TIFF 2020 Off-sale Screenings

 Here is a posting for current off-sale films for TIFF 202. Note that films that appear off-sale here may come back on-sale as tickets are released or if the festival releases additional inventory.

Please post additional off-sale (or films that come back on-sale) in the comments. Thanks!

There's a thread on Reddit with off-sale films:

https://www.reddit.com/r/TIFF/comments/ifurfi/unofficial_2020_tiff_offsale_list/

Tags: 2020,festival,tiff

2020 Toronto International Film Festival

The festival released details about how the 2020 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival will operate. Full details can be found at https://tiff.net/tiff-20-faq.

Some interesting changes:

• All in-person and drive-in screenings will have assigned seating, and there is no tiered pricing (but there still are Regular and Premium screenings, for both digital and live).
• There are no ticket packages this year. You can only buy individual tickets. 
• Individual tickets can only be purchased in singles or pairs; there is a maximum of 2 tickets per account. The site doesn't elaborate, but I'm assuming that means a single account can purchase a maximum of 2 tickets per screening. Important to note, in order to enforce social distancing in theatres, it sounds like the festival has arranged the seats in singles or pairs; if all the single seats are sold out, then if there are any pairs available and you still want to purchase, you have to buy both seats (they won't split a pair).
• Digital film screenings are region locked to Canada. The Hot Docs film festival did something similar this year, although they locked their films down to Ontario. This will be a big thing for those folks from out-of-town that would come to the festival each year, especially since the border is still generally closed to non-essential travel, and even then, you have to self-isolate for 2 weeks upon arrival.
• Once a digital screening goes live, you have a maximum of 24 hours to watch it. This is a nice change, especially for those who were never able to take time off of work to attend the festival, and it eliminates the problem of missing out of films because the screening times conflict.
• If you see films at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, masks are mandatory except when seated in-cinema.
• There are no rush lineups at any theatre this year. For ticket holders, there will be no indoor lineups; all lineups will be outside, rain or shine, although lobby passes are available for people requiring accessibility considerations.
• Pricing breaks down as follows:
• In-cinema screenings at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, and digital screenings using Bell Digital Cinema
• Regular: $19 including taxes and fees
• Premium: $26 including taxes and fees
• Drive-in screenings at the Visa Skyline Drive-In at CityView, and RBC Lakeside Drive-In at Ontario Place
• Car with 1-2 people: $49 including taxes and fees
• Car with 3+ people: $69 including taxes and fees
• Open-Air Cinema screenings at West Island Open Air Cinema at Ontario Place
• Lawn Pod for 2 people: $38 including taxes and fees

Personally, I'm going to do the digital screenings this year and I might catch a drive-in screening, but I'll be skipping any in-person ones, despite the precautions the festival is taking.

Tags: 2020,festival,tiff

2017 Programme Book Bag

Realized I hadn't posted the 2017 bag you get when you order the Programme Book. The 2017 edition had:

• Reusable shopping bag sponsored by Timberline with a quote from co-founder Bill Marshall (who was honoured in pre-film trailers this festival)
• TIFF Programme Book
• TIFF Official Film Schedule
• TIFF post-it notes
• Card for the TIFF ShareHer Journey program
• Card for TIFF boombox party
• Visitor guide for the Toronto Entertainment District
• 10% off Birks collections items
• $1 off small hot McCafe specialty coffee
• $1.50 off Cashmere toilet paper
• Offer for Pizza Nova

Tags: 2017,festival,tiff

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

Tags: 2015,festival,tiff

2014 Programme Book Gift Bag

If you pre-ordered the Programme Book, you should have gotten it with a gift bag (while supplies last). This year's gift bag included:

• The TIFF Programme Book
• RBC/TIFF coffee sleeve
• A bottle of Pepsi Next
• A 4-pack of Cashmere UltraLuxe toilet paper
• A flyer for Birks Days in September at Birks
• An offer from Pizza Nova for a free jar of tomato sauce with a walk-in order over $20
• L'Oreal lipstick
• L'Oreal shampoo and conditioner samples
• A 15% off coupon for restaurants in the Fairmont Royal York
• A "Green Savings Card" for Fashion Outlets (Niagara Falls is the closest one to Toronto)
• Two cards for a free appetizer with purchase of an entree at Milestones
• A coupon for Airbnb
• A coupon for McDonald's McCafe beverages
• A variety of coupons for Cineplex
• Information on becoming a TIFF Member
• Tourism flyers for Toronto and the Entertainment District
• A coupon for Express and Express Men stores
• A discount on admission to a photography exhibition at Casa Loma of Tom Sandler's TIFF portfolio
• A $20 gift certificate for Liberty Entertainment Group restaurants
• 2 TIFF donation buttons
• A small pewter pendant or earring or something with the letters JT on it (anyone know what exactly this is or who it's for?)

Tags: 2014,festival,tiff

Bars and Parties Around TIFF

blogTO has a listing of bars with extended hours for TIFF around the downtown core

http://www.blogto.com/film/2013/09/50_bars_with_4am_extended_last_call_for_tiff_2013/

as well as TIFF-related or themed parties during the festival:

http://www.blogto.com/film/2013/09/tiff_party_guide_2013/

Tags: 2013,festival,tiff

TIFF 2013 Experiences

I've had a couple of requests to create a thread where people can post their experiences, or must-sees, or must-avoids for TIFF 2013, so I've added this page for just that purpose. Please feel free to add in the comments any films you liked or disliked, or anything about your experiences at this year's TIFF. But try to avoid any long-winded rants or anything like that: I reserve the right to prune the comments down especially if things start getting out of hand. I'll see how this page goes this year, and if it's successful, I'll try to do this again next year.

Tags: 2013,festival,films,tiff

Tips on Attending TIFF

I've had a few commenters asking about tips on attending the festival once you have you tickets in hand. I have a post for that (http://tifftalk.blogspot.ca/p/going-to-festival.html), but probably the most detailed information I've seen recently is on Larry Richman's blog, where he's put together a series of posts on what happens during the festival:

http://www.larry411.com/how-to-do-toronto-international-film-festival-real-tips-for-real-people-1
http://www.larry411.com/how-to-do-toronto-international-film-festival-real-tips-for-real-people-2
http://www.larry411.com/how-to-do-toronto-international-film-festival-real-tips-for-real-people-3
http://www.larry411.com/how-to-do-toronto-international-film-festival-real-tips-for-real-people-4

Some general things to note:

• Theatres are generally not right next door to one another, so be sure you leave yourself enough time.
• Public transit, especially the subway, is the best and fastest way to get around. Check out the Toronto Transit Commission's site at ttc.ca for information on fares, routes, closures, and service advisories. One important thing to note is that there are still nightly shutdowns of the Yonge subway between Eglinton and Finch stations every night (except Saturday). If you need to head north from downtown after a late film or Midnight Madness, keep in mind that you'll eventually be shunted onto shuttle buses.
• One other thing to note with the subway: on Sunday, it starts up significantly later, so check the schedule for those days.
• If you ask a question during Q&A after a film, keep it short and actually ask a question rather than just gushing; no one else wants to hear that.

If you have your own tips for others, feel free to post them in the comments.

