More Films Announced

The festival released the names of 8 more films, 4 in the Gala programme, and 4 in Special Presentations.

Galas include:

• The Damned United, from Tom Hooper, with Michael Sheen as Brian Clough, who took over as manager of the Leeds United football team for a short time during the 70's.
• Dil Bole Hadippa, from Anurag Singh, with Rani Mukherjee as a girl who masquerades as a man to join a male-only cricket team in her village.
• Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot), from Jean-Pierre Jeunet, a "fantastical comedy" in which a group of friends conspire to bring down two arms manufacturers.
• What's Your Raashee?, from Ashutosh Gowariker based on the novel Kimball Ravenswood, follows a man who has 10 days to find a girl to marry in order to save his family from ruin.

In Special Presentations:

• The Good Heart, from Dagur Kári, about a bar owner (Brian Cox), who takes a homeless boy under his wing.
• The Hole, from Joe Dante, about two brothers (Chris Massoglia and Nathan Gamble) and their neighbour (Hayley Bennett) who find a bottomless hole in the boys' basement. Also stars Teri Polo and Bruce Dern.
• Soul Kitchen, from Fatih Akin, about a restaurant owner struggling with keeping his place alive and his long-distance girlfiend.
• Up in the Air, a comedy from Jason Reitman (Juno), starring George Clooney as a jet-setting downsizing expert.
  

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Additional Galas and Special Presentation Films

The festival announced additional films today for the Gala and Special Presentation programmes.

The new galas are:

• Dorian Gray, an adaptation of the Oscar Wilde novel from director Oliver Parker and starring Ben Barnes and Colin Firth.
• The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, with Rebecca Miller directing from her own novel, starring Robin Wright Penn as a wife and mother whose life is challenged after she moves to a retirement community with her much older husband (Alan Arkin).

In the Special Presentations programme, new films include:

• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, from Werner Herzog, starring Nicolas Cage as a New Orleans police detective trying to bring down a drug dealer while dealing with his own personal demons.
• Capitalism: A Love Story, from documentarian Michael Moore. Here, Moore looks at how capitalism and corporations affect regular Americans.
• Harry Brown, from director Daniel Barber, starring Michael Caine as a man pushed to breaking point after the gang leader who murdered Caine's best friend is set free.
• Perrier's Bounty, from director Ian Fitzgibbon, a comedy that finds Cillian Murphy as Michael, on the run from a gangster named Perrier (Brendan Gleeson), with his father (Jim Broadbent) and best friend in tow.
• A Serious Man, from the Coen brothers Joel and Ethan. The festival describes the film as "imaginatively exploring questions of faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behaviour, dental phenomena, academia, mortality and Judaism -and intersections thereof".
• Triage, from Danis Tanovic, with Colin Farrell as a war photographer with hidden secrets about the disappearance of his colleague in Kurdistan.
• Whip It, the directorial debut of actor Drew Barrymore, looks at the world of women's roller-derby. Features a jam-packed cast with Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Eve, Jimmy Fallon, Daniel Stern, Alia Shawkat,and Ari Graynor.
• Women Without Men, from Shirin Neshat, based on the novel by Sharnush Parsipur. The film looks at the lives of four women in Iran in 1953, when a coup lead to the re-installation of the Shah in place of the democratically elected government.
  

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

More Film Announcements

The festival announced more films today in across three of its programmes.

In the Special Presentations section, films announced include:

• Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos), the latest from filmmaker Pedro Almodovar. Lluis Homar plays Harry Caine, a blind writer who has to face the submerged demons from his past. Also stars (of course) Penelope Cruz.
• An Education, directed by Lone Scherfig from a Nick Hornby screenplay, set in 1960s London, and about a young teenage girl coming of age and having to make a decision between university and a much older man. Starring Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, and Emma Thompson among others.
• The Front Line (La prima linea), from director Renato De Maria, following a couple that belongs to the left-wing terrorist group Prima Linea in Italy in the 1970s and 80s.
• Glorious 39, from writer/director Stephen Poliakoff, a thriller set on the eve of World War II, with Romola Garai, Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, David Tennant, Christopher Lee, Hugh Bonneville, Jenny Agutter, Jeremy Northam, and others.
• Kamui, Yoichi Sai's live-action version of the Japanese manga Kamui Gaiden (The Legend of Kamui), about ninja Kamui (Kenichi Matsuyama) trying to escape his clan. In his travels he meets ninja Sugaru (Koyuki) in a similar situation.
• Life During Wartime, from writer/director Todd Solondz (Happiness, Storytelling), characterized as a "part-sequel, part-companion piece" to Happiness, with Shirley Henderson, Ciaran Hinds, Allison Janney, Ally Sheedy, Gaby Hoffman, Paul Reubens, Charlotte Rampling, and others.
• A Prophet (Un prophète), about a young Arab man (Tahar Rahim), sent to a French prison, where he soon runs up against the Corsican gang that holds sway.
• The Secret of Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos), from director/co-writer Juan José Campanella, about an Argentinian court secretary who decides to write a book about a 30-year old case that still haunts him.

