Some Programmes Announced

The festival announced the lineup for some of the programmes at this year's festival, including:

• Midnight Madness
• Canadian Retrospective
• Sprockets Family Zone
• Wavelengths

Midnight Madness this year seems to be a nice mix, with some horror films, including the latest from George Romero, Diary of the Dead; one anime film (Vexille); an offbeat Japanese film (Dainipponjin); a Hong Kong action film (Flash Point). One interesting addition is Stuck, starring Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea, inspired by an actual story in the US of a woman who hit a man with her car and left him stuck in her windshield in her garage for several days until he died.

In the Canadian Retrospective programme, the films of Canadian filmmaker Michel Brault are featured.

Tags: 2007,films

9:00 pm VISA Screening Room Package Sold Out

The 9:00 pm VISA Screening Room Package for the Elgin Theatre is now sold out. That means all the VISA screening room packages and all the gala packages are sold out. However, you can still buy all the other packages, including the 10-film packages.

One other thing to note; it's worthwhile to buy the programme book. This is a thick book with descriptions of all the films; in addition to helping you select your films in the advanced ticketing process at the end of August, it makes a nice souvenir as well. If you don't want to buy the book, you can use the TIFF official website to see the film descriptions; however, full descriptions usually don't appear until around the time the programme book is released. As an interim measure, you can check out sites like TIFFReviews.com; last year they had descriptions of most of the announced films long before the official schedule was released.

Tags: 2007,tickets

6:00 PM VISA Screening Room Package Sold Out

The 6:00 pm VISA Screening Room Package for films at the Elgin Theatre is sold out, along with the Gala passes. Everything else is still available.

Tags: 2007,tickets

How do I get tickets?

If you want to see films at this year's Toronto film festival, there are two main ways:

1. You can buy passes or packages now.
2. You can buy individual tickets when the festival starts.

Of the passes and packages you can buy now, if you want to select your own films, you should get one of the following:

• The 10-film package allows you to pick 10 films in the advanced lottery process, before individual tickets go on sale when the festival starts. You can buy multiple 10-film packages; I bought 3 this year, which will entitle me to select 30 films. Note the festival does not offer the 30-film package they had in previous years.
• The Festival Pass allows you to pick 50 films in the advanced lottery process. Note that you can only get one ticket per film, unlike the 10-film package, where you could get 10 tickets for a single film or 5 tickets for 2 films, etc.
• The Daytime Pass allows you to pick 25 films in the advanced lottery process, as long as each film starts before 5:01 PM. Note that like the Festival Pass, you can only get one ticket per movie.

If you don't want to have to pick your own films, then get one of the following:

• The Canadian Retrospective package gives you tickets to all films in the Canadian Retrospective series. This series typically shows works by a single Canadian filmmaker.
• The Wavelengths package gives you tickets to all films in the Wavelengths series. The Wavelengths series shows avant-garde visual art.
• The Midnight Madness package gives you tickets to all films in the Midnight Madness series. This series typically shows horror, thriller, cult, and alternative films.
• The Family Gala package gives you 2 adult and 2 child tickets to the Family Gala at Roy Thomson Hall on September 8. Note that the majority of films at the festival are only open to those 18 and older. These family films are the exception.
• The Regular Family package gives you 2 adult and 2 child tickets to 2 out of the 5 non-Gala family screenings.Note that the majority of films at the festival are only open to those 18 and older. These family films are the exception.
• The Weekend and Evenings Festival Experience package gives you tickets to 3 films pre-selected by the festival, with the films either starting after 5:30 PM if they show on a weekday, or anytime on a weekend.
• The Daytime Festival Experience package gives you tickets to 3 films pre-selected by the festival, with the films either starting between 8:30 AM and 5:01 PM on any day.
• The Weekend and Evenings Globetrotter package gives you tickets to 6 films pre-selected by the festival, with the films either starting after 5:30 PM if they show on a weekday, or anytime on a weekend.
• The Daytime Globetrotter package gives you tickets to 6 films pre-selected by the festival, with the films either starting between 8:30 AM and 5:01 PM on any day.
• The 6:00 PM Visa Screening Room package gives you tickets to each 6:00 PM film at the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin theatre.
• The 9:00 PM Visa Screening Room package gives you tickets to each 6:00 PM film at the Visa Screening Room at the Elgin theatre.
• The Gala Packages are all sold out; these packages would've given you tickets to each Gala showing at Roy Thomson Hall.

If you want to wait to buy individual tickets, then you can:

• Buy individual tickets for Gala and Visa Screening Room showings starting at 10:00 AM on Saturday, August 25.
• Buy individual tickets for all other films as soon as the festival starts at 7:00 AM on Wednesday, September 5.

Tags: 2007,tickets

9:30 Gala Pass Sold Out

Both Gala Passes, one which gives you access to all the 6:30 PM Gala showings at Roy Thomson Hall, and the other which gives you access to the 9:30 PM showings, are sold out. However all other packages and passes are still available.

Tags: 2007,tickets

6:30 PM Gala Pass Sold Out

The Gala Pass that gives you access to all the 6:30 PM Gala showings at Roy Thomson Hall is sold out. However, the 9:30 PM Gala pass is still available, along with all other packages and passes.

On the plus side, the festival website seemed to hold up quite well this morning when sales started.

Tags: 2007,tickets

2007 Festival Packages and Passes On Sale

Packages and passes for the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival are now on-sale for Visa cardholders by the following methods:

1. At the festival website (http://www.tiff07.ca/).
2. By phone: 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM.
3. At the TIFFG Box Office at Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street West (main floor, north entrance), Monday to Saturday, 10:00am to 6:00pm

At this point, you can only pay by Visa. Starting Monday, July 16 at 10:00 AM, you will also be able to pay by cash and debit card.

Buying a ticket package at this point in time allows you to participate in the advanced ticketing process that starts at the end of August. Buying a ticket pass grants you access to select films, depending on which pass you buy.

If you want to buy individual tickets for Gala or Visa Screening Room films, they go on sale on Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 10:00 AM.

If you want to buy individual tickets for all other films, they go on sale on Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 7:00 AM.

Tags: 2007,tickets