TIFF Scheduling Updates

Some updates and changes:

As a replacement for Neil Young's appearance at the free screening of Jonathan Demme's "The Neil Young Trunk Show" (Monday, September 14, 2009 at 8:00 PM), The Carpet Frogs, with Ric Emmett of Triumph, will perform some of Young's songs after the film (at 10:30 PM). The Toronto Star is reporting that Young was unaware that anyone had committed him to appear at TIFF in the first place (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/tiff/article/693963)

If you attended of the following Saturday, September 12, 2009, screenings, you can take you ticket stub to either the Festival Box Office at Nathan Phillips Square or the Festival Box Office at Roy Thomson Hall and exchange the stub for a ticket to another regular public screening at the festival that has availability.

• 11:00 AM screening of Melody for a Street Organ at AMC 6, that started late due to late delivery of the print to the theatre
• 2:15 PM presentation of Barry Levinson Presents The Band That Wouldn't Die at AMC 7, which Levinson was unable to attend because of bad weather and shooting delays on the set of his latest film.
• 3:15 PM screening of The Hole at Ryerson, which was cut short because of a fire alarm.

Tags: 2009,films,tickets,tiff

Best Bets for Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Best bets for tickets for Tuesday, September 15, 2009 from the festival alerts:

Every Day is a Holiday
Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 5:45 PM
Scotiabank

Balibo
Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 2:30 PM
Visa Screening Room

Hiroshima
Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 7:30 PM
AMC

Valhalla Rising
Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 4:00 PM
Winter Garden Theatre

Micmacs
Tuesday, September 15, 2009, 9:30 PM
Roy Thomson Hall

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Les Herbes folles

Les Herbes folles is an examination of the unlikely coincidences and connections that result after Marguerite (Sabine Azema), has her purse snatched. Georges (Andre Dussollier) finds her pocketbook abandoned in a parking garage and is intrigued by the glimpses into her life that it provides. This soon leads to a relationship of sorts that seesaws back and forth as each moves between interest and disinterest.

The film contains a stellar cast; Sabine Azema and Andre Dussollier have worked together before with director Alain Resnais in Coeurs, and Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos, Anne Consigny worked with each recently on Un conte de Noel. While beautifully shot and directed, I have to confess to some difficulty in accepting some of the, at times farcical, reversals the characters have over the course of the film, although those might be attributed more to the source material rather than the film itself. And while I can appreciate one of the overarching themes of how much in our lives is simply the result of random happenstance, I'm still trying to figure out the somewhat surreal and enigmatic ending.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Defendor

The directorial debut of actor Peter Stebbings (who also wrote the screenplay), Defendor follows Arthur (Woody Harrelson), a man a little slow on the uptake who by day works on a road crew with his friend Paul (Michael Kelly), but by night patrols the crime-ridden city as Defendor, his superhero alter-ego. But Arthur doesn't actually have any superpowers; he's stuck in his own childhood, still feeling the death of his mother when he was young, and has used the comics he loves as an inspiration for tracking down the one he feels responsible - Captain Industry.

One night, Arthur rescues Kat, a prostitute, from the clutches of a corrupt cop (Elias Koteas). Kat, seeing a chance for revenge in Arthur, convinces him that a local crime boss is actually the Captain Industry that Arthur has been searching for. This leads them both down a path where Arthur's fantasy and reality will soon collide, but in the process may teach everyone what is worth fighting for.

As Stebbings described it, this really is more of a dramatic film with funny moments in it. Harrelson is good as Arthur, who finds the strength and comfort in his guise as Defendor that he can't often find in his real life. Stebbings was aiming for a very realistic, grounded film, and succeeds in that. This is almost an anti-superhero movie in a way, in that ultimately Defendor is really just a normal person, with no superpowers, who just by believing in things is able to achieve remarkable things and further inspire those who meet him.

