The Toronto International Film Festival, known originally as "The Festival of Festivals", was founded in 1976 at the Windsor Arms Hotel by Bill Marshall, Henk Van der Kolk and Dusty Cohl.[13] Beginning as a collection of the best films from film festivals around the world, it had an inaugural attendance of 35,000.[14] Ironically however, Hollywood studios withdrew their submissions from TIFF due to concerns that Toronto audiences would be too parochial for their products.[15] In the years following, TIFF continued to concentrate on bringing the best films from around the world.[citation needed]Through consistent investment and promotion by its organizers and sponsors, the Toronto International Film Festival has also grown to become a vital component of Hollywood's marketing machine.[citation needed]
In 1994, the decision was made to replace the name "Festival of Festivals" with "Toronto International Film Festival". From 1994 to 2009, the umbrella organization running TIFF was named "Toronto International Film Festival Group" (TIFFG). In 2009, the umbrella organization TIFFG was renamed to TIFF.[16]