In the Discovery programme, which focuses on films from new directors, 21 films were announced:

• The Angel (Enkeli), the feature-film debut of Norwegian documentarian Margreth Olin, about a young mother with a past history of drug abuse.
• Applause, from writer/director Martin Pieter Zandvliet, about an actress who, fresh from rehab, tries to reconnect with her two estranged sons while keeping her inner demons at bay.
• Bare Essence of Life (Urutora mirakuru rabu sutôrî), finds Kenichi Matsuyama (who is also in the festival this year in Kamui) playing a farmer who falls in love for the first time with a Tokyo nursery school teacher still grieving over the death of her boyfriend.
• Beautiful Kate, from director/screenwriter Rachel Ward based on a novel by Newton Thornburg, stars Ben Mendelsohn as a writer who is called home by his sister (Rachel Griffiths) to make peace with his dying father (Bryan Brown). While home, long buried secrets soon reveal themselves.
• A Brand New Life, from writer/director Ounie Lecomte, about a young girl abandoned by her father in an orphanage.
• The Disappearance of Alice Creed, from writer/director J. Blakeson, about a woman kidnapped by two ex-convicts. With Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan, and Martin Compston.
• Eamon, from writer/director Margaret Corkery, about a love triangle between a father, mother, and son, brought to a head at a holiday gathering.
• Every Day Is a Holiday (Chaque jour est une fête), from director Dima El-Horr, about three Lebanese women on a trip to visit their imprisoned mates.
• Five Hours from Paris, from director/co-writer Leon Prudovsky, a romance between an Israeli cab driver and a Russian music teacher in Tel Aviv.
• Heliopolis, from director/writer Ahmad Abdalla, about a day in the life of a group of people in a Cairo neighbourhood.
• The Day Will Come (Es kommt der Tag), from director Susanne Schneider, about a woman tracked down by the-now adult daughter she once gave up for adoption, so she could go underground and join a terrorist group.
• Le Jour où Dieu est parti en voyage (aka Rwanda April 7, 1994), from director Philippe van Leeuw, a view of the Rwandan genocide through one woman's eyes.
• Last Ride, from director Glendyn Ivin, about a man his 10-year old son on the run from the law.
• My Dog Tulip, from husband-and-wife team Paul Fierlinger and Sandra Fierlinger, an animated film about an old man and his dog, with the voices of Christopher Plummer and Isabella Rossellini.
• My Tehran for Sale, from director/writer Granaz Moussavi, about a young actress in Tehran forced to keep her artistic expression hidden, who is offered a way out by a young Irani man now living in Australia.
• Northless (Norteado), from director Rigoberto Perezcano, a view of Tijuana seen through the eyes of a young man waiting to sneak across the border into the US.
• La Soga, from director Josh Crook, a drama set in the Dominican Republic.
• Shirley Adams, from Oliver Hermanus, about the life of a woman abandoned by her husband and committed to tend to her son, partially paralyzed from a shooting.
• Toad's Oil (Gama no abura), from star/director/co-writer Koji Yakusho, about a day trader who tries to reconnect with his young son after a tragedy befalls the family.
• Together Matias (Sammen), from director/writer Armand Jordal, about a father and son who must find a way to build a new relationship after an accident shatters their family.
• The Unloved, the directorial debut of actor Samantha Morton, about a young girl taken from her abusive family and put into government care. Starring Robert Carlyle.

Finally, the festival announced 9 new films for the Vanguard programme:

• Accident (Yi ngoi), from director Soi Cheang, about a group of assassins who stage accidents to conceal their kills.
• The Ape (Apan), from writer/director Jesper Ganslandt, about a man who must rebuild his life after a tragedy. I saw one of Ganslandt's previous films, Falkenberg Farewell, at the festival back in 2006.
• Bunny and the Bull, from writer/director Paul King, about two friends who relive a European road trip without leaving their living room.
• The Dirty Saints (Rio Fijman), from Luis Ortega, about five people who flee the ruins of the city to reach their salvation in "El Lugar", but must face mysterious forces trying to stop them.
• Enter the Void (Soudain le vide), from writer/director Gaspar Noé, about a drug dealer who traverses the void between life and death in Japan.
• Hipsters (Stilyagi), a musical from writer/director/librettist Valery Todorovsky, about "style hunters", youth obsessed with western culture, in 50's Russia.
• The Misfortunates (De helaasheid der dingen), from director/co-writer Felix Van Groeningen, about a young teenaged boy and his drunken father and uncles.
• My Queen Karo, from writer/director Dorothée van den Berghe, about a young girl and her family, who move to a squatter community in Amsterdam in the 70's.
• Spring Fever (Chun feng chen zui de ye wan), from director Ye Lou, about a doomed gay love triangle.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Wavelengths Announced

The festival announced today the works in the Wavelengths programme, which is focused on avant-garde film and video productions. Full details can be found in the press release below:

http://www.tiff.net/press?newsId=633

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Documentary and Midnight Madness Films

The festival made a number of announcements today:

In addition to the existing Cadillac People's Choice Award (Slumdog Millionaire won last year), there will be new Cadillac People's Choice Awards specific for Documentaries and for Midnight Madness films.

The complete Midnight Madness lineup has been announced. Highlights below:

• Jennifer's Body, starring Megan Fox, with a script by Diablo Cody.
• A Town Called Panic, an animated film from Belgium/Luxembourg/France.
• Bitch Slap, from the creators of Xena and Hercules.
• Daybreakers, a sci-fi vampire film starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafor, and Sam Neill.
• Survival of the Dead, a new film from George Romero.
• The Loved Ones, from Australia.
• Ong Bak 2: The Beginning, a prequel of sorts to Ong Bak, from Tony Jaa who does double-duty as director and star.
• [REC] 2, a sequel to [REC], which was remade recently as Quarantine.
• Solomon Kane, about a mercenary in 16th-century England, from the writings of Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan the Barbarian.
• Symbol, from director and star Hitoshi Matsumoto.

