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

2017 Ticket Trades

By popular request, I've created a page for comments for ticket trades. Only post here if you are willing to trade tickets, or sell for the value you paid for the ticket. Do not post here if you are simply looking for tickets (if someone hasn't posted that they've got the ticket you want for trade or sell, then no one here likely has it) or are trying to sell above face value; I may delete such comments (note that the range of prices for premium tickets is $52 to $59, and regular tickets is $28 to $35).

Double check any ticket before accepting it; I would not accept an under-25 or senior ticket unless you obviously fit that demographic, otherwise you risk not being admitted if TIFF chooses to check your ID on the way in the door.

A transfer through Ticketmaster is probably your safest bet, and then maybe TIFF-printed tickets; personally, I'd avoid accepting PDFs or print-at-home tickets.

Use the information here at your own risk; I do not know anyone who may be posting here, and any arrangements you make are strictly between you and the other person. If you have any issues, there is nothing I, nor the festival, nor Ticketmaster can do for you; you're on your own.

Note if you do post here, you should delete your comment once you have gotten rid of your ticket, so that you don't continue to get inquiries. If you have problems deleting your comment, post another letting me know, and I'll try to remove it when I get a chance.

Tags: 2017,tickets,tiff

TIFF 2017 Off-sale Screenings

Here is a posting for current off-sale films for TIFF 2017. 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!

Tags: 2017,tickets,tiff

Film Discussion

Since @mgny441 asked, I've created a post here in case anyone wants to discuss films they've seen at TIFF this year. Feel free to add to the comments, but please try to keep it a discussion of the films themselves.

Tags: 2016,films,tiff

Ticketing and Entry

I was talking with a friend about the new ticketing system for TIFF, and we were both wondering how this is going to work at each screening. Some random questions/thoughts:

• If you bought your tickets through the TIFF account manager site, then to use those tickets on a mobile device, you need to be able to connect to the internet to log into the mobile version of the TIFF account manager site and bring up your event.
• The mobile TIFF account manager site does appear to come up by default on phones, but when I tried a tablet, it defaulted to the full desktop site, which does not display mobile tickets. You can manually enter the URL of the mobile site at https://oss.ticketmaster.com/aps/m/tiff/EN/apimobile, and then it seems to work. So if you're thinking about using a tablet or an iPad, be sure you have the correct site bookmarked.
• If you bought your tickets through Ticketmaster proper, then their mobile app will show those tickets, but not any bought through the TIFF account manager from what I can see. I tried logging into the Ticketmaster app with my TIFF account manager credentials (which are separate from the credentials I use for Ticketmaster normally) and it would not log me in. I use the same e-mail address for both, however, so that likely is a problem; I don't know if it would be any different if I had different e-mail addresses for each account, but I suspect not.
• If you need to use the TIFF account manager site, as I expect many will, then how is this going to work in venues with limited cellular or wi-fi coverage? If you've ever been in the Lightbox, unless you're on the Bell network, you'll know that cell reception is terrible in that building. I guess you can fall back to wi-fi, but not every venue has public wi-fi, and you may not be close enough to connect until you're at the door.
• In past years, when they would let a screening in, it was quick and efficient, especially if they had pre-torn all the tickets; how is this going to work when they have to scan everyone in? What happens if people are fumbling around for their phones, or if the scanners have trouble reading the QR codes off the phones? Are they going to let people in earlier than they normally do to account for delays? It already takes forever to load up the Ryerson; can you imagine how long it's going to take if they scan every ticket?
• Speaking of the Ryerson, they usually take tickets at the doors to the main floor or on the stairs to the balcony; are they going to continue this, or will they scan people prior to entering the building?
• When my friend went to pick up our programme books, only one handheld scanner at the box office was working; it looked like the staff was trying to reboot the others. Is this kind of thing going to happen at the theaters? What's the backup plan?

I'd like to be optimistic, but I'm assuming the first day of the festival will be a complete gong show getting in, and then they'll work out all the kinks in the system. As an example, in past years, the lines are often a mess at some theaters on the first day until the staff and volunteers get organized and figure out a system.

Tags: 2016,tickets,tiff

2016 Ticket Trades

By popular request, I've created a page for comments for ticket trades. Only post here if you are willing to trade tickets, or sell for the value you paid for the ticket. Do not post here if you are simply looking for tickets or are trying to sell above face value; I may delete such comments (note that the range of prices for premium tickets is $49 to $56, and regular tickets is $25 to $32).

Double check any ticket before accepting it; I would not accept an under-25 or senior ticket unless you obviously fit that demographic, otherwise you risk not being admitted if TIFF chooses to check your ID on the way in the door.