Peter Stebbings and most of the cast were at the screening and did a Q&A after the film:

• The story came from Stebbing's love affair with comics as a teenager. He loved the superhero genre, but knew he couldn't compete with the blockbusters, so he wanted to do a character study (he joked he was reading the Brothers Karamazov at the time). He sprung out of bed with the idea, and it seemed kind of zeitgeisty, so he wrote it.
• When asked if Stebbings had always set the film in Hamilton, he joked he wrote it for the Hammer and that they have a really good tax credit there. But he said that everytime he works there, and goes over that bridge (the Skyway), he loves the esthetic, and it seemed like the perfect size and that it needed to be featured. It's a skyline and city that he adores.
• Stebbings didn't grow up in Hamilton, he grew up in Vancouver, but they have similar issues (i.e. the Downtown Eastside). There really is a guy named Thanatos that goes out and fights crime in the eastside (http://www.reallifesuperheroes.org/heroes_thanatos.php)
• Stebbings didn't originally have Harrelson in mind, but now can't imagine anyone else in the role. The whole movie falls apart if there isn't someone honest in the role. He feels he was working with one of the great American actors of his age.
• Harrelson said it meant a lot to them that the audience responded so well to the movie, and wanted to do the film because when he read it, it was one of the most beautiful, well crafted, unique, unusual, and completely original scripts he had ever seen. He had the opportunity to meet Peter and hit it off. It's one of those experiences you hope for.
• Stebbings said the ending was important to him. The tone of the film was very important, it could have gone off the rails anywhere, could have gone campy, could have chased laughs. He was worried when the film was billed as a comedy, because he doesn't think it is, that it is a drama with a lot of levity and humour, they don't chase the laughs - they come to you. He wanted to ground this thing and 100% believe in these circumstances and that they could actually happen.
  

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Five Hours from Paris

Yigal (Dror Keren) is a taxi driver who seems content in his life. Divorced, Yigal is still close to his ex-wife and her new husband, even to the point of thinking about going into business with him. When his son has problems in music class, Yigal goes to visit his son's music teacher, Lina (Elena Yaralova), and soon becomes enchanted with her. But Lina is married, and she and her husband are in the midst of applying to Canada for residency and may soon depart. What follows is a slow dance between Yigal and Lina as they grow to know one another, only to have to eventually face the obstacles between them.

Dror Keren plays Yigal in an understated manner befitting the character. You can see the small changes and victories in Yigal's life as he and Lina grow closer to one another. Yaralova is also good as Lina, and you can see her struggle with her dilemma between remaining true to her husband of many years and following her heart. The film eschews the conventional path of what one might normally expect in such a story on film, at least in the west. Five Hours From Paris is an intimate film that provides a mature look at a romance between two people with real complications in their lives.

Director Leon Prudovsky and actor Dror Keren were in attendance and stayed for a Q&A after the film:

• Most of the music were old French songs, and Prudovsky (originally from Russia) and his co-writer Erez Kav-El (who grew up in Belgium) listened to these songs growing up and when writing, and worked that into Yigal's character.
• Keren was pleased to see a warm response for a film that mixes two cultures and languages. He loved the script from the first reading. Woody Allen said once that the heart is a very flexible organ and the film shows that. It's a complicated question but also very simple; when love comes, what do you do with it? Do you stand up and fight for it? In theory this odd couple shouldn't be together. He loves the feel of the film and the result.
• They auditioned about 100 children for the film. Was hard to find a girl who could act and play the piano and speaks Russian. Finally found a 13-year old girl. For Yigal's son, the actor they settled on was not what Prudovsky had originally envisioned (he had thought of a fat kid), but when he came in to audition, he asked questions that an actor of 20 years of experience would ask.
• They got many questions when shooting about how they ended the movie. Many wanted to know if Yigal actually flies to Paris, but Prudovsky thinks everyone thinks for themselves. It was a very precise way he ended the movie.
• Prudovsky thinks the film is about the small changes we make in life, very delicate, very small, so he's glad people noticed. This was the first time they screened the film for a non-Hebrew audience, and there are small nuances and dialogue, but he felt the audience got it.
• Keren phrased it as on Yigal's way to win Lina's heart, he wins his own.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Best Bets for Monday, September 14, 2009

Best bets for tickets for Monday, September 14, 2009 from the festival alerts:

Karaoke
Monday, September 14, 2009, 5:30 PM
AMC

Down For Life
Monday, September 14, 2009, 3:30 PM
AMC

The Man Beyond The Bridge
Monday, September 14, 2009, 6:30 PM
Scotiabank

Wheat
Monday, September 14, 2009, 6:00 PM
Scotiabank

Green Days
Monday, September 14, 2009, 7:00 PM
Scotibank

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

TIFF Trailer Theme Music - Pilot Speed - Light You Up

In case you were wondering what song plays over the TIFF trailer (or as some people put it, the Bell Lightbox trailer) in front of each film, it is Light You Up from Toronto group Pilot Speed, off of their album Wooden Bones.

