TIFF on Monday unveiled its selection for its first-ever international financing and project market.

Among the highlights is an animated feature with an all-star voice cast, including Keke Palmer, Alan Cumming, Common, and Regina Hall attached; a collaboration between acclaimed Indian-Canadian director Deepa Mehta (Fire, Earth, Water) and Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons; and a drama headlined by Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin (CODA, Children of a Lesser God) and Jacob Tremblay (Room, Wonder).

The lineup also boasts a new documentary featuring Booker Prize winner Marlon James (Underground Railroad) and a host of projects from Toronto Film Fest alums, including filmmakers Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Shasha Nakhai, Karen Chapman, Darlene Naponse, and Tyler Hagan.

The 51 projects — 40 features, six series, and five innovative or immersive works — all looking for production and financing partners, will be presented at the inaugural TIFF industry market.

“The projects, the award-winning talent, and the enthusiasm amongst key decision makers all reflect the emphasis we’ve placed on closing the loop between the ideas and the investments that fuel our global industry,” said the head of the TIFF market, Charles Tremblay. “When projects find the right champions, opportunities become reality and exceptional stories continue to be developed, financed, produced, and shared with audiences across the globe.”

The projects represent a cross-section of genres, from dramas and documentaries to animation, with a global reach, featuring producers from Canada to Australia, Brazil to India, the U.S. to Zimbabwe.

After years of informal dealmaking in Toronto, TIFF will launch its first fully fledged content market at next month’s event. TIFF: The Market runs alongside the festival from Sept. 10-16.

The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the winners of the project and incubator initiatives gathered under its Locarno Pro umbrella and spanning First Look, Alliance 4 Development, and Open Doors

For Open Doors, Talemwa Pius’s A Vineyard For A Lobster (Uganda), Mohammed Sheikh’s Accept My Plea for Burial (Somalia) and Aseye Fiagbe’s Too Much Music (Ghana) shared 50,000 Swiss Francs ($61k) main prize sponsored by Switzerland‘s Visions Sud Est fund.

Pius’s absurdist political allegory, about a drought-hit Ugandan village which awakes to snowfall, and Sheikh’s social thriller, revolving around the accidental death of a young boy in a remote Somali village, both received 20,000 CHF ($24k), while Fiagbe’s music documentary was awarded 10,000 CHF ($12k).

The year-round Open Doors project and talent incubator is in the second year of a four-year cycle devoted to 42 countries across Africa. Some 25 participants connected to six projects gathered in person in Locarno for six days of mentoring and networking during the festival this year.

In other Open Door prizes, Mozambique director Ique Langa’s fantasy romance Chapa 100, won the CNC Development Grant worth € 8,000 ($9.2k).  Tanzanian director Neema Ngelime’s feminist drama The Ones With the Tempered Flowers, about a woman left with conflicted feelings after she is told it is unlikely she will be able to bear children, won the ARTEKino International Award, worth € 6,000 ($6.9k), and the Sørfond Award, under which it will participate in the Sørfond pitching event in Oslo November. 

Additionally, Open Doors partners IFFR Pro, the International Culture Center Tabakalera and San Sebastian Film Festival, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), and Sørfond also provided awards to participants. There were also new awards sponsored by EAVE, together with the Film Fund Luxembourg, and African Film Press (AFP) LLC. Scroll down for full list.

Locarno Pro Prizes

In other Locarno Pro 2026 awards (announced separately on Sunday), the First Look work-in-progress showcase devoted to Uruguayan films this year meted out a number of collateral prizes.

Gabriela Guillermo and Irina Raffo’s Spring Story (Historia de primavera), produced by Guillermo and Raffo for L’Avventura Cine and Germán Ormaechea for Animista Cine, won two awards: the Bright Side of the Moon First Look Award, which comes with complete colour grading services, and the Le Film Français Award, worth €5,600 in advertising space.

The jury, comprising Ana David (Programme Advisor at Berlinale), Susana Santos Rodrigues (Co-Director of IndieLisboa), and Triin Tramberg (Artistic Director of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival), praised the film “for its candid depiction of longing and desire which connects those who dare to be driven by it.”

Lorenzo Tocco’s The Surubí, produced by Pancho Magnou Arnabal and Isabel García (Montelona) and co-produced by Kocria (Brazil), took home three awards: the La Mayor Cine Award, which comes with complete sound post-production services, the Music Library & SFX/Acorde Award, worth EUR 45,000 in music supervision services at Music Library & SFX’s labs, and the Jannuzzi Smith Award, the design of an international poster worth EUR 10,000.

In the Alliance 4 Development showcase, aimed at nurturing project co-development between film professionals based in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, Florian Hoffmann’s Yazz, produced by Katrin Renz (tellfilm Switzerland), Nicole Gerhards (NiKo Film, Germany) and Xénia Maingot (Eaux Vives Productions, France), took home the NEBEL Studios Award, estimated at CHF 30,500 for three days of studio use and five days of camera equipment, and the Studio13/Valais Film Commission Award, estimated at CHF 12,000 for 5 days of studio use at Studio13.

Antonio Donato’s Shooting Watermelons, produced by Santiago Fondevila Sancet (Cinedora, Italy), received the Masé Studios Award, worth a CHF 3,000 cash voucher.