Note that with the move to Ticketmaster, I don't know how exactly how ticket transfers will work especially since people can have TIFF-printed tickets, print-at-home, as well as mobile tickets. It looks like the new Ticketmaster system does allow for ticket transfers, and once you receive and accept the e-mail with the transfer, the instructions seem to indicate the ticket is yours at that point and can't be revoked or cancelled by the other person (I mention this as Toronto has been hit recently with a spate of people selling and then cancelling Presto transit cards). A transfer through Ticketmaster might be your safest bet, and then maybe TIFF-printed tickets; personally, I'd avoid accepting PDFs or print-at-home tickets.

Use the information here at your own risk; I do not know anyone who may be posting here, and any arrangements you make are strictly between you and the other person. If you have any issues, there is nothing I, nor the festival, nor Ticketmaster can do for you; you're on your own.

Note if you do post here, you should delete your comment once you have gotten rid of your ticket, so that you don't continue to get inquiries. If you have problems deleting your comment, post another letting me know, and I'll try to remove it when I get a chance.

Tags: 2016,tickets,tiff

TIFF 2016 Off-sale Screenings

By popular request, here is a posting for current off-sale films for TIFF 2016 (as of Sep 2 10:58 PM). 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, but restrict any questions around the ticketing systems or issues with it to the previous post on this blog. Thanks!

Thursday, September 8

The Magnificent Seven
Toni Erdmann, 5:30 PM
Things to Come, 9:15 PM
Free Fire, 11:59 PM

Friday, September 9

Toni Erdmann, 12:15 PM
Graduation, 5:30 PM
Little Wing. 6:00 PM
A United Kingdom, 6:30 PM
American Pastoral, 6:30 PM
The Wedding Party, 6:30 PM
Marie Curie, The Courage of Knowledge, 6:45 PM
Wavelengths 1: The Fire Within, 7:00 PM
The Birth of a Nation, 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM
ARQ, 9:15 PM
Snowden, 9:30 PM

Saturday, September 10

Elle, 9:00 AM
American Pastoral, 10:00 AM
A United Kingdom, 11:15 AM
Trespass Against Us, 11:45 AM

Fire at Sea, 12:00 PM

The Cinema Travellers, 1:30 PM

The Ornithologist, 2:15 PM

The Magnificent Seven, 2:30 PM

The Journey, 3:30 PM

The Red Turtle, 3:45 PM

Citizen Jane: Battle for the City, 4:00 PM

The Death of Louis XIV, 6:30 PM

Queen of Katwe, 6:30 PM

Lion, 6:30 PM

Wavelengths 2: Incantati, 7:30 PM

Moonlight, 8:30 PM

Personal Shopper, 9:00 PM

The Handmaiden, 9:30 PM
Below Her Mouth, 9:30 PM

Sunday, September 11

Lion, 11:30 AM
Certain Women, 12:15 PM
Mascots, 2:45 PM
Kekszakallu, Lightbox 4, 3:00 PM
After the Storm, 4:30 PM
Julieta, 6:00 PM
Wavelengths 3: Post-performance, 6:00 PM
Loving, 6:30 PM
The Handmaiden, 8:30 PM
It's Only the End of the World, 9:15 PM, 9:30 PM, 9:45 PM
Nocturnal Animals, 10:00 PM
Blair Witch, 11:59 PM

Monday, September 12

Their Finest, 3:00 PM
The Dreamed Ones, 3:15 PM
La La Land, 6:15 PM
Wavelengths 4: Indefinite, 6:30 PM Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer, 6:30 PM
Anatomy of Violence, 7:00 PM
I, Daniel Blake, 8:30 PM American Honey, 9:00 PM
Arrival, 9:30 PM

Tuesday, September 13

The Salesman, 5:45 PM
Manchester by the Sea, 6:00 PM
Deepwater Horizon, 6:30 PM
La La Land, 11:30 AM

Wednesday, September 14

Paterson, 9:00 AM
Manchester by the Sea, 11:30 AM
The Salesman, 1:00 PM
Prevenge, 9:15 PM
The Headhunter's Calling, 9:30 PM

Thursday, September 15

Graduation, 9:00 AM
Black Code, 12:30 PM
The Secret Scripture, 6:30 PM
The Terry Kath Experience, 8:15 PM

Friday, September 16

I, Daniel Blake, 6:00 PM
Paris Can Wait, 6:00 PM
La La Land, 9:30 PM

Saturday, September 17

Certain Women, 12:00 PM
Nocturnal Animals, 5:45 PM
Edge of Seventeen, 8:00 PM

Sunday, September 18

Jackie, 3:45 PM
It's Only the End of the World, 9:30 PM

Tags: 2016,tickets,tiff

Schedule Available Today

The official schedule is out today for the festival. Programme books will be available for pickup at the Festival Box Office starting at 9:00 AM. New this year, you can print out your pickup voucher at home from the ticketing website, just bring it with you when you go to pick up your books.

