TIFF Announces Senior Director, Film and Vice-President Appointments

Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head, and Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, today announced several appointments to the Senior Management team at TIFF.

Diana Sanchez has been appointed to the newly created role of Senior Director, Film, effective April 15, 2019. Sanchez will oversee the programming strategy for the Toronto International Film Festival; TIFF Cinematheque; Film Circuit, the organization’s nationwide film network; and Theatrical release programming at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Sanchez has a long-standing relationship with TIFF that began in the Festival’s Guest Office in 1998. A lover of Spanish-language cinema, she has been responsible for selecting the Festival’s films from Latin America, Spain, and Portugal since 2002. In that time, Sanchez has developed strong relationships with a wide range of filmmakers, including Pedro Almodóvar, Lucrecia Martel, Guillermo del Toro, and Sebastián Lelio. In addition to her work at TIFF, Sanchez has worked as the Artistic Director of the Panama Film Festival since its inception in 2011, and programmed for the Rotterdam Film Festival, the Miami Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Latino Film Festival, where she served as Programming Director.

“The Senior Director of Film position was created to bring our curatorial strategies for the Festival and year-round film programming closer together,” said Cameron Bailey. “Diana and I will work with film programming teams to amplify the cumulative impact of TIFF’s singular resources: a prominent film festival, a globally respected cinematheque, one of the best art-house cinemas in the world, and a national network of Film Circuit groups that reaches film lovers and knowledge seekers across Canada. I look forward to beginning work with Diana as she makes her transition to the new position, and am excited for her to be part of the future of TIFF.”

On the operational and revenue-generating side of TIFF, Laura Ryan, who has been with the organization for four years, takes on the role of Vice President, Visitor Experience. Ryan’s responsibility encompasses all teams that curate customer experience at every touchpoint at TIFF, which include the Event, Technical Production, Ticketing Operations, Retail, and Customer Service teams. Prior to TIFF, Ryan worked in Finance and IT, leading groups responsible for Sales and Customer Service globally.

Jennifer Frees takes on the role of Vice President, Partnerships, which oversees over 100 partner accounts. Frees, who has been at TIFF for eight years, will continue to provide senior sales, negotiation, and property-development direction for the organization’s corporate, festival, event and hospitality partnerships. Under her direction, TIFF Partnerships has become one of the most successful partner programmes in the film festival world.

“We are very excited that both Laura and Jennifer have taken on these newly created leadership roles with TIFF,” said Joana Vicente. “Both of these individuals possess an incredible business acumen and overall leadership vision that will benefit the organization for years to come. Their hard work is a large part of the current day success of TIFF, and we are privileged to have their voices on the Senior Management team.”

About TIFF

TIFF is a charitable cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world through film. An international leader in film culture, TIFF projects include the annual Toronto International Film Festival in September; TIFF Bell Lightbox, which features five cinemas, major exhibitions, and learning and entertainment facilities; and innovative national distribution program Film Circuit. The organization generates an annual economic impact of $189 million CAD. TIFF Bell Lightbox is generously supported by contributors including Founding Sponsor Bell, the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Reitman family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel and Susan Michaels), The Daniels Corporation and RBC. For more information, visit tiff.net.

TIFF is generously supported by Lead Sponsor Bell, Major Sponsors RBC, L’Oréal Paris, and Visa, and Major Supporters the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the City of Toronto.