Toronto artist claims TIFF stole his work

A localartist is claiming that Toronto International Film Festival copied his digitalphotography project, The Motherships,and used it for its2016 marketing campaign, Infinite Views,without his permission.

Razvan Anton says he is now planning tofilea lawsuit against TIFF after thefestival refused to properly credit his workinthe campaign.

"I didn't want to get a lawyer. I just wanted them to give me credit," saidAnton who studied imagearts at Ryerson University.

"I'm firmly convinced that these images were copied from me. They aren't the same work, but I believe that my work provided the basis for their idea," he says.

He first discovered the resemblance between his digital photography and TIFF's Infinite Views marketingcampaign because fans of his work started sending him messages noting the similarity.

On Aug. 22 he contactedTIFF throughFacebooktoraisehis concerns,followingup two weeks later viaemail.

TIFF's response

CBC News contacted TIFF aboutAnton's allegations. In a statement the festival's vice-president of marketing,communications, digital media and creative, Jennifer Bell said, "we understand there are many artists creating beautiful work; often times with similar tones, aesthetics and vision."

TIFF says itoffered to meet Anton and walk him "through the entire creative process" a week ago, but the local photographer"did not come in to meet with the team to understand how the campaign came to life."

Comparing Infinite Views and The Motherships

When he didn't receive the response he wanted, Antonpostedan informational video toYouTube on Sept. 13outlining the similarities between his work and TIFF's branding for Infinite Views.

The 36-year-old began creating The Mothershipsover a year ago and sharing it online.

Anton describes The Mothershipsas "futuristic landscapes which come fromcyberpunkculture" and says, "it's basically a virtual mirror of Toronto online."

I didn't want to get a lawyer. I just wanted them to give me credit.- Razvan Anton, Toronto artist

This is why he says he's now struggling to sleep at nightafter realizing the similarities between his work, which he considers a "cultural statement about Canada," and TIFF's marketing material.

The idea for Anton'sproject, which wasentirely shot on his phone, evolvedby combining abstractions from Toronto'scity landscape andexperimenting with bright colours. Thisresulted in images, which he says areinfluenced by Japanese and modern European photography, because of their abstract elements and use of fluorescentcolours.

Urban kaleidoscopeimagery

Despite the resemblance between Infinite Views and Anton's own work,this style of photography is popular and other creators are making similar abstractkaleidoscopes of cityscapes and sharing them online.

Visual art's copyright

CBC News contactedToronto entertainment lawyerJulie MacDonell,who frequently deals with copyright cases like this.

"In terms of copyright law, the thing that makes this whole conversation difficult is that copyright law is complicated, ever changing and comes down to a subjective call in the end by whoever is adjudicating the situation," saidMacDonell.

"If the particular photographer is known for portraying images in a unique way, and if people are able to readily identify the photographer with that style, like Andy Warhol's soup can is very signature to that artist, and you copy the photographic interpretation than there may be a case for liability in copyright infringement ... But it's an area of law, especially when discussing visual arts that becomes very grey."