rogers customers access to VIP experiences, including screenings at the festival.
This announcement comes about a month before the launch of the 49e TIFF festival, September 5.
The film community will be watching TIFF closely this year to see if it can recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and two Hollywood strikes that have impacted attendance and star attraction to the event in recent years.