Tags: 2013,festival,tiff

2013 Programme Book Tote Bag

If you pre-ordered the Programme Book, you should have gotten it with a tote bag (while supplies last). This year's tote bag included:

• A tote bag sponsored by Timberland
• A container of orange and blue Jelly Belly jellybeans from Firefox Flicks
• A portable lint brush from RBC Avion
• A pen with a blue highlighter from Pacific Rubiales Energy
• A coupon to upgrade a regular admission to UltraAVX at Cineplex theatres
• A gift card from Pizza Nova
• A coupon for a $1 small McCafe beverage from McDonalds
• A coupon for Porter airlines
• Coupons for admission/drinks at Media Bar during the festival
• A pamphlet for the Toronto Entertainment District
• A card from Wolf Blass
• A map of the downtown with the festival venues from Timberland
• A card outlining the benefits of TIFF membership
• A card advertising short films celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres from bravoFACT
• A card advertising www.torontofilmfestivals.com, a site that highlights all the film festivals in Toronto throughout the year
• The Official Film Schedule
• The Programme Book

Tags: 2013,festival,tiff

TIFF 2012 Recap

Well, another festival is in the bag. Did 26 movies spread over 46 hours (with about 26 hours of standing in lines).

Things that worked well:

• General consensus seems to be that the new ticketing system worked well, and was a welcome improvement over previous years; credit to the technical team and TIFF for putting together a system that appears to have avoided many of the performance issues faced in the past.
• Most of the people that I saw mention issues around being able to log in or fulfill orders appear to have been able to call the box office and get their orders processed over the phone, and for the most part it seemed like issues were fixed relatively quickly without having to take down the whole site, which I know can be challenging if not impossible.
• The new ticketing system allowed you to see exactly what you were getting and to make your own changes in real-time, rather than having to go the voucher/exchange route.
• The ability to get the Flex package in 10-ticket increments was good for those of us picking large numbers of movies, and being able to get more than 1 ticket per screening in the My Choice packages helped in sharing packages amongst friends and family.
• The Premium package was a good replacement for the old Visa Screening Room packages or not being able to pick premium screenings in advance at all.
• The Festival started accepting other credit cards besides Visa.
• I liked the approach of having slides listing the sponsors before the movie, so that the programmers didn't have to go through the whole spiel before introducing the film; too bad they couldn't do that in all the screenings.
• Usual kudos to all the volunteers for helping to put on another good festival.
• Used tiffr.com again this year to help with planning, and as usual, it was a big help.
• An option for online voting for People's Choice was also a nice touch, although it's still a bit unclear on how they actually tabulate votes (e.g. do they account for different size audiences at all?)

Things that could use improvement:

• The quantity showing 0 in dropdowns on the ticketing site; most people, including myself, assumed that meant the film was off-sale, when that might actually not have been the case. While there's probably nothing technical that could be done to get around that, a bit more information would probably help.
• On that note, it would have been nice to have more information around the new ticketing system overall prior to logging in, to relieve a lot of the uncertainty everyone had with the new approach. Thanks to blogs like In a TIFF http://inatiff.com/ and commenters like mathew5000 for providing early information and tips on the process; it definitely helped me plan out my session! And I think people liked the screenshots I was able to post after my picks were done. Even if it's on a secondary FAQ page, more information, not less, would be helpful especially to all those festival die-hards who are also the people most likely to gripe and complain (myself included).
• The whole virtual waiting room concept needs a bit more work, especially since it's not actually first-come-first-serve, and the text on the screen really doesn't help those poor souls that actually believe the timer is counting down to when they'll be let in.
• It would have been extremely helpful to have a public listing of off-sale films, so people can plan out their schedules before their selection windows, especially given the time limit. Only seeing availability once you've logged in doesn't give you much time to hunt around for backups unless you're really prepared. Given the fact that everything is online and connected, it would seem this would be more achievable now than in past years. Thanks, though, to all the commenters who were good enough to post off-sale screenings after their picks, to help those who would come later.
• A few people seemed not to have realized that the back-half and daytime packs had selection windows after tickets went on sale to the general public. While the dates were visible on the site, if you were only looking for a daytime pack, it would be easy to miss the fact that you'd be picking after everyone else. It would have been better to make that clear on the site when purchasing packages.
• Also, people who commented on my site seemed to think that the lower per-ticket price for those packages was not worth the reduced selection. The day before the daytime/back-half ticket window, there were 186 screenings that were off-sale, including most of the big ones (e.g. Argo, The Master, Cloud Atlas, etc.)
• More detail was needed earlier on how the pricing of the Flex Package broke down (e.g. if you wanted to buy 60 tickets, it wasn't clear in advance how much that would actually cost).
• It should also have been clearer exactly how many My Choice regular/premium or TIFF Choice packages you could buy in one transaction.
• There also needed to be more details on the times for ticket selection windows for the different TIFF member levels and the public. Dates alone are never sufficient.
• Definitely could've used a bit more variety in the trailers this year; by the end I had all the dialog from the L'Oreal trailer memorized (I did end up looking up exactly what a key light is in cinema :-)). The Midnight Madness crowd had a good way of dealing with all this.
• On a side note, people have commented on how it seems like every year there's less and less morning screenings. Out of curiosity, I ran the numbers, and in 2003, there were 79 screenings that started before 12:00 PM. In 2012, there were 85, but there's also one extra day that didn't exist in 2003. More interestingly, if you ignore weekends, 2003 had 55 morning screenings, but in 2012 there were only 19. So if you're wondering why it's harder and harder to see 50+ films in a year, there's one answer for you.

