Ian Mohr looks at upcoming festivals for Variety, in particular Toronto and Venice, exploring the increased focus on these fall fests as marketing launch pads for new fall films, perhaps at the expense of the events as markets for buying new movies. Mohr opens by noting, "Frustrated with the summer's ticket sales, studio marketers are marshalling their resources to mount a major assault on the Toronto Film Festival." And continues:

The fall festival circuit used to engender more anxiety among acquisitions execs than marketers. But as studios concentrate more on their own productions and pre-buys rather than finished film fare, the acquisitions market at these events is losing its luster.

A pair of deals marked today's biz activity at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, with Focus Features prevailing for the rights to Pawel Pawlikowski's latest well-received "My Summer of Love." Meanwhile, Newmarket continued its relationship with Lukas Moodysson by nabbing the director's much-discussed "A Hole in My Heart."