If you bought a My Choice regular or premium ticket package, then yesterday you should have received an e-mail with instructions and your starting login time for selection. Starting at that time, and not before, you will be able to log into the ticketing site to select your films. I got an 11:00 AM start time next Monday as an example.

Other than there being a new site this year, the basic rules of the selection process seem to largely be the same:

• Selections and inventory are updated in real-time.
• You have a limited time window once you log in to make your selections.
• You receive vouchers if you don't select all your available screenings in your package.
• Once you submit your selections you cannot log back into the website to make changes.

One new change is that you no longer have to pick up your tickets in person; you can choose to use a mobile device or print your tickets at home.

Tags: tickets,tiff

New Ticketing System

If you are an existing TIFF Member, you should've received an e-mail instructing you on how to create a new online Membership account for the new ticketing system. The interesting thing is what is running the new ticketing site:

If you can't make it out in the image, the new site is powered by Ticketmaster. It will be interesting to see what the performance of the new system is under load when individual tickets go on sale. In past years, the old system was pretty much guaranteed to go down. In more recent years they introduced a waiting room to which you were shunted if the site was overloaded. The problem with the waiting room was that it wasn't very good at letting people back in following the order they first arrived at the site. assuming it let you back in at all, which generated a lot of frustration. I'm cautiously optimistic about the new system, so we'll see how it goes this year.

Tags: 2016,tickets,tiff

TIFF 2016 Ticket Information and Dates

The festival has released dates and information about ticketing for the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

The festival has updated their website and ticketing experience. Existing members will have to setup a new Member account online; they will receive an e-mail on July 12 with instructions on how to setup their new online account. It will be interesting to see if they have made any performance improvements as well to handle to crush during individual ticket purchases.

New this year, the festival says that you will be able to print your tickets at home, use mobile tickets, and transfer e-tickets to friends, although you still have the option to pick up tickets in person from a box office if you prefer. I wonder how much this may cut down on the box office lines before and during the festival.

Dates for the festival can be found at the official TIFF site or at my page here: http://tifftalk.blogspot.ca/p/important-dates.html.

Existing Members will be able to purchase ticket packages at 2015 prices between July 18 and July 22. After that, everyone will have to pay 2016 prices which are below. In general, each package increased in total price by about $10 over last year (except for the Closing Night Gala which is still $205).

My Choice Regular Flex Package
10 tickets: $220
20 tickets: $420
30 tickets: $630
40 tickets: $840
50 tickets: $1,010
60 tickets: $1,210
70 rickets: $1,410
80 tickets: $1,610
90 tickets: $1,810
100 tickets: $2,010

My Choice Premium Flex Package
6 tickets: $405

My Choice Back-Half Package
6 tickets: $85

My Choice Daytime Package
20 tickets: $260

TIFF Choice Midnight Madness
10 tickets: $195, $130 Youth & Senior

TIFF Choice Wavelengths
7 tickets: $110, $90 Youth & Senior

TIFF Choice Daytime Sampler
5 tickets: $105, $90 Youth & Senior

TIFF Choice Evening/Weekend Sampler
5 tickets: $120, $105 Youth & Senior

TIFF Choice Premium Sampler
3 tickets: $165, $130 Youth & Senior

TIFF Choice Buzz List
5 tickets: $1,510

TIFF Choice Closing Night Gala Film + Cocktail Reception
1 ticket: $205

Individual Tickets
Regular Adult: From $25
Regular Youth & Senior: From $20
Regular Rush: $20

Premium Adult: From $49
Premium Youth & Senior: From $38
Premium Rush: $40

Official page: http://tiff.net/festivals/festival16/tickets

Tags: 2016,tickets,tiff

My 2015 Films

My picks for 2015:

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

Tags: 2015,films,tiff

TIFF 2015 Off-sale (Sold Out) Screenings

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

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

Tags: 2015,tickets,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

TIFF My Choice Selection Times Going Out

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

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

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

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

Tags: 2015,tickets,tiff

TIFF 2015 Pricing and Dates

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

Important dates include:

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

Individual tickets for Regular screenings are $25 for adults, $18 for 25 and under, $21 for 65 and older, and $20 for rush. For Premium screenings, prices are $48 for adults, $30 for 25 and under, $40 for 65 and older, and $40 for rush.

Prices include taxes but not service fees.