Thoughts on some of my films this year:

• Rust and Bone: I've never been particularly fond of Marion Cotillard in English, but I really liked her in this film. And the special effects were pretty amazing, as anyone who has seen this film could attest to; I'm still not entirely sure how they did it all.
• Imogene: a really entertaining and endearing film, if a bit goofy in places, but Kristen Wiig gives a more grounded performance, which helps.
• The Place Beyond the Pines: while I didn't necessarily like this as much as Blue Valentine, I thought there was some strong acting from Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper and some surprises in the film.
• A Liar's Autobiography: interesting approach to use animation to illustrate the tapes Graham Chapman made before his death, but it felt like the movie lagged in places, especially towards the end. As the directors pointed out, this is *not* a Monty Python film, and you'd do well to keep that in mind if you're planning on seeing it.
• How To Make Money Selling Drugs: slyly starts out styled like an infomercial, but eventually reveals the social, financial, and criminal impact of the war on drugs and posits different solutions to a seemingly intractable problem.
• Love Is All You Need: enjoyable, much lighter than some of Bier's other films; given the setting, plot, and the casting of Pierce Brosnan, I'm tempted to describe this as Mamma Mia with less singing and more cancer, but that trivializes lead actress Trine Dyrholm's fine performance.
• At Any Price: found Dennis Quaid's character almost too fake and superficial in the first half of the film, but it provides a sharp contrast with his true self revealed in the latter half.
• Antiviral: very stylish, reminiscent of elements of director Brandon Cronenberg's father's work, but I think he still made it his own. Fascinating speculation/satire on how far we might actually take celebrity worship. Nice touch with the voice cameos from Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim.
• Tai Chi 0: entertaining, action-packed, and funny, made me want to see the next film in the series.
• In Conversation with Jackie Chan: consensus in the crowd seemed to be that it might have been better to get someone like Colin Geddes to moderate this one. The Chris Tucker cameo was nice surprise (and nicer still they got him off quickly), and the trailers and featurettes shown for his new film made me want to see it. There wasn't much time for audience Q&A so it felt rushed, but in any case there were way too many people with personal pleas/comments as opposed to questions, which was frustrating and uncomfortable at times.
• Storm Surfers 3D: almost made me want to take up surfing, at least up until the point where Tom Carroll gets slammed by a wave and almost drowns. As a plus, the directors got Ross Clarke-Jones on the phone during the Q&A.
• Key of Life: one of my favourites, a really entertaining, funny, and well-constructed story.
• Ghost Graduation: another favourite, it's the Sixth Sense crossed with The Breakfast Club. While not necessarily the most original story, the way it's put together and the actors themselves all combine to make something satisfying.
• Imagine: a rather soft and quiet film, it is actually quite effective at putting you in the shoes of the blind, allowing you to experience the world as the lead character senses and describes it, without giving anything away visually.
• Smashed: short but sweet, Mary Elizabeth Winstead gives a very good performance as an alcoholic school teacher who finally realizes she has a problem. Also helped by Aaron Paul and Nick Offerman in a more dramatic turn.
• Passion: this is not a subtle film by any stretch of the imagination, and the style is laid on quite thick in the last third of the film compared to some of his other work, more than I would have liked. But as De Palma said in the Q & A, he wanted to visually portray the mind of Noomi Rapace's character as well as find a different take on scenes that have been done to death in other films and TV, and he definitely succeeded on that front. I did like Rachel McAdams playing a manipulative character and not the wide-eyed innocent.
• Much Ado About Nothing: I thought it was a great adaptation, although the modern setting with the original dialog took me a bit to get used to at first. But the film definitely won me over, and I especially enjoyed the rapport between Alexis Denisof as Benedick and Amy Acker as Beatrice. The rest of the cast was good as well, including Reed Diamond, Clark Gregg and Fran Kranz. And I can't forget Nathan Filion (it would've been funny if Stana Katic somehow showed up while Filion was interrogating the villains of the piece).
• Blancanieves: very much a dark fairy tale of a young girl with no end of misfortune in her life. And I barely recognized Maribel Verdu as the evil Encarna.
• The Thieves: a stylish heist movie, with a great action set piece on the side of a building. This film is interesting in that it essentially changes focus on who the main characters are midway, asking you to shift your allegiances and sympathies, which is a bit confusing and disconcerting.
• Laurence Anyways: intriguing film, though going in I thought the running time would be a problem, especially after reading reviews, but I found it didn't bother me and helped to fill out the main character's journey.
• Thale: seems like it may have come from, or could have been, a short film; it's like a Scandinavian fairy tale of sorts.
• Room 237: kind of engrossing film, with some really interesting theories about hidden meaning in The Shining, although there are many points that seem to be a stretch. The film never takes sides or provides an opinion, it just provides an non-judgmental forum for people to air their thoughts. I thought the most interesting ones were simultaneously running two copies of the film over one another (one playing forwards and the other backwards, revealing some startling coincidences), and the various long dissolves of one scene into another.
• Motorway; not a bad action film, with some innovations, but also some cliché plot elements, and a number of chase scenes were difficult to see because they were shot in close up or in the dark.

