Cameron Bailey

For the New Zealand rugby union player, see Cameron Bailey (rugby union).

Cameron Bailey is a Canadian film critic and festival programmer, who is the CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).^[1][2]

Cameron Bailey
Bailey in 2017
Born	London, England
Education	University of Western Ontario
Occupation(s)	Film critic, festival programmer

Biography

Born in London, England to parents from Barbados,^[3] he spent his early childhood in St. James, Barbados, before moving to Canada with his family at the age of eight.^[3] Educated at the University of Western Ontario,^[3] he worked as a film reviewer for Now, Canada AM, CBC Radio One, Take One and other publications before joining the Toronto International Film Festival as a programmer.^[3]

He also co-wrote the screenplay for the 1997 film The Planet of Junior Brown with Clement Virgo,^[3] and wrote and directed the short film Hotel Saudade.

In 2012, Bailey was named artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival.^[4]

He participated in the 2015 edition of Canada Reads, where he advocated for Kim Thúy's novel Ru.^[5] Ru ultimately won the competition.^[6]

In 2018, Bailey was promoted to the newly created position of artistic director and co-head of the Toronto International Film Festival.^[7] In 2021, following the resignation of co-head Joana Vicente, Bailey was named the festival's executive director.^[8]

On November 30, 2021 Bailey was appointed Chief Executive Officer of TIFF after a 25 year career with the festival.^[9]

In 2024 he was named as a recipient of the Black Legacy Awards for distinguished cultural achievements by Black Canadians.^[10]

Selected publications

• Cameron Bailey (1999). Kay Armatage; Kass Banning; Brenda Longfellow; Janine Marchessault (eds.). A Cinema of Duty: The Films of Jennifer Hodge de Silva. Gendering the Nation: Canadian Women's Cinema. Toronto: University of Toronto. pp. 94–108.
• Cameron Bailey (1990). "A Cinema of Duty: The Films of Jennifer Hodge de Silva". CineAction. winter (23): 4–12. In this essay he honoured Jennifer Hodge de Silva.