The 4th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 6 and September 15, 1979. Due to overcrowding in the prior year, the Gala presentations were moved from the 700-seat Towne Cinema to the 1,600-seat Elgin Theatre.[1] The People's Choice Award was awarded to Best Boy by Ira Wohl, which later won Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
This year The American Nightmare retrospective on American horror films was organized by Canadian critic Robin Wood and Richard Lippe.[4]Brian De Palma and George A. Romero attended the retrospective as guests.[5][6] Also this year Industry programme trade forum was started by festival, which continued till 1991.[4] The festival featured a special programme of films from Sweden, with Jörn Donner, the head of the Swedish Film Institute, and nine Swedish filmmakers attending.[1]