Miscellaneous thoughts overall:

• Favourite comedies: Key of Life and Ghost Graduation, with Imogene an honourable mention
• Favourite dramas: Imagine and Much Ado About Nothing
• Favourite documentary: Storm Surfers 3D
• Favourite Canadian film: Lawrence Anyways
• Favourite action film: The Thieves
• WTF?! Award: The End of Time
• Screening with the most celebrity wattage: was a bit sparse this year because of the screenings I picked, but probably Imogene wins with Kristen Wiig, Darren Criss, and Natasha Lyonne. Honourable mention to In Conversation With Jackie Chan just because of who he is (plus the surprise cameo by Chris Tucker), and to Passion, just because Brian De Palma showed up to do a Q&A even though the screening was in the back-half of the festival.
• I wonder if anyone asked Deepa Mehta in the Q&A for Midnight's Children what she plans to do next year for the TIFF volunteer trailer :-)
• The team, or at least part of it, from NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour (of which I am an avid listener) made the trek to TIFF this year and posted a number of reviews, and even did their regular podcast by borrowing a studio from the CBC. Have a listen for their take on TIFF and Canadian culture in general.

Tags: 2012,festival,tiff

In Conversation With Jackie Chan

Some pictures from the Mavericks presentation of In Conversation With Jackie Chan:

Jackie Chan being interviewed by festival director Cameron Bailey:

Special surprise guest Chris Tucker (who happened to be in town for the Silver Linings Playbook):

Jackie Chan with some of the co-stars from his new film Chinese Zodiac (he also showed a number of trailers and behind-the-scenes featurettes for the upcoming film):

Tags: 2012,festival,tiff

TIFF TTC Tips

Some tips if you're taking the TTC during the festival:

• The weekend of September 8 and 9, 2012, there is no subway service between Union Station and St. Andrew Station. This may affect you if you are trying to go between TIFF Bell Lightbox/Scotiabank/Roy Thomson Hall/Princess of Wales and Elgin/Yonge & Dundas, or trying to get to TIFF Bell Lightbox/Scotiabank/Roy Thomson Hall coming south on the Yonge line. Get off at stations on the Yonge line and walk or take a streetcar over to the University line.
• Sunday to Friday, after about 12:20 AM or so (until December 2013), subway service stops between Eglinton and Finch stations on the Yonge line. Bus service replaces it during this period. This may affect you if you are seeing a Midnight Madness film.
• Subway service on Sundays starts later than on other days. For example, the first train leaves Finch at 8:57 AM on Sunday, as opposed to 5:57 AM every other day. Note this if you have a 9:00 AM screening.

Tags: 2012,festival,tiff

Actors, Directors, and Others Attending TIFF 2012