Some of the documentaries for the festival have also been announced. These include:

• The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights: follows The White Stripes as they tour across Canada.
• The Art of the Steal: looks at the outcome of a famous collection of Post-Impressionist paintings following the death of its owner.
• Bassidji: a study of the Bassidjis, extreme supporters of the Iranian republic.
• Cleanflix: examines the industry around providing clean versions of R-rated films.
• Collapse: looks at Michael Ruppert's pessimistic thoughts around the future of the planet.
• Colony: a film about colony collapse disorder, affecting bee colonies around the US.
• Google Baby: looks at the burgeoning industry in India for provide surrogate mothers for childless western couples.
• How to Fold a Flag: follows US veterans of Iraq readjusting to life stateside, from the filmmakers of Gunner Palace.
• L'Enfer de Henri-Georges Clouzot: images from Henri-Georges Clouzot's (Diabolique) unfinished film L'Enfer withRomy Schneider.
• The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers: The story of the man who leaked top secretpapers on the history of the US involement in Vietnam to the New York Times.
• Presumed Guilty: A view of the Mexican legal system through two lawyer's efforts to clear a wrongly convicted man.
• Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags: a history of New York's garment district.
• Snowblind: focuses on Rachael Scdoris, a blind 23-year-old woman competing in the Iditarod.
• The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls: a film about New Zealand lesbian country-and-western singers.
• Videocracy: examines Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's expansive media empire.
• Good Hair: Chris Rock's look at the culture of African American hair.
• Turtle: The Incredible Journey: Follows a turtle in its look at how marine life is being impacted by environmental changes.
  

Tags: 2009,awards,films,tiff

Other Coverage of Opening Film

Following on from the previous post, Gayle MacDonald in The Globe and Mail, and Martin Knelman in The Toronto Star both comment on yesterday's announcement by the festival of Creation as the opening film of the festival. Both note that this is only the third time in the history of the festival that a non-Canadian film has opened, and the first since 1996 (the other two are Fly Away Home and In Country).

None of the Canadian industry folks interviewed by MacDonald seemed overly concerned by the move, and both MacDonals and Knelman make reference to the fact that some in the industry view the opening slot as less than desirable from a commercial point of view.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Creation to Open Festival

The festival announced that Creation, a film based on the life of Charles Darwin and starring real-life husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, will open the festival this year. This year is the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

As Chandra Menard at blogTO noted (http://www.blogto.com/film/2009/07/tiff_unveils_galas_and_opening_night_film/), this is an unusual choice as it is a UK, not a Canadian film.

Usually, the festival chooses a Canadian film to open the festival:

2008: Passchendaele from Paul Gross
2007: Fugitive Pieces from Jeremy Podeswa
2006: The Journals of Knud Rasmussen from Zacharias Kunuk
2005: Water from Deepha Mehta
2004: Being Julia from István Szabó
2003: Les Invasions Barbares from Denys Arcand

Menard quotes Piers Handling as reaffirming the festival's commitment to Canadian film, and that the Canadian lineup will be announced within the next few weeks.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Ticket Exchanges

Thanks to Greg from TOfilmfest.ca for pointing out that in the latest mailing to festival goers, it lists that if you want to exchange a ticket to one film for a different film or screening, there is a $2.50 charge per ticket. Tickets can be exchanged up until the day before the actual screening.
The interesting thing to all this is that the festival general policies on the official site actually currently state that there are no ticket exchanges allowed.

I'm not sure if this fee will be in effect or not on ticket package pickup day, but I would tend to imagine so. The impact for anyone who has bought one of the "You Choose" type packages is that if you make a backup choice for one of your movie selections, and you get the backup, then if you decide you want to pick something else instead, you may get dinged for $2.50 to make the switch.

One alternative is to not make a second choice if there really isn't anything else you want to watch in a particular time slot. If you don't receive your first choice and you haven't indicated a backup, then you will receive a voucher that can be used just like cash to purchase a ticket to another film.

If you haven't participated in the advance order process before, this probably doesn't make any sense to you. As we draw nearer to the festival, I will be posting an updated guide to the process.

Another alternative is to try and sell off your ticket the day of the screening to someone in the rush line (i.e. someone who is hoping that someone doesn't show up for a sold-out screening). This is a pretty common occurrence, and I've both bought and sold tickets in this situation.

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Box Office Update

As of July 15, 2009, the following packages are sold out on the festival online box office:

• Day Package Lite
• Student Card for Friday, September 11
• Student Card for Saturday, September 12
• Student Card for Sunday, September 13
• Visa Screening Room Weekend Evening Package
• Visa Screening Room Mid-Festival Package

Still available:

• 10-ticket Package
• Festival Package
• Festival Package Lite
• Day Package
• Student Card for Monday, September 14 through to Saturday, September 19
• Sutton 2-Day Package
• Sutton 3-Day Package
• 6:00 PM Visa Screening Room Evening Package
• 9:00 PM Visa Screening Room Evening Package
• Visa Screening Room 2-Day Package
• Visa Screening Room 3-Day Package
• City to City Package
• Wavelengths Package
• Midnight Madness Package
• Globetrotter Weekend/Evening Package
• Globetrotter Daytime Package
• Festival Experience Evening/Weekend Package
• Festival Experience Daytime Package
• Roy Thomson Hall Closing Night Film and Cocktail

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Additional Films Announced

Yesterday the festival announced three films for the Gala Presentations programme, and 19 films for the Special Presentations programme. The full press release can be found here:

http://www.tiff.net/press?newsId=627

Gala highlights include:

• Get Low, from director Aaron Schneider, starring Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, and Sissy Spacek.
• The Invention of Lying, starring Ricky Gervais.
• Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, starring Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz among others.