My Choice packages (where you select the films you want to see):

• Regular Flex Pack
• 10 tickets for $200
• purchase in increments of 10, up to 100
• note: unlike previous years, there is no graduated pricing at higher levels, so 100 tickets is $2,000, which is about a 10% increase over 2014
• Premium Flex Pack
• 6 Premium tickets for $395
• Back-Half Pack
• for screenings between Sept 15 and Sept 20
• 6 tickets for $75
• 12 tickets for $150
• Daytime Pack
• for screenings before 5:00 PM
• 20 tickets for $250
• 40 tickets for $500

TIFF Choice packages (where the festival selects films for you):

• Premium Sampler
• 3 for $155 ($120 for youths and seniors)
• The Buzz List
• 5 for $1,500 (no youth or senior discounts)
• Daytime Sampler
• 5 for $96 ($80 for youths and seniors)
• films are screen before 5 PM
• Evening and Weekend Sampler
• 5 for $110 ($95 for youths and seniors)
• films screen after 5 PM or anytime on weekends
• Midnight Madness
• 10 for $185 ($120 for youths and seniors)
• Wavelengths
• 7 for $100 ($85 for youths and seniors)
• Closing Night Gala
• $205 (no youth or senior discounts)

More information is available on the festival website:

http://tiff.net/festivals/thefestival/tickets

Tags: 2015,tickets,tiff

My 2014 Films

My picks for 2014:

• 1001 Grams (Bent Hamer, Norway/Germany/France): Saw Hamer's Home for Christmas back in 2010, this sounds like a fun film.
• Before We Go (Chris Evans, USA): While Evans might be best known for Captain America, this marks his directorial debut, and from some interviews I've read, may be the direction he takes career-wise once his Marvel commitments are over and done with. A friend pointed out this year there are a number of films somewhat similar in nature to Before Sunrise, this being among them. I like both Evans (in films as varied as Captain America, Scott Pilgrim, and Snowpiercer) as well as Alice Eve, so I'm interested to see how this turns out.
• Cake (Daniel Barnz, USA): I like both Jennifer Aniston and Anna Kendrick, so picked this one for both of them.
• Clouds of Sils Maria (Olivier Assayas, France/USA): got some good buzz out of Cannes, plus I've seen a number of Assayas' and Juliette Binoche's films at the festival (sometimes together, sometimes not). Was disappointed by Words and Pictures last year, but I'm holding out hope for this film this year.
• Force Majeure (Ruben Ostlund, Sweden/Norway/Denmark/France): another one I heard buzz about from Cannes, about the effect of a father's actions when he thinks he and his family are about to die, but don't.
• Kabukicho Love Hotel (Ryuichi Hiroki, Japan): this film about people intersecting in a red-light district in Tokyo sounded interesting; I didn't realize that the star, Shota Sometani, is in another film I'm seeing this year (Tokyo Tribe).
• Kill Me Three Times (Kriv Stenders, Australia): sounds like an over-the-top, noir-ish film set in the Australian outback. Have to admit one of the main reasons for picking this is the photo of a black-clad, mustachioed Simon Pegg holding a rifle.
• The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness (Mami Sunada, Japan): I'm seeing this documentary about Studio Ghibli back to back with The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. Having seen a number of Ghibli and Miyazaki films over the years, I'm really interested to get a look behind-the-scenes.
• Laggies (Lynn Shelton, USA): Keira Knightley plays a woman stuck in a state of arrested development since high school who gets a push out of her rut when her longtime boyfriend proposes to her. I like Knightley, and enjoyed her in last year's Can a Song Save Your Life?
• The Last Five Years (Richard LaGravenese, USA): Anna Kendrick is probably the only thing that could get me to see a musical like this, although I've liked some of LaGravenese's other work.
• Mavericks Conversation with Juliette Binoche: Having seen so many of her films at the festival over the years, was a no-brainer to pick this extended Q&A with her.
• Monsoon (Sturla Gunnarsson, Canada): intriguing look at the impact of this natural phenomenon on India. I've seen a couple of Gunnarsson's other films at the festival including Beowulf & Grendel, and Force of Nature.
• October Gale (Ruba Nadda, Canada): a thriller starring Patricia Clarkson and Scott Speedman.
• Over Your Dead Body (Takashi Miike, Japan): set in a theatre during rehearsals for production of a Kabuki play rife with murder and betrayal, life soon begins to imitate art. 
• Revivre (Im Kwon-taek, South Korea): a businessman with an ailing wife struggles with his feelings for his younger coworker, against his dedication to his family.
• Seymour: An Introduction (Ethan Hawke, USA): Hawke directed this documentary about classical musician Seymour Bernstein, that takes its focus from the question of why should anyone make art? Sounds like an interesting study, plus my girlfriend is a fan of Hawke's work.
• The Tale of The Princess Kaguya (Isao Takahata, Japan): a film from Studio Ghibli co-founder Takahata, this film seems very visually distinct from Ghibli's (and Takahata's) normal style.
• Tokyo Fiancee (Stefan Liberski, Belgium/Canada/France): a Belgian woman obsessed with Japanese culture falls in love with a Japanese man obsessed with French culture.
• Tokyo Tribe (Sion Sono, Japan): based on a manga, this film is placed in a futuristic Tokyo beset by warring gangs and set ro a driving hip-hop beat.
• The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine): a new student at a boarding school for the deaf and mute falls in with a gang of fellow students that revel in criminal behaviour from theft to prostitution, but soon falls afoul of friends.
• Winter Sleep (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey/France/Germany): I always mean to see one of Ceylan's films but never seem to get around to it. I'm disappointed I never got to see Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, so I made an effort this year to pick his latest, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year.