The Masé Studios Post-Production Award, worth CHF 25,000 in post-production services, was shared Tamer Ruggl’s Cuore Matto, produced by Francine Lusser and Gérard Monier (Tipimages Productions, Switzerland), and Wendy Pillonel’s Magnetic Storms (Les Orages Magnétiques), produced by Flavia Zanon (Close Up Films, Switzerland).

Jessica Puppo’s Reign of Silures (Le Règne des Silures), produced by Alexis Perrin (Rumble Fish Productions, France), won the Ticino Film Commission Residence Award: a two-day location scout (worth CHF 4,000) plus a Letter of Intent for financial support up to CHF 12,000 should the film shoot in Ticino.

Bruce LaBruce’s Third Take, produced by Nicolas Brevière (Local Films, France), took the Alphapanda Market Breakout Award (consultancy services worth €3,500), and Magnetic Storms also picked up the MIDPOINT Consulting Award, an online script consultancy with a MIDPOINT Institute expert.

In further Locarno Pro prizes, the Locarno Heritage Restoration Contest was won by Anne-Marie Miéville’s 1997 work We’re All Still Here, a three-part meditation on philosophy and everyday life featuring Jean-Luc Godard in a rare on-screen role.

Selected by an international jury composed of Amy Homma (Director and President, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Academy Collection), Leslie Vuchot (CEO and Founder, The Festival Agency), and Nicole T. Allemann (Head of Film Restoration and Lab, Cinegrell Postproduction), the film will undergo a complete restoration by Swiss film lab Cinegrell, to premiere at the 2027 edition of Locarno.

Open Doors 2026 Winners

Open Doors Grant 
 
Vineyard For A Lobster (Uganda)
Dir: Talemwa Pius
Prod: Emmanuel Gashumba (Gripmagic Uganda Limited) Uganda 

Accept My Plea for Burial (Somalia/Djibouti)
Dir: Mohammed Sheikh
Prod: Kadir Harbi (Aleel Films) Somalia/Djibouti 

Too Much Music (Ghana)
Dir: Aseye Fiagbe
Prod: Aseye Fiagbe (Aseye Fiagbe Creative Studio) 

CNC Development Grant 
Chapa 100 (Mozambique)
Dir: Ique Langa
Prod: Lara Sousa (Kulunga Filmes) 

ARTEKino International Award 
The Ones with the Tempered Flowers (Tanzania, Kenya)
Dir: Neema Ngelime
Prod: Ivy Kiru (LBx Africa)

Sørfond Award 
The Ones with the Tempered Flowers (Tanzania/Kenya)
Dir: Neema Ngelime
Prod: Ivy Kiru (LBx Africa)

EAVE Award 
Mamounata Nikiema (Pilumpiku Production), Burkina Faso 

Tabakalera-San Sebastian Film Festival Residency Award 
I Live in V.I. (Nigeria)
Dir: Ugochukwu Azuya
Prod: Olubunmi Ogunsola (ENSEMBLE)

Rotterdam Lab Award 
Adja Mariam Mahre Soro (Studio KÄ), Ivory Coast 

Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) 
Sarah (Angola)
Dir: Pocas Pascoal
 

AFP Critics Prize 
Submergido (Mozambique)
Dir: Ariel Añez
Prod: Joseph Mata
Co-prod: Ariel Añez (Maochas Filmes)

Jeff Bezos and Eduardo Saverin look set to become the latest tech giants entering the English football world.

The pair are part of a consortium that is set to buy a stake in 20-time English league winners Liverpool, according to a report from Sky News.

News of the deal first emerged last month, and Sky News business editor Mark Kleinman is now reporting that an agreement on a 30% stake is close to being announced by current owner Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which also owns the likes of the Washington Red Sox. We have contacted Amazon, Saverin’s B Capital and FSG for comment.

The consortium is being led by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. Bhatia was until recently a major shareholder and boardroom player at English Championship side Queens Park Rangers, but sold his shares on the same day in initial report about the Liverpool deal emerged.

Liverpool are one of English footballs’ best-supported teams, having won multiple top division titles, especially in the 1970s and 1980s, and six European Cups – more than anyone else in the UK. They most recently won the Premier League in 2024-25, but finished a disappointing fifth, 25 points behind champions Arsenal.

Bezos has previously explored deals for the likes of the Seattle Seahawks, but this would represent the Amazon founder’s first major move into sports team ownership. His wealth is currently estimated at close to $300B.

Saverin, who co-founded Facebook alongside Mark Zuckerberg, now runs private equity company B Capital. He was previously part of a group that looked to take over Liverpool rivals Chelsea in 2022, but this would also represent a first move in the sports space. His wealth is estimated at over $30B.

Saverin left Facebook in 2005 when Zuckerberg effectively diluted his shares and relieved him of active duty – a situation that played out in Aaron Sorkin’s movie The Social Network, with Andrew Garfield playing the Brazilian-born Saverin opposite Jesse Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg.

Sky News reported FSG plans to make an announcement on the deal in “coming days,” but that this could push into next week. It will value Liverpool at $6B, making it one of the biggest investments in football history.

The news comes at a very delicate time for world football, with European association UEFA effectively at war with world governing body FIFA, whose President Gianni Infantino has faced a barrage of criticism after announcing a plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to the likes of Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The plan was scrapped after UEFA and several other bodies rejected the plan. Infantino has been urged to resign, but it appears he has the support to continue in the role, at least for now.