Special Presentations highlights include:

• The Boys Are Back, starring Clive Owen.
• Bright Star, a John Keats biopic from director Jane Campion, with Ben Whishaw and Abbie Cornish.
• Cracks, with Eva Green.
• The Informant!, from director Steven Soderbergh and starring Matt Damon.
• Leaves of Grass, staring Edward Norton playing identical twin brothers.
• Mother, from director Bong Joon-ho (The Host).
• Ondine, from filmmaker Neil Jordan, starring Colin Farrell.
• Partir, starring Kristin Scott Thomas.
• Solitary Man, starring Michael Douglas, Susan Sarandon, Danny DeVito, Mary Louise Parker, and Jenna Fischer.
• Vengeance, from director Johnny To.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Ticket Package Sales

As previously mentioned, ticket packages are now on sale to the general public (although you can only pay by Visa at this point in time). So far, as of 11:30 AM, everything is still available except for the Visa Screening Room Weekend Evening Package (which allows you to see 6:00 PM showings at the Visa Screening Room on Sept 11, 12, and 13).

Normally, the Visa Screening Room and Roy Thomson Hall packages tend to sell out first, most of the others usually still have availability until closer to the festival. Note that any of the "You Choose" packages really should be purchased before the Advance Order Process occurs in late August to take full advantage of them.

Check out the festival web site at http://www.tiff.net/boxoffice for details on how and where to purchase tickets.

Update (July 6, 2009, 7:35 PM): The Day Package Lite (15 films before 5:01 PM) is also sold out. All other packages (except for the previously mentioned two) are still available.

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Ticket Packages on Sale Monday, July 6, 2009

Just a reminder that ticket packages go on sale to the general public starting 10:00 AM, on Monday, July 6. 2009. Note that at this point you can only purchase using a Visa card (Visa is a major sponsor of the festival). If you want to purchase ticket packages using cash or debit, you have to wait until 10:00 AM on Monday, July 13, 2009.

Check out my previous post on packages available for the 2009 festival:

http://tifftalk.blogspot.com/2009/05/2009-festival-ticketing-update.html

Ticket packages either give you tickets to films pre-selected by the festival, or allow you to participate in the advance order process. The advance order process lets you select your own films in late August/early September, before sales open up to the general public.

If you just want to buy a ticket or two, or don't want to go to the trouble of participating in the advance order process, you can wait until 7:00 AM on September 4, 2009 to purchase tickets.

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Story in the Toronto Star

Yesterday the festival issued a press release on changes to address customer service and Visa Screening Room issues from last year. This is in line with the letter they sent out a few weeks ago to previous festivalgoers that I already commented on:

http://tifftalk.blogspot.com/2009/06/service-changes-for-2009.html
http://tifftalk.blogspot.com/2009/05/2009-festival-ticketing-update.html

Peter Howell, a film critic for The Toronto Star, asked me for comment on the changes in a story published in today's paper:

http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/655560

Welcome to all Star readers who are visiting here for the first time! I know there will probably be a number of people who will not agree with the price increases, but if you generally assume prices for anything will tend to rise over time, I don't think the changes are completely off the chart. And while not perfect, I think the compromise of opening up more Visa Screening Room screenings back to ticket package holders and guaranteeing at least one non-premium screening addresses the problems last year with the venue. In terms of the additional days available for the advance order process, I still think that came from the lateness of Labour Day this year; it will be interesting to see if the 2010 festival retains the same schedule.

The festival also released the names of some of the films that will be screening at this year's festival:

http://www.tiff.net/filmsandschedules/filmlist/default.aspx

Some important upcoming dates to remember:

July 6, 10am All ticket packages on sale to Visa cardholders
July 13, 10am All ticket packages on sale for Visa, Debit and cash

You do not have to buy ticket packages now; you can also buy individual tickets on September 4, 2009.

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

TIFF Donors

In case you are wondering if you should donate to the festival, or how donations affect the Advance Order process, this article describes the benefits and impacts. Full information on the donation levels can be found at http://tiffg.ca/support/default.aspx.

Notable benefits for donors include:

• As of June 1, 10:00 AM, donors can start purchasing ticket packages; all others have to wait until July 6.
• As of August 27, 10:00 AM, donors of $1,000 or more can start purchasing individual premium tickets (i.e. premium screenings at Roy Thomson Hall and the Visa Screening Room); all others have to wait until September 4. A lot of the literature out there seems to imply all donors can purchase early, but the TIFFG site states the benefit is only available to $1,000 donors and above.
• Tax receipt for donations above $10.
• Priority in the Advance Order process at the Benefactor level and above (i.e. a minimum donation of $250); priority increases with the donation level.

Donor levels include:

• 52/7 Circle Level: $5,000
• Gold Level: $3,500
• Silver Screen Level: $2,000
• Film Club Level: $1,000
• Associate Level: $500
• Benefactor Level: $250
• $150
• Ambassador Level: $100
• $50
• Supporter Level: $25

I had the chance last year to talk to Jesse Hawken, Assistant Manager of Customer Relations at TIFF about the donor benefits in the Advance Order process. Previously, donors were served out of the industry box office, and had a private allotment of tickets. However, as of last year, the process changed in that any unused donor-allotted tickets were returned to the pool available for the general public.

In 2008, there were 78 boxes in the draw, with an additional 7 boxes for donors, separated by donor level. None of the donor boxes were full, and each donor box is about 1.5 times the size of a normal box. No screenings were completely cleared out by donor orders.

One benefit resulting from donations is providing student and senior pricing for screenings at the festival.

On a separate note, Hawken also talked to the Visa Screening Room, and that the changes there for the 2008 festival were a consequence of not wanting to raise prices. He did say the festival would look at the Visa Screening Room for 2009, and their published commitments so far would seem to indicate they followed through on that, especially the guarantee that there won't be any gala films that can't be accessed by the normal ticket packages.