You can also view this list at letterboxd.com.

Tags: 2014,films,tiff

2014 Ticket Trades

As it was popular last year, I've created a page for comments for ticket trades and sales. Only post here if you are willing to trade tickets, or sell for the value you paid for the ticket. Do not post here if you are simply looking for tickets or are trying to sell above face value; I will delete such comments to keep the number of comments under control and to prevent scalping. To try to minimize issues, this blog now no longer accepts anonymous comments; you must sign into Google to post.

For people selling, the most a premium ticket should be is $46, and the most a regular ticket should be is $24. If you find anyone selling for more, post a comment and I will try to delete the offending post when I have time.

Double check any ticket before accepting it; I would not accept an under-25 or senior ticket unless you obviously fit that demographic, otherwise you risk not being admitted.

Use the information here at your own risk; I do not know anyone who may be posting here. If you do trade or buy, make sure whatever you receive looks and feels like your own ticket. Do not accept vouchers, e-mail confirmations, or anything else other than an actual ticket, otherwise you're probably getting scammed. If you have any issues, there is nothing I nor the festival can do for you; you're on your own.

Note if you do post here, you should delete your comment once you have gotten rid of your ticket, so that you don't continue to get inquiries. If you have problems deleting your comment, post another letting me know, and I'll try to remove it when I get a chance.

Tags: 2014,tickets,tiff

End of My Choice Ticketing and Start of Individual Sales

Note that Friday, August 29, at 7:00 PM Eastern time is the deadline for making any My Choice ticket package selections. If you have not made your picks by then, you have a second window starting at September 1 for TIFF members and September 2 for everyone else, until September 4 at 7:00 PM Eastern. If you still haven't made your selections by then, you will need to go to the Festival Box Office.

My Choice tickets can be picked up from the Festival Box Office starting September 1 for TIFF members and September 2 for everyone else (both starting at 9:00 AM). You will need your pickup voucher (which was attached to the original purchase confirmation e-mail when you bought your ticket package), reservation #, photo ID and credit card. If you want to exchange any of your picks, you can do so at the same time, up until 7:00 PM the evening before the screening.

If you bought a TIFF Choice package, you should receive an e-mail sometime on August 30 letting you know what films the festival selected for you. You can pick up your tickets from the Festival Box Office starting September 1 for TIFF members and September 2 for everyone else (both starting at 9:00 AM).

With both My Choice and TIFF Packages, you do *not* have to show up at the Box Office right at 9:00 AM, or even on that day, to get your tickets. In fact, I would recommend not showing up first thing unless you are trying to exchange My Choice tickets for different screenings.

If you didn't by a My Choice or a TIFF Choice package and just want to buy individual tickets, those go on sale at 9:00 AM Eastern on August 31. Note that the website will be extremely busy, and you may see the dreaded "virtual waiting room", which means the site will let you in once there is capacity. Don't be misled by the countdown timer in the virtual waiting room. When it ticks down to 0, you won't necessarily get in; the screen may just refresh and the timer reset. You can also try going in person to the box office or using the phone, but people have mixed experiences with every approach.

The festival will be posting an official off-sale list on the website on August 30 at 9:00 AM Eastern.

Tags: 2014,tickets,tiff

TIFF 2014 Off-sale (Sold Out) Screenings

This post is a placeholder for people to add comments for any films that they notice as sold out (i.e. off sale) when completing the online ticketing process for My Choice packages for TIFF 2014. Feel free to post a comment for anything you see as sold out when you log in to make your picks to help others out.

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

Tags: 2014,tickets,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