The Inaugural Canadian International Television Festival launches on November 16, 2013

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TORONTO (July 10,2013) – The Canadian International TelevisionFestival (CITF) will open on November 16, 2013with Bell Media, the Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Canadian Media ProductionAssociation (CMPA) as key supporters. The not-for-profit CITF will be the firsttelevision showcase festival in Canada and will provide a familiar platform forthe public, journalists, broadcasting students, advertisers, and the industryto discover and enjoy new and returning English and French-language Canadianprograms.  The CITF will also salute the diversity of the globaltelevision community, in acknowledgement of Canada’s expanding presenceinternationally. On the big screen at TIFF Bell Lightbox, Canada’s top cinemacomplex, the CITF will exhibit full episodes and retrospectives, as well aspreviews and other short-form content; while on-stage and on the red-carpet,fans will see cast reunions, Q&As, script readings, and other live events.

“Content made for television has become even more important to themulti-platform media world,” remarked David Heath and John Galway of theCITF’s Board of Directors. “The CITF will become an annual event for creatorsto directly interact with consumers in a dynamic and supportive environment.Social TV does not get any more social than at a public festival.”

“Television has never been more engaging, relevant, and transformative,” said KevinCrull, President, Bell Media. “We can’t think of a better way to mark thisgolden age of television than by supporting a public festival that invitesviewers and creators to celebrate TV.”

The CMF’s President and CEO Valerie Creighton continued: “We are pleased to getinvolved with the Canadian InternationalTelevision Festival. The festival model has been a great marketing tool forother cultural products in Canada, and this festival will enable Canadians toappreciate our home-grown productions in a whole new setting. Our partnershipwith the CITF will support our objective to rally the industry around thepromotion of Canadian audiovisual content and get Canadians excited about thequality and success of our industry.”

Michael Hennessy, President and CEO of the CMPA said, “Further to Valerie’scomments, the Canadian InternationalTelevision Festival also supports a group initiative spearheaded by the CMFand Telefilm. The new Eye on Canada campaign was announced in Banff and ismaking headway on Twitter and Facebook with the hashtag “eyeoncanada.”

Additional details about the CITF, including information aboutevents, schedule, tickets, social networking, etc. will be made availablein the months to come.

For additional information, contact:

MarioTassone

Publicist

416-889-6993

mariotass@gmail.com