Tags: 2008,2009,tickets,tiff

Service Changes for 2009

The Festival outlined a number of changes to improve service for this year's festival, including:

• All Gala films will have at least one screening accessible to Festival, Daytime, and 10-ticket Package holders, subject to availability. This was a problem last year, when there were 8 films that screened only at Roy Thomson Hall or the Visa Screening Room and thus could not be selected by package holders who did not have a gala or Visa Screening Room pass.
• Package holders will have increased access to the Visa Screening Room. This apparently is being accomplished by having about half the screenings at the Visa Screening Room be regular public screenings, while the other half or so will be premium public screenings. Last year, you could not see films at the Visa Screening Room unless you had the Visa Screening Room pass, or bought individual premium tickets.
• Reduction of wait times for advance order pickups. The Festival is searching out an appropriate location that meets their "needs for traffic flow and access for all box-office functions." This might mean not using the Toronto Life Square location for the advance order pickup like last year. On pickup day on September 3, there will be increased hours of operation, and they will be doubling the number of operators available for the ticket exchange process.
• Distinct criteria for premium screenings. Premium screenings will always be the first showing of a film at Roy Thomson Hall or the Visa Screening Room, and have at least one of the following three criteria: be a red carpet event; be at least a North American premiere; include a Q&A with either a director or a principal cast member. Note that the majority of films will have their first screening in a non-premium venue, and many will have a Q&A, even in subsequent screenings.
• Individual ticket sales will begin on September 4, 6 days before the start of the festival.
• The film schedule will be released on August 25, and Advance Orders are not due until August 31 at 1:00 PM, which is three days more than last year.
• Completed Advance Orders will be available for pickup in September 3 (note, this is a Thursday and not a holiday), before the Labour Day long weekend.

It sounds like the Festival has listened to the feedback coming out of last year's event, especially around the Visa Screening Room. It will be interesting to see how the Advance Order process will work for films there, since package holders will be able to see some, but not all films at the Visa Screening Room (i.e. premium screenings there will still require individual tickets or one of the Visa Screening Room passes). The additional package types for the Visa Screening Room provide a fair bit of variety and do seem to make things more accessible.

Hopefully the venue chosen for Advance Order pickup will facilitate the pickup process better this year. The one main problem at the Toronto Life Square location in the early part of last year was people cutting in line, since the line started at street level but the box office was three flights of escalators up. By the end of the festival, they had instituted a system that cut down on people cutting in.

Having additional time for the ordering process and having the long weekend free are both a plus, although I think that may be due in part to the date on which Labour Day falls this year (it's a lot later than normal). Hopefully this will persist into future years as well. On the downside, you will now need to take a vacation day for Advance Order pickup if you expect to have to do ticket exchanges.

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

2009 Festival Ticketing Update

The Festival has done a bit of rebranding and has a new site at http://www.tiff.net/ (tiff.com was already taken by an Internet marketing company). The Festival has also put up a brochure explaining the ticket packages for the 2009 festival, which I'll summarize below. The brochure can be found here: http://www.tiffg.ca/tiffgalerts/web/docs/awarenessbrochure.pdf.

Note if you are a donor, you can start buying packages as of 10:00 AM on June 1. Otherwise, Visa card holders can start buying packages as of 10:00 AM on July 6. Cash and debit purchases of packages can be made starting10:00 AM on July 13. This is only to buy the ticket packages listed later in this posting. Single tickets to individual films will not go on sale until 7:00 AM on September 4, although this is now 5 days before the festival actually starts.

If you buy a ticket package and thus participate in the advance ordering process in August, the festival has increased the time between picking up your package and having to submit your order. Last year, you only had 3 days to complete the process. This year, you have 6 days, from 10:00 AM on August 25 to 1:00 PM on August 31. Completed packages will be available for pickup starting 7:00 AM on September 3, which is before the Labour Day long weekend this year. Note that September 3 is a Thursday, so unlike previous years, you will want to plan to take this as a vacation day if you expect to have to make exchanges.

The Festival has clarified the difference between Roy Thomson Hall and Visa Screening Room galas, and the rest of the festival:

Premium Screening: Approximately 6% of all films fall into this category. These are the first public screenings of a film at the festival, occur at Roy Thomson Hall or the Visa Screening Room, and have at least one of the following criteria:

1. Be a red carpet event.
2. Be at least a North American premiere.
3. Include a Q&A with either a director or principal cast.

Regular Screening: Approximately 74% of all films fall into this category.

Not sure what makes up the other 20%! Also note that a lot of the regular screenings usually have cast and/or crew show up, and have Q&A's after the film.

For the ticket packages, there were generally modest increases, although the Festival packages get the biggest bump. The Wavelengths package actually dropped in price; not sure what that means for the programme itself. Additional packages for the Visa Screening Room have been added, including some reasonably priced options that guarantee tickets,but only on specific days. Anyone thinking of picking one of these up in order to see the next Brad Pitt film, might want to be careful, since there's no guarantee on when films will be scheduled at this point. Some packages held in price from last year, like Midnight Madness.

Packages where you choose the films:

10 Ticket Package
$159.14 (up $4.64 from last year, no discount for students and seniors).
See up to 10 films (maximum of 4 tickets per film screening).
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall or Visa Screening Room premium screenings.
Can participate in the Advance Order Procedure.
A single purchaser can buy a maximum of 10 10-Ticket Packages (for 100 tickets total).

