Monday, August 31, 2015

My 2015 Films

My picks for 2015:

  • 25 April (Leanne Pooley, New Zealand): a stunningly animated look at the landings at Gallipoli during the First World War.
  • The Danish Girl (Tom Hooper, United Kingdom): from director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), this film based on David Ebershoff's novel stars Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything) as a man who discovers new feelings and eventually becomes one of the first to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Also stars Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina).
  • Dheepan (Jacques Audiard, France): winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 2015, the latest from Jacques Audiard (I previously saw his Rust and Bone at TIFF) follows a Tamil family that flees from Sri Lanka to France.
  • Endorphine (André Turpin, Canada): I've seen Turpin's work as a DoP on Incendies and Maelstrom. His latest directorial effort intertwines the stories of three women all named Simone.
  • The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, USA): a kind of send-up and homage to horror films, with Taissa Farmiga as the daughter of a famous horror movie star who is transported with her friends into one of her mother's films.
  • Francophonia (Alexander Sokurov, Germany/France/The Netherlands): Sokurov's latest film that sounds reminiscent of one of his previous works, Russian Ark.
  • Hardcore (Ilya Naishuller, Russia/USA): shot from a first-person point-of-view, this film follows a resurrected cyborg super solider on a mission to rescue his wife from a psychotic supervillain.
  • High-Rise (Ben Wheatley, United Kingdom): based on J.G. Ballard's novel of the same name, with Tom Hiddleston as a new resident who must navigate the social politics and class structure of a monolithic apartment tower.
  • Horizon (Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Bergur Bernburg, Iceland/Denmark): an examination of the work of Icelandic landscape painter Georg Gudni Hauksson).
  • Lace Crater (Harrison Atkins, USA): a woman attends a house party in the country, ends up sleeping with a burlap-wrapped ghost, and strange things start happening to her body.
  • Mr. Right (Paco Cabezas, USA): Anna Kendrick meets Sam Rockwell and they fall for one another, only it turns out Rockwell is a hitman, and the body count starts to pile up. Saw Kendrick last year in The Last Five Years and Rockwell in Laggies.
  • Love (Gaspar Noé, France): probably will be the most interesting use of 3D I'll see at the festival this year.
  • Office (Johnnie To, China/Hong Kong): To's first musical, about backroom corporate politics.
  • Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan): Kore-eda's latest to hit TIFF finds three sisters in a seaside town who learn their estranged father had another daughter who comes to live with her stepsisters are her father's death.
  • Schneider vs. Bax (Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands/Belgium): a black comedy about a hitman trying to kill novelist, although the novelist may be more than he seems.
  • Veteran (Ryoo Seung-wan, South Korea): Ryoo's latest (I've previously seen his The Berlin File) follows a maverick detective that takes on a huge corporation that flaunts the law.
  • Where to Invade Next (Michael Moore, USA): Moore's latest film asks the question about what would happen if the US were better at invading other countries, and launches off from there.
  • Yakuza Apocalypse (Takashi Miike, Japan): a mish-mash of everything from monsters to gangsters and everything in between.
  • Youth (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy/France/United Kingdom/Switzerland): Sorrentino's follow up to The Great Beauty finds Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel reflecting on life and the world while relaxing at a spa in the Swiss Alps.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

TIFF 2015 Off-sale (Sold Out) Screenings

This post is a placeholder for people to add comments for any films that they notice as sold out (i.e. off sale) when completing the online ticketing process for My Choice packages for TIFF 2015. Feel free to post a comment for anything you see as sold out when you log in to make your picks to help others out.

Note that films may come off sale if people release them before checking out because they changed their mind or failed to complete the check out process. Also, even though a screening sold out during the My Choice selection process, it may become available again when individual tickets go on sale.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

2015 Programme Book Bag

If you pre-ordered the Programme Book, you should have gotten it with a bag (while supplies last). I'm going to stop calling it a gift bag as it's really more a bag of sponsor advertising. :-) This year's bag included:

  • a Timberland/TIFF branded reusable bag
  • the TIFF Programme Book
  • the TIFF Official Film Schedule
  • 500 ml O.N.E. coconut water
  • two $50 off coupons for airbnb
  • a book of Ciroc cocktail drink recipes
  • a visitor guide for the Toronto entertainment district
  • a Birks special offer of a pendant with purchase
  • a $15 off coupon for Express and Express Men
  • a Rimowa luggage entry for a draw for tickets to the closing night gala
  • a flyer about the tiff.net/ignite donation campaign to help aspiring filmmakers
  • a TIFF membership flyer
  • a Timberland flyer
  • a coupon for the Windsor Arms spa
  • a flyer for Pizza Nova
  • coupons for Cineplex theatres
  • I think there may also have been a can of pop in some bags, but not in mine

