Security guards equipped with night-vision goggles swirled around the auditorium, silently scoping out anyone who might have smuggled a camcorder into the theatre.The screening of the Russell Crowe romance “A Good Year” at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival was considered prime territory for potential movie pirates, since the actor’s international appeal would have made it a hot seller on the black market.

If the guards had caught anyone taping the film they could have kicked the patron out of the theatre. But getting a court conviction would have been tough, requiring proof of the pirate’s intent to sell the recorded film.

This year, things are different.

As the Toronto film festival unspools this week, anyone caught just recording a movie without permission can be charged with a criminal offence, punishable by two years in jail. Taping copyrighted material to later sell or rent it can carry a sentence of up to five years.

Covert operations like night-vision goggles might seem a little extreme to some, but consider that Hollywood says it loses around $6 billion each year from piracy, and blames about half of that on camcorder recordings.

Ottawa moved swiftly this summer to get an anti-camcording law on the books. Bill C-59, which gained royal assent June 22, amends the Criminal Code to make recording a movie without permission a crime.

It was a visit from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who had said Montreal has a reputation for being the video piracy capital of North America, that prompted Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the federal government to get going on film piracy legislation. Before that, it was hardly on Ottawa’s radar.

For organizers of the Toronto film festival, the issue has been a constant concern, said Natalie Lue, director of operations and theatres.

The festival has put in place “stringent policies, procedures and protocol” that staff, participants and volunteers must comply with, Lue said.

Among other things, the festival posts signs stating that camcorders and recording devices are forbidden. The festival has also run brief reminders before select films to discourage piracy.

The policies got the thumbs-up from the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents Hollywood’s major studios, as well as from the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, helping ease any potential tension between festival organizers and distributors.

Still, the stakes are high for pre-release titles, especially when they feature marquee celebrities like Brad Pitt in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” and “Margot at the Wedding,” which stars Nicole Kidman and Jack Black.

A movie pirated before its official release date could quickly appear on the Internet and show up for sale on DVD for pocket change on streets around the world.

“In general, film festivals are a big source of this kind of piracy,” said Paul Hoffert, a fine arts professor at York University and a longtime observer of film piracy trends.

“Instead of a (single) theatre where you have access to a few films in a week, you have theatres that have access to a hundred films in one week.”

The Toronto festival will be screening 349 films from 55 countries before it wraps up Sept. 15, offering a buffet of cinema that will appeal to tastes for every genre in languages from around the world.

Keeping all of that content secure might seem like mission impossible, but in the past the festival has risen to the challenge.

Lou said there haven’t been any pirated titles traced back to a Toronto film festival screening.

“Our record is very good, and I think it’s a combination of us being aware and alert, and our audience, which are supporters of film,” she said.

“They are here to encourage the experience and the industry - not to bring it down.”