Festival Package
$524.27 (up $15.27 from last year, $443.93 for students and seniors).
See up to 50 films (maximum of 1 ticket per film screening).
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall or Visa Screening Room premium screenings.
Can participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Festival Package Lite
$386.25 (up $11.25 from last year, no discount for students and seniors).
See up to 30 films (maximum of 1 ticket per film screening).
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall or Visa Screening Room premium screenings.
Can participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Day Package
$201.88 (up $5.88 from last year, $162.23 for students and seniors).
See up to 25 films (maximum of 1 ticket per film, each must start before 5:01 PM).
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films.
Can participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Day Package Lite
$139.05 (up $4.05 from last year, no discount for students and seniors).
See up to 15 films (maximum of 1 ticket per film, each must start before 5:01 PM).
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films.
Can participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Student Card
$19.87 (up $0.58 from last year)
Can see multiple films on a given day from the first screening to 11:59 PM, up to a maximum of 5 per day.
Must have valid student ID to both purchase the card and enter screenings.
When purchasing, must select the date for the student card. Films are selected the morning of the day selected.
Quantities are limited per day.
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Sutton 2 Day Package
$699 (no discount for students and seniors)
2-night stay at the Sutton Place Hotel over the final two days of the festival (September 18 and 19).
2 tickets to the Closing Night Gala at the Visa Screening Room.
4 additional tickets that can be redeemed for any regular screening (i.e. not Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films).
1 Programme Book.
2 Festival t-shirts.
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films other than the Closing Night Gala.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Sutton 3 Day Package
$999 (no discount for students and seniors)
3-night stay at the Sutton Place Hotel over the final three days of the festival (September 17, 18 and 19).
2 tickets to the Closing Night Gala at the Visa Screening Room.
6 additional tickets that can be redeemed for any regular screening (i.e. not Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films).
1 Programme Book.
2 Festival t-shirts.
Cannot see Roy Thomson Hall galas or Visa Screening Room films other than the Closing Night Gala.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.


Packages where the films are chosen for you by the Festival:

Visa Screening Room Evening Package
$350 (no change from last year, no discount for students and seniors)
1 ticket to Visa Screening room films from September 11 to 18, for either the 6:00 PM or 9:00 PM screening (note you may have to select one time period for the length of the festival).
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Visa Screening Room 2 Day Package
$35 (new this year, no discount for students and seniors)
1 ticket to Visa Screening room films on September 15 and 17, between 12:00 PM and 5:59 PM. It is unclear how many screenings this would include, but based on the price, I would guess one per day.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Visa Screening Room 3 Day Package
$50 (new this year, no discount for students and seniors)
1 ticket to Visa Screening room films on September 14, 16 and 18, between 12:00 PM and 5:59 PM.
It is unclear how many screenings this would include, but based on the price, I would guess one per day.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Visa Screening Room Weekend Evening Package
$131.25 (new this year, no discount for students and seniors)
1 ticket to the 6:00 PM Visa Screening room films on September 11, 12 and 13.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Visa Screening Room Mid Festival Package
$131.25 (new this year, no discount for students and seniors)
1 ticket to the 9:00 PM Visa Screening room films on September 14, 15 and 16.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Double Date Gala Package
$299.04 (new this year, no discount for students and seniors)
4 tickets to each of two galas pre-selected by the Festival (for a total of 8 tickets).
Dates, times, and films to be announced by Thursday, September 3.
Guaranteed that both films will not occur on the same day.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Wavelengths Package
$55.40 (down $11.09 from last year, new $47.09 for students and seniors)
1 ticket to each of the Wavelengths screenings.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Midnight Madness Package
$156.51 (no change from last year, $100 for students and seniors)
1 ticket to each Midnight Madness screening.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Globetrotter Weekend/Evening
$112.53 (no change from last year, no discount for students and seniors)
6 films are pre-selected for you.
Films are guaranteed to start after 5:30 PM on weekdays or anytime on the weekend.
Also receive 2 vouchers for the fall Cinematheque fall season, and a pound of Starbucks coffee.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Globetrotter Daytime
$99.23 (no change from last year, no discount for students and seniors)
6 films are pre-selected for you.
Films are guaranteed to start between 8:30 AM and 5:01 PM.
Also receive 2 vouchers for the fall Cinematheque fall season, and a pound of Starbucks coffee.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Festival Experience Weekend/Evening
$68.54 (no change from last year, no discount for students and seniors)
3 films are pre-selected for you.
Films are guaranteed to start after 5:30 PM on weekdays or anytime on the weekend.
Also receive a pound of Starbucks coffee.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Festival Experience Package
$63.42 (no change from last year, no discount for students and seniors)
3 films are pre-selected for you.
Films are guaranteed to start between 8:30 AM and 5:01 PM.
Also receive a pound of Starbucks coffee.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Roy Thomson Hall Closing Night Film and Cocktail
$180.25 (up $5.25 from last year, no discount for students and seniors)
1 ticket to the closing night gala at Roy Thomson Hall.
Invitation to an after-party.
Only balcony seating is guaranteed.
There is no guarantee that any celebrities will be in attendance.
Cannot participate in the Advance Order Procedure.

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Objectified

Objectified is director Gary Hustwit's follow-up to his well-received documentary Helvetica. Continuing on with the theme of design, Objectified takes an expanded view and looks at what design is, how it affects people, and where it is going in the future. Hustwit interviews a number of design luminaries, including Jonathan Ive, senior VP of industrial design at Apple and the principal designer of the iPhone among many other products.

A number of designers talk about what inspires them and the things they come up with. But even though the film celebrates the work they do, it also raises at least some questions about a profession that can at times be at odds with environmental sustainability and really only addresses a small percentage of the people on the planet.

Objectified is a really interesting documentary that makes you appreciate the beauty and artistry of everything from a laptop computer, to a chair, to even the most mundane household objects that we all take for granted, like a toothbrush or a vegetable peeler.

