For 2020: Note the information below is out-of-date, given the changes for this year due to the pandemic. Consult the TIFF website at https://tiff.net/tiff-20-faq for the latest info on how this year's festival will work.
Ways of Selecting Films
Some of the ways you can focus in on particular films include:
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
- Genre
- Country
- Festival programme
- Festival programmer
- Story, plot, or characters
- Timeslot
- Theatre
Some people like to focus on a particular genre or span genres. For example, I usually try to see a dramatic film, a documentary, something comedic, something animated, something character-driven, and something with some action at a minimum (but not necessarily in one single film). I don't generally go out of my way to watch something historical, but I do usually seek out something contemporary.
I also like to see films from a number of different countries. At a minimum, I usually see something from Canada, France, Japan, and Scandinavia. I then usually end up with others from the US, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
For festival programme: the films in the festival are divided up amongst a number of different programmes:
- City to City: this programme contains films and documentaries focusing on a single city; for 2015 it is London, England.
- Contemporary World Cinema: films from around the world.
- Contemporary World Speakers: films with post-screening discussions with the film directors and/or subject experts. Note that many films outside of this programme also have post-screening Q&As, although this programme guarantees it.
- Discovery: features new and emerging filmmakers from around the world.
- Gala Presentations: films with red carpet premieres, big name stars, and major buzz.
- In Conversation With...: formerly known as Mavericks, these are discussions with people in the film industry. In the past, I've attended panels on Indian cinema, Nick Park discussing Wallace and Gromit, and Francis Ford Coppola taking questions from the audience on filmmaking. There may or may not be an associated screening of a film.
- Masters: films from the world's most influential directors.
- Midnight Madness: films that are outside the normal festival boundaries, such as thrillers, horror, action, and cult films. All films screen at midnight at the Ryerson Theatre.
- Next Wave: selections approved by the festival's youth-driven TIFF Next Wave Committee
- Platform: new for 2015, this programme contains a dozen films which vie for a juried prize.
- Primetime: new for 2015, contains screenings for serialized television.
- Short Cuts: short films, all under 50 minutes in length.
- Special Presentations: films with major starts and/or directors from around the world.
- TIFF Cinematheque: curated, previously released and occasionally restored films from Canada and around the world.
- TIFF Docs: formerly known as Real to Reel, this programme contains documentaries.
- TIFF Kids: formerly known as Sprockets, this contains family films.
- Vanguard: films with a younger feel that push social and cultural boundaries.
- Wavelengths: experimental film and video art.
There are separate programmers for each programme in the festival, and those people have become quite well-known over the years to regular festival goers. Each person has their own personality, and over time you can grow to like a particular person's style and choices, and dislike those of others. If you read the description of a film in one of the official sources such as the programme book or the festival website, you'll find that each is written by a different programmer.
Some people will see a film based on the person who programmed it. Some people such as myself find that some programmers' descriptions of the films are more representative than those by others. As such, the programmer and their description of the story, plot, or characters can be a factor for some in selecting films.
Selecting by timeslot can be an alternative if you have limited time to attend the festival. For instance, if you're unlike crazy people like myself who take vacation to attend the festival, then you may only have time during weekday evenings or weekends. As a result, you may end up trying to choose from whatever films happen to be screening on a Tuesday evening.
I have a friend who also occasionally considers the theatre when selecting films. If he finds himself already seeing a number of films in a single theatre (e.g. the Scotiabank or the TIFF Bell Lightbox), he will often schedule in other films in that same theatre to eliminate having to travel from theatre to theatre, especially if there is limited time between movies.
Considerations When Selecting Films
Some things to remember when selecting films:
- Each film usually screens multiple times during the festival. If you can't get into the first screening, try one of the other ones.
- Films may not start or end on time, so build some contingency into your schedule.
- Times in the festival schedule do not include time for Q&A sessions after the film if the director or actors are present, and depending on the film, this can last from 15 to 30 minutes.
- Don't forget to account for travel time between theatres, as some are far apart from one another.
- If you have children, check the film rating before buying a ticket. The Ontario Film Review Board lists the different film classifications and who can get in. Note that many films are unrated, and as such, you must be over 18 to attend, and that includes infants and toddlers.
- You are not guaranteed entry if you arrive within 15 minutes of the film start time, and if you are more than 10 minutes late, you definitely won't be let in.
Some valuable sources that can help you decide which film to see are listed below:
- Film listing at the official festival website (http://tiff.net)
- Festival programme book (can be purchased for $35.00)
- TOfilmfest.ca (http://tofilmfest.ca/) has films sliced and diced by title, director, actor, language, country, programme, classification, and review rating, with links to IMDB, trailers, and critical reviews, and the ability to search cinema sources for more information.
If you are participating in the advance ticketing process with one of the "My Choice" ticket packages, or just buying individual tickets for multiple films, then choosing films in a given timeslot can make it easier to create your schedule. For example, a friend and I usually attend the festival and see about 60 films between the two of us. We'll see the majority of films together, and some separately depending on our interests. It can get extremely complicated trying to schedule that many films since each screens multiple times on different days.
What we usually do is rank every film in the festival from 1 to 5, with 1 being something we don't want to see at all, 3 is something I could take or leave, and 5 being something I want to see no matter what. We then start with scheduling all the 5's regardless of whether we both want to see the film or not, then 4's that we have in common, then 3's, and then we fill out the rest individually until we've used up all our tickets.
Every time we schedule a particular screening, we try and find one that doesn't conflict with any choices we've already made. Often times a conflict will occur, in which case we have to find a different time for the film, or reschedule something we've already chosen. This can be a very time consuming process; it usually takes my friend and I anywhere up to 8 hours to complete the process. Often times, we will run into a situation where it is impossible to see a film because there are no screenings available that don't conflict with other films we want to see more.
If you are only picking movies for yourself or are seeing 10 or less, this likely won't be a major problem for you. However, you should always consider backups in case your primary choice is sold out. This is true both if you are buying individual tickets or doing the advancing ordering process. It is extremely common for people to go to the box office, try to buy a ticket for a specific film, find out it's sold out, then spend a long time trying to find an alternative movie because they haven't taken the time to figure out what else they might want to see. This has the side effect of tying up the box office and creating long lines, and frustrating every one else. Plus, the longer you take trying to find an alternative choice, the more likely it is that your eventual alternate may be sold out to other people at the box office or buying online. Also note that there is a fee to exchange a ticket, so choose wisely.
