Ep. 80: Piers Handling on TIFF’s Past and Future

This week on TIFF Long Take, Rob and Geoff welcome TIFF’s Director and CEO, Pier’s Handling. This will be Handling’s final festival in charge of TIFF, having assumed his current position in 1994. He originally joined the festival in 1982.   Handling looks back on the films that made him a cinephile, his first exposure to the Toronto International Film Festival, and biggest challenges facing film festivals now vs. 40 years ago.   He also discusses how TIFF’s philosophy has evolved since it was founded in 1976, the long road to opening the TIFF Bell Lightbox in 2010, and what audiences are looking for from a film festival in 2018.