Director Gary Hustwit was in attendance and did a Q&A after the film.

• Hustwit still had questions to ask about design after completing Helvetica, hence the continuation of the theme in Objectified.
• Hustwit wouldn't reveal specifics because he's still working it out in his head, but his third documentary will also share a design theme.
• Seeing more about the process of design during the course of filming and interviewing subjects has caused him to think more about why he makes films, but didn't necessarily affect how he made this film.
• He found it interesting that all the designers he interviewed seemed really interested in their camera gear and that all wanted to try to redesign it and make it better.
• On their way to interview Jonathan Ive, the airline lost the crew's tripod and boom mike extension, so they had to jury rig ones from stuff they bought at Home Depot, and were a bit embarrassed to show up at Apple with it.
• Before filming, Hustwit talked to a lot of designers, educators, and writers to get a wish list of topics and people to interview, but he also did have a number of people in mind that he wanted to have for the film.
• He was intrigued to find out what was on the designers' minds, who they were as people, and what drove them to do what they do.
• He hopes at some point to be able to make a documentary about Tom Waits.
• Hustwit has known Kristian Dunn, guitarist for the band el ten eleven, for 15 years, and finds his music clicks with Hustwit's visual imagery, hence the music in the film.
• Hustwit mentioned that documentaries generally aren't scored since you don't know what the editorial cut will be until close to the end.
• With Helvetica, he just told musicians he was making a movie about the font, and found it interesting the things he got back.
• Luke Geissbuhler, the director of photography, also worked on Helvetica, Borat, and Bruno. His father is a Swiss designer.
• Hustwit says he is learning from Geissbuhler, as he hadn't done any filming before Helvetica, and Hustwit ended up shooting about 30% of Objectified himself.
• Editor Joe Beshenkovsky has worked on a number of episodes of the cable version of This American Life.
• Objectified, despite its look, was kind of low budget and a bit of a credit card movie, but hundreds did end up working on it.
• When asked, Hustwit said that there needs to be a dialog on sustainability, but it does come back to us as consumers; he thinks there is a change going on in terms of patterns of consumption. If more people understand the things behind design, maybe they will think more about what they buy.
• Designers were asking the question of how you justify making all these things, but the system depends on consumers continually buying things, especially now with all the talk of recession.
• Everything is designer; it's about re-evaluating and redesigning to make things better. Designers, especially in Europe, are being involved in more discussions about public policy, in part because of this philosophy and methodology of looking at problems.

Tags: 2009,films,hotdocs

2008 Festival Wrap-up

Well, another festival done for the year. I was up slightly from last year, with 27 films or discussions, totalling 47 hours, 38 minutes.

Things that worked well:

• Probably don't need to keep mentioning this since for the last few years it's been good, but the festival once again kept the pre-film trailers short and to the point.
• The volunteers did their usual excellent job keeping the festival running.
• The AMC ticket line. This was originally going to go on the list of things that didn't work, but the festival did change things up midstream to address the issue of people cutting in line.
• The festival staff mid-week started specifically telling people not to text message during the screenings. Part of me can't believe they have to even mention this to people, but then again, people still feel the need to talk during movies, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Funny story, I had a friend in one screening who had a couple making out in the seats next to him; what surprised me is that anyone would spend that much on tickets and then not watch the film :-).
• Twittering updates during the fest was new for me this year. For some things I think it made sense (box draw, celeb sightings), not sure yet if it was useful for anything else. Comments either way are welcome.

Things that didn't work well:

• Once again, the online box office can't handle peak loads on the opening day of ticket sales, and doesn't make it easy for users to recover from errors in the middle of their purchases.
• The festival brought the 30-film package back after eliminating it last year to much consternation, but unfortunately, they brought it back with the limitation of only one ticket per screening. I know there are quite a few people out there (myself included) that purchase tickets with friends, and this limitation forces us to resort back to buying multiple 10-packs at a higher cost (hopefully they don't put a restriction on that one either).

One thing that I really didn't like this year is not being able to select films at the Visa Screening Room with any of the festival packages (except for the very specific Visa Screening Room package). This was probably one of the things that ticked me off the most, especially when 8 films (Burn After Reading, Blindness, Rachel Getting Married, The Duchess, The Lucky Ones, The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The Good, the Bad, the Weird, and Stone of Destiny) could not be seen without purchasing a higher-priced gala ticket for Roy Thomson Hall or the Visa Screening Room (i.e. they never appeared in any of the other festival theatres).

The festival's explanation for this (http://tiff08.ca/help/events/default.aspx) is below:

"Visa Screening Room presentations are on par with Galas at Roy Thomson Hall, as this programme of screenings will showcase some of the year’s most significant and noteworthy films, generally World or North American Premieres.
In 2007, TIFF adjusted the ticket price of Visa Screening Room events at the Elgin Theatre to more accurately reflect their value, though in this transition period we still allowed Festival/Daytime/10-Ticket Package holders access to these screenings. As of 2008, Regular Ticket Packages are valid for Regular-priced screenings only.
Premium Tickets (Galas at Roy Thomson Hall and Visa Screening Room presentations at the Elgin Theatre) will go on sale Saturday, August 23 at 10am.
TIFF is also introducing a new screening venue this year, the AMC at Yonge and Dundas, where many of our public screenings will take place. "

I think this explanation is questionable for a number of reasons. One: world/international premieres are not unique to the VSR/RTH films; I saw plenty of such premiers in other theatres. Two: in my past experience, there was nothing about the experience at the Elgin that elevated it above any other screening; big-name stars would still show up to other theatres, generally speaking there were never Q&A's at the VSR, and the theatre is not any better technically than others. Three: despite the introduction of the AMC, there were the aforementioned 8 films that never received a non-VSR/RTH screening.