The list of actors, directors, and others attending or expected to attend the festival has been announced. The full list can be found here.

Some highlights of the people coming to the festival:

• Ben Affleck
• Paul Thomas Anderson
• Alan Arkin
• Gemma Arterton
• Oliver Assayas
• Yvan Attal
• Penn Badgley
• Doona Bae
• Javier Bardem
• Jason Bateman
• Noah Baumbach
• Monica Bellucci
• Gael Garcia Bernal
• Halle Berry
• Jim Broadbent
• Pierce Brosnan
• Edward Burns
• Ken Burns
• Nick Cassavetes
• Jackie Chan
• Derek Cianfrance
• Lily Collins
• Jennifer Connelly
• Bradley Cooper
• Marion Cotillard
• Bryan Cranston
• Darren Criss
• James Cromwell
• Brandon Cronenberg
• Penelope Cruz
• James D'Arcy
• Keith David
• Robert De Niro
• Brian De Palma
• Catherine Deneuve
• Johnny Depp
• Xavier Dolan
• Stephen Dorff
• Fran Drescher
• Kirsten Dunst
• Robert Duvall
• Zac Effron
• Elle Fanning
• Colin Farrell
• America Ferrara
• Ralph Fiennes
• Sophie Fiennes
• Colin Firth
• Matthew Fox
• James Franco
• Patrick Fugit
• Victor Garber
• Costa-Gavras
• Greta Gerwig
• Selena Gomez
• Michel Gondry
• John Goodman
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt
• Ryan Gosling
• Jake Gyllenhaal
• Michael Haneke
• Tom Hanks
• John Hawkes
• Garrett Hedlund
• Christina Hendricks
• Emile Hirsch
• Dustin Hoffman
• Kate Hudson
• Helen Hunt
• Ice-T
• Michael Ignatieff
• Rian Johnson
• Terry Jones
• Neil Jordan
• Chen Kaige
• Catherine Keener
• Anna Kendrick
• Greg Kinnear
• Keira Knightley
• Harmony Korine
• Olga Kurylenko
• Hugh Laurie
• Jude Law
• Jennifer Lawrence
• Nicholas Lea
• Spike Lee
• Tommy Lee Jones
• Jared Leto
• Barry Levinson
• Laura Linney
• Ray Liotta
• William H. Macy
• Rachel McAdams
• Ewan McGregor
• Deepa Mehta
• Eva Mendes
• Mads Mikkelsen
• Julianne Moore
• Viggo Mortensen
• Bill Murray
• Mira Nair
• Mike Newell
• Alessandro Nivola
• Chris O'Dowd
• Gwyneth Paltrow
• Paula Patton
• Oliver Platt
• Sarah Polley
• Francois Ozon
• Dennis Quaid
• Robert Redford
• Vanessa Redgrave
• Joely Richardson
• Tim Robbins
• Sam Rockwell
• Saoirse Ronan
• Eli Roth
• Mark Ruffalo
• Salman Rushdie
• David O. Russell
• Winona Ryder
• Vik Sahay
• Walter Salles
• Andy Samberg
• Adam Sandler
• Susan Sarandon
• Liev Schreiber
• Will Smith
• Snoop Lion
• Michael Shannon
• Molly Shannon
• Alexander Siddig
• Alexander Skarsgard
• Maggie Smith
• Will Smith
• David Spade
• Timoth Spall
• Terence Stamp
• Kristen Stewart
• Kiefer Sutherland
• Bruce Sweeney
• Audrey Tautou
• Juno Temple
• Billy Bob Thornton
• Marisa Tomei
• Tom Tykwer
• Karl Urban
• Andy Wachowski
• Lana Wachowski
• Emma Watson
• Naomi Watts
• Hugo Weaving
• Joss Whedon
• Ben Whishaw
• Kristen Wiig
• Bruce Willis
• Mary Elizabeth Winstead
• Michael Winterbottom
• Joe Wright
• Zhang Ziyi
• Slavoj Zizek
• Rob Zombie

