TORONTO — Agents and industry representatives were partying last night on the TIFF Bell Lightbox rooftop in celebration of Turkish cinema.

Turkey has two movies showing at the Toronto International Film Festival this year – ‘Kor’ and ‘Tereddüt.’ The Turkish Consulate General Culture and Information Office hopes the films will showcase the beauty and culture of the destination, and in-turn, inspire more tourists to visit.

Taking into account how much the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy impacted tourism in New Zealand, it’s easy to see why destinations are keen to have movies promoting their landscapes and culture.

Turkey is one of 40+ destinations that are being promoted at TIFF this year, almost double from the previous year. As part of the Industry Centre at TIFF, destinations will promote themselves to producers, directors, and media with exhibition style booths. Country representatives are in Toronto to not only sell their movies to distributors, but also scout for possible filming locations.

Part of film promotion also includes VIP parties like the one last night. These soirees bring producers and distributors together to try and make a sale and to help promote the movies to media. Parties are also a chance to thank industry partners, as was the case last night with representatives from the Turkish Consulate General, Turkish Airlines, WestJet, The Travel Corporation, New Wave Travel, Able Travel, and Travel Savers. Over 300 guests were in attendance last night, all of which were treated to a special performance by Turkish psychedelic rock band BaBaZula.

The travel industry was out enjoying the nights festivities. Credit: Darlene Paolucci.

‘Kor’ will be showing at TIFF on Sept. 17 while ‘Tereddüt’ will be showing on Sept. 13, 15 and 16.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qyEvbGxWaU

To buy tickets, go to tiff.net.