I've never quibbled with the Roy Thomson Hall gala screenings being more expensive or distinct, but to try to put the Visa Screening Room screenings on the same par is going a bit far. If they are going to continue doing this, the least they can do is *not* make screenings exclusive to those two theatres and let the rest of the festival-going public see them.

The other major problem I had this year was the whole donor privileges issue. New this year, donors of at least $250 got priority in the ticket lottery. Donors of at least $1000 got priority in buying premium tickets. Donors also got separate lineups at Roy Thomson Hall and the Visa Screening Room, and got priority for ticket exchanges on pickup day. While I recognize the need to reward donors for helping to provide the festival with additional funds, I think some of it goes too far, specifically, allowing donors priority in the lottery. I can probably tolerate the rest, but the whole point behind the lottery is to make sure everyone gets a fair shot at the films they want. Sometimes it's worked in my favour, and sometimes it hasn't, but I can't complain because I know everyone is in the same boat. Now, however, people willing to throw in a few hundred dollars more (over and above the hundreds they already spent on packages), get to jump the queue. This is basically going to create a two-tier system where people who can afford to, will get all their films, and everyone else is going to have to take their chances; in Canada, try suggesting a two-tier medicare system and see the outrage that results. I can see this system getting worse as time goes on, and more and more people resorting to buying their way to the front-of-the-line, and I wouldn't blame them at that point. If anything among recent changes the festival has made, this one change probably goes most against the democratic principles the festival has been known for and espoused in the past.

If you feel at all similar, then write to the festival (customerrelations@tiffg.ca or tiffg@tiffg.ca), as Piers Handling claimed in a recent interview to be unaware of any public dissatisfaction with the festival's policies: http://www.torontosun.com/TorontoFilmFestival08/news/2008/09/07/6687466-sun.html

Anyway, enough about what didn't work, as I at least enjoyed the films I watched this year. Generally speaking, most of the films were pretty good, and I didn't feel the need to walk out on anything. Of the 27 films or discussions I attended this year, below are my favourites. Note these are only from the things I actually saw; there were a lot of other really good films at the festival this year judging by some of the conversations I overheard in line or had with others:

Favourite films: $5 a Day, Zack and Miri, and Toronto Stories.

Funniest film: tossup between Detroit Metal City and Zack and Miri.

Best dramatic film: tossup between The Wrestler and The Hurt Locker.

Best documentary: I only saw two this year, but I'd probably have to go with It Might Get Loud.

Best Canadian film: Toronto Stories.

Biggest surprise: Jean-Claude Van Damme's performance in JCVD, with Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler not far behind.

"WTF?!" Award: I didn't really see anything this year that was completely incomprehensible, but I'll give this to Takeshi Kitano for Achilles and the Tortoise, if only because I'm still not entirely sure of who or what in the movie is Achilles and who/what is the tortoise.

Screening with the most celebrity wattage: probably a slight edge to It Might Get Loud (Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge, plus Elisabeth Shue in the audience) over The Brothers Bloom (Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, with Ethan Hawke in the audience).

I still have a more reviews and Q&A notes that I hope to post up in the next few days or weeks. Hopefully people found the blog useful this year, and I hope to be back again next year with more ticketing tips, reviews, and Q&A's. Thanks for reading!

Tags: 2008,wrapup

Quick Reviews for Days 8 - 10

Some quick reviews until I catch up on my sleep:

• Winds of September: nice drama about 7 high-school friends in Taiwan.
• Toronto Stories: four short films set in Toronto, loosely connected by a framing story. Combination of fun and touching stories, thought it did well showing the character and diversity of the city while not ignoring the dark spaces.
• Radio Love: not sure I bought the lead character's resolution to her early mid-life crisis.
• White Night Wedding: good drama with parallel storylines about a professor getting remarried on a small Icelandic island, and flashbacks to when he first arrived.
• Achilles and the Tortoise: significantly less surreal than Kitano's two preceeding films, Takeshis' and Glory to the Filmmaker. Interesting, but found it difficult to generate sympathy for the main character at times.
• The Sky Crawlers: reminiscent of director Oshii's other works, interesting world and story, but did find myself wishing for more scenes in the sky.
• The Real Shaolin: intriguing documentary about 4 different people training in Shaolin for various different reasons.
• What Doesn't Kill You: story is not anything we haven't seen before, although its origin in director/writer/actor Brian Goodman's real life elevates it a bit.
• All Around Us: interesting character drama about a young couple and their relationship, with parallel story in the husband's job as a courtroom sketch artist.

Tags: 2008,films

2008 TIFF Awards

While the festival does not have films in a juried competition like Cannes, awards are given out in a few different areas:

Best Canadian Short Film: Chris Chong Chan Fui's Block B. Special citation to Denis Villeneuve's Next Floor.

Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature: Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu's Before Tomorrow. Special citation to Lyne Charlebois' Borderline.

City of Toronto-Citytv Award for Best Canadian Feature: Rodrigue Jean's Lost Song. Special citation to Atom Egoyan's Adoration.

Diesel Discovery Award, voted by the Festival press corps: Steve McQueen's Hunger.

Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize): for films in the Discovery programme, the winner is Derick Martini's Lymelife. For films in the Special Presentations programme, the winner is Steve Jacobs' Disgrace.

Cadillac People's Choice Award, voted by Festival audiences: Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. First runner-up: Kristopher Belman's More Than A Game. Second runner-up: Cyrus Nowrasteh's The Stoning of Soraya M.

Full details can be found in this press release: http://tiff08.ca/press/pressreleases/default.aspx?newsId=596

Tags: 2008,wrapup