Tags: 2012,festival,tiff

2012 Programme Book Gift Bag

If you pre-ordered the Programme Book, you should have gotten it with a gift bag (while supplies last). This year's gift bag included:

• A tote bag sponsored by Timberland
• A 237 ml bottle of Diet Coke
• A container lined with freezer gel to keep food cold, from May Family Farms, and a $1 off coupon for deli meats
• A container of mints from Audi
• A box of matches from Weslodge Saloon
• A condom and a package of lubricant from Durex
• A bag of Orville Redenbacher popcorn and a coupon for one free bag
• A buy-one-get-one-free coupon for a McDonald's McCafe beverage
• A postcard from the Drake Hotel
• A $5 coupon for Veet EasyWax electrical roll-on kit
• A map of the festival venues from Timberland
• A copy of Motivated magazine
• A card outlining the benefits of TIFF membership
• The Official Film Schedule
• The Programme Book

Tags: 2012,festival,tiff

2011 Programme Book Gift Bag

For those that are interested, the 2011 programme book gift bag contains the following:

• A tote bag, co-sponsored by Timberland. The material seems flimsier than last year.
• The big thing in the bag this year was a GO Transit umbrella. GO Transit is our regional transit agency in southern Ontario.
• A RBC TIFF fridge magnet.
• An ad for the TIFF Festival Music House, which allows filmmakers (not the public) to listen to Canadian bands. This year, K'naan, the Sam Roberts Band, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Lights are just some of the artists that will be performing. The card had a link for a free music sampler, but when I tried it today, the link didn't work.
• A Pizza Nova gift card.
• An ad for TorontoFilmFestivals.com, which seems to list all the various film festivals around Toronto during the year.
• An ad for Skyy Vodka.
• A visitor's guide pamphlet for the Toronto entertainment district, the area bounded by Spadina, Bay, Queen, and Front Streets.
• A Bell Blackberry ad, with a discount of 50% of any new Blackberry purchased during the festival, and QR codes for apps.
• A postage-paid postcard with a picture of actress Fay Wray. I think this is from Canada Post.
• An ad for Canada Post for their app that allows you to send a physical TIFF postcard from your smartphone.
• An ad for the National Film Board of Canada.
• A coupon for one free McCafe product from McDonald's.
• A coupon for one free digital download from HMV.
• An ad for Telefilm Canada.

No food products, no samples, and I think Stella Artois has long given up on the beer glasses from previous years. The GO Transit umbrella is nice, though.

