Toronto International Film Festival unfurls its red carpets each year, executives at Visa expect moviegoers in the hundreds of thousands to see the credit card company’s name in glowing lights, but in the midst of a global pandemic the usual marketing playbook has gone out the window.Less than two months before the festival was set to kick off, it was still uncertain if the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales would even open.
Having crowds pack into the indoor venue wasn’t realistic under Ontario’s Stage 3 measures, but like the rest of the world, everything was in flux.So when TIFF opted against most theatrical screenings — outside of a small number at TIFF Bell Lightbox — that left Visa and the festival’s major sponsors back at.