The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is a publicly attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2012 the festival welcomed an estimated 400,000 attendees. TIFF starts the Thursday night after Labour Day (the first Monday in September in Canada) and lasts for eleven days. Founded in 1976, TIFF is now one of the most prestigious events of its kind in the world. In 1998, Variety magazine acknowledged that TIFF “is second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity”. In 2007, Time noted that TIFF had “grown from its place as the most influential fall film festival to the most influential film festival, period”. This is partially the result of TIFF’s ability and reputation for generating “Oscar buzz”.