Monday, August 24, 2015

TIFF My Choice Selection Times Going Out

TIFF is sending e-mails today to people that purchased a My Choice ticket package. This e-mail lets you know when you can log into the ticketing website to select your films. You don't have to log in right at your start time; you have from the start time to September 4 at 7:00 PM EST to make your selections, although it's to your advantage to select as soon as possible. I got a good time this year, 11:00 AM on the 31st.

If you purchased multiple packages, you will have to log in separately for each one and make the selections independently.

It is important to note that once you log in, you need to make all your selections at once. You cannot pick some, log out, then log back in at a later date.

Don't panic if you haven't received your e-mail yet; it can take a while for TIFF to send them all out. Also, double-check your spam folder in case it ended up there. If you haven't received it after today, contact the festival directly to check on your time (check the TIFF website for the Customer Relations e-mail address or phone numbers).


Thursday, July 02, 2015

TIFF 2015 Pricing and Dates

Dates and pricing for the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival are out.

Important dates include:

  • July 15: Ticket packages go on sale to TIFF Members
  • July 22: Ticket packages go on sale to Visa cardholders (for both Members and Non-members)
  • July 29: Ticket packages go on sale to everyone for all payment methods
  • August 24: My Choice package holders get e-mail with their timeslot for selecting films online
  • August 25: Official film schedule is published and the Festival Box Office opens
  • August 27: Patrons Circle Members can purchase individual tickets
  • August 30: Patrons Circle, Benefactor, and Ambassador Members make My Choice Flex Package selections
  • August 31: Contributor Members make My Choice Flex Package selections
  • September 1: Non-members make My Choice Flex Package selections
  • September 4: 7:00 PM ET deadline for submitting My Choice Flex Package selections (for Members and Non-members)
  • September 6: Individual tickets go on sale
  • September 7: 
    • Members can pick up Flex Pack selections and exchange tickets
    • 9:00 AM ET Contributor Members and up can make Back-Half and Daytime Pack selections
    • 12:00 PM ET Individual/Dual Members and up can make Back-Half and Daytime Pack selections
  • September 8: 
    • Non-members can pick up Flex Pack selections and exchange tickets
    • Non-members can make Back-Half and Daytime Pack selections
  • September 10 - 20: TIFF 2015!
Individual tickets for Regular screenings are $25 for adults, $18 for 25 and under, $21 for 65 and older, and $20 for rush. For Premium screenings, prices are $48 for adults, $30 for 25 and under, $40 for 65 and older, and $40 for rush.

Prices include taxes but not service fees.

My Choice packages (where you select the films you want to see):
  • Regular Flex Pack
    • 10 tickets for $200
    • purchase in increments of 10, up to 100
    • note: unlike previous years, there is no graduated pricing at higher levels, so 100 tickets is $2,000, which is about a 10% increase over 2014
  • Premium Flex Pack
    • 6 Premium tickets for $395
  • Back-Half Pack
    • for screenings between Sept 15 and Sept 20
    • 6 tickets for $75
    • 12 tickets for $150
  • Daytime Pack
    • for screenings before 5:00 PM
    • 20 tickets for $250
    • 40 tickets for $500
TIFF Choice packages (where the festival selects films for you):
  • Premium Sampler
    • 3 for $155 ($120 for youths and seniors)
  • The Buzz List
    • 5 for $1,500 (no youth or senior discounts)
  • Daytime Sampler
    • 5 for $96 ($80 for youths and seniors)
    • films are screen before 5 PM
  • Evening and Weekend Sampler
    • 5 for $110 ($95 for youths and seniors)
    • films screen after 5 PM or anytime on weekends
  • Midnight Madness
    • 10 for $185 ($120 for youths and seniors)
  • Wavelengths
    • 7 for $100 ($85 for youths and seniors)
  • Closing Night Gala
    • $205 (no youth or senior discounts)
More information is available on the festival website:


My experiences at the Toronto International Film Festival. Note this blog is not affiliated with the Toronto International Film Festival Group or the festival itself.
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