Tags: 2011,festival,tiff

Changes for 2011

The festival released a number of details for the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival today. Some changes for this year include:

• The Festival Box Office is at Metro Hall this year, at 225 King Street W, on the concourse level. Entrance is on Duncan Street. It opens August 23, 2011.
• The Princess of Wales Theatre is being used as a venue this year in addition to the venues from last year.
• There is a TIFF Choice 5-Film Sampler Pack, where the festival programmers select 5 films for you.
• There is a My Choice 20-Film Daytime Pack, where you can select 20 regular screenings that start before 5:01 PM. This appears to replace the 15 and 25-Film Daytime Packs from last year.
• There is a Back Half Pack, where you can get 5 tickets for regular screenings from September 13 to 18 at half the cost of regular tickets.
• There is discounted pricing for individual tickets if you are 25 or younger.
• Advance Order Books are due at 7:00 PM ET on Monday, August 29, 2011 instead of at mid-day.
• People are also reporting that the number of daytime screenings is being increased, which was a criticism last year from regular festival-goers. We'll have to wait for the scheduled to be released in August to see.

I'll posted a detailed breakdown of ticket packages later in the week, but prices seem to be the same as last year for both packages and individual tickets.

Tags: 2011,festival,tickets,tiff

2010 TIFF Lightbox Trailer Theme Music

Thanks to twitter.com/leoraheilbronn who pointed out the music used in this year's TIFF Bell Lightbox Trailer is Hold Your Secrets to Your Heart from Miracle Fortress, from the album Five Roses.

Miracle Fortress is a band from Montreal and their site can be found at
MySpace.

The single is available also available from from iTunes.

Tags: 2010,festival,tiff

2010 Programme Book Gift Bag

Finally connected up with my friend who picked up our tickets this year, and there was a programme book gift bag after all. One rumor I read said the bags were not given out when you picked up your programme book because they were held up at customs. When my friend went to pick up the completed order, bags were available, although he had to specifically ask for it. No word on whether any would still be left at this point.

Highlights of this year's bag:

• A tote bag.


• No Stella Artois glass! So much for my collection.


• A small 237 ml bottle of Diet Coke.


• A bag of Blockbuster popcorn.


• A Crest 3DWhite teeth whitening strip.


• A rent 1/get 1 free coupon for Blockbuster with post-its to bookmark your programme book.


• A card advertising the Tim Burton exhibition organized by MOMA that will be at the Lightbox in November.


• A card advertising 50% off the Toronto Star.


• A Pizza Nova gift card.


• An ad for TorontoFilmFestivals.com, which seems to list all the various film festivals around Toronto during the year.


• A card advertising the Liberty Entertainment Group's restaurants, like the Rosewater Supper Club (no discount, though).


• A Blockbuster gift card, although it doesn't say if there's any credit on it.


• A scratch and win card for the Drake Hotel.


• 3D glasses for the National Film Board of Canada's website (http://nfb.ca/3-D).

Tags: 2010,festival,tiff

TIFF 2009 Merchandise

The festival has a number of TIFF-related items for purchase, in case you're looking for a souvenir.

• Ball cap: $25
• Cardigan: $69
• Hoodie: $59
• Mug: $19
• Patch: $5
• Pen: $9
• Programme book: $32
• Satchel: $39
• Shopping bag: $1.99
• Sweatshirt: $69
• T-shirt: $29
• Water bottle: $15

Merchandise can be bought at the Festival Box Offices at Nathan Phillips Square or Roy Thomson Hall, and you can pay by cash, debit, or Visa.

Tags: 2009,festival,tiff

Extended Serving Hours

Toronto Life has a listing of the bars, clubs, and restaurants that will have extended hours for serving drinks during the festival:

http://www.torontolife.com/daily/toronto-international-film-festival-2009/2009/09/03/getting-a-tiff-drink-a-complete-list-of-establishments-open-until-4-am-during-the-film-festival/

Thanks to my brother and his friend for the link.

Tags: 2009,festival,tiff