William Marshall, who co-founded of the Toronto International Film Festival 40 years ago and saw it grow into one the foremost festivals in the world, died Sunday at the age of 77.
In a press release announcing Marshall’s death, TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling called Marshall “a pioneer if the Canadian film industry.
“His vision of creating a public festival that would bring the world to Toronto through the transformative power of cinema stands today as one of his most significant legacies.”
Marshall’s family said he was “in the business of making dreams become reality.”
Marshall produced hundreds of documentaries and earned credits on 13 different feature films.
Marshall, who immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1955, founded the Festival of Festivals in 1976 with Henk Van der Kolk and Dusty Cohl.
It now draws nearly 500,000 people and nearly 400 films from over 70 countries annually and is generally considered second only to Cannes in attracting high-profiles stars and films and is considered a key venue for generating so-called “Oscar Buzz.”
Nine Best Picture Oscar winners have received their premiere in Toronto in the last 11 years.
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