Official Band Site:
http://www.pilotspeed.net/

Single on iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=312931770&id=312931704&s=143455

Album from Maple Music.com:
http://www.maplemusic.com/product.asp?dept%5Fid=821&pf%5Fid=820%2D63&lang=EN

Pilot Speed will be giving a free concert at Yonge and Dundas Square on Friday, September 18, 2009 at 9:00 PM.

Tags: 2009,tiff

Backyard (El traspatio)

Based on true events, Backyard is a drama that focuses on the hundreds of unsolved murders of women in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The film has two main story lines; one follows Blanca Bravo (Ana de la Reguera), a police detective newly transferred to the city who is soon overwhelmed with cases; the other finds Juanita (Asur Zagada), who moves to the city from the country and joins her cousin working in the maquiladoras, or multinational manufacturing plants set up to take advantage of the cheap labour pool.

While Juanita takes advantage of her new-found freedom in the city, Bravo struggles against the indifference of a city and government more often that not resigned to the situation, and inevitably the lives of the two women intersect. People like Bravo and radio host Peralta (Joaquin Cosio) try to effect change, but find themselves in an impossible situation and are challenged to stop anything without sacrificing their own morals in the process.

Backyard is a powerful film that explores a number of the postulated theories and causes of the soaring crime rate without seeming unfocused. Crimes initially go unsolved, because of an undermanned, underfunded, and at times corrupt police force, and this leads criminals to believe they they can act with impunity. The government is reluctant to act for fear of jeopardizing foreign investment that is more than willing to move on to the next country with even cheaper labour. People's lives are reduced to a matter of how many cents per day they cost the companies. All this leads to a moral vacuum where regular people are emboldened to act how they want without fear of consequences, and women more often than not become the target.

The film doesn't take the easy way out and reduce the problem to a simple mystery or crime story; it's a challenging social, economic, and political problem as well, with no neat, tidy ending or resolution. While Bravo's storyline shows the institutional side, Juanita's reveals a very personal view of the same issues. Ana de la Reguera is very good as a professional who has a job to do in a very patriarchal organization and society, yet can't help but be moved as a woman to the situation around her.

Director Carlos Carrera (The Crime of Father Amaro), and screenwriter Sabina Berman were in attendance and did a Q&A after the film:

• Carrera was always interested in the story of the murders in Juarez, and had received many Hollywood scripts about it, but didn't like them. Berman had written the script about 10 years ago, but it took a long time to get the funding. Carrera found her script the most respectful way to treat this part of Mexican history. The only request he had was that the film be shot on location in the actual locations, which was a problem since Juarez is embroiled in a war between drug dealers.
• Berman added that it was a very dangerous place to film, and they had to have the Mexican army and police guard the crew while they shot. They went to the governor of Chihuahua and said they were making the film no matter what, so it was up to him to give them protection or not.
• Carrera says it is still a problem in Juarez, but is not restricted to there. At the end of the film they list crime statistics from around Mexico, Latin America, and even around the world.
• Berman says it was more moving to make a drama rather than a documentary; difficult to figure out how to take actual events and arrange them to make them moving and human.
• Carrera; movies are a visual memory for the audience; the film is a mixture of fiction and documentary; there are several very good documentaries of the topic already; they wanted to take this approach with Juanita's character, as the fiction gives a way of knowing better and loving better a character, so she is an actual person and not just a number.
• Carrera said the film is not about violence against women in Juarez, it's about violence against women period.
• An audience member noted the governor in the film talks like the actual governor of the time. Berman replied that the governor basically wrote his own text.
• Carrera added that the governor in the film actually represents two real-life governors: Francisco Barrio (1992-1998) who is the current Mexican ambassador to Canada, and Patricio Martinez Garcia (1998-2004).
• Berman thinks the fact that so much of the city is about money and producing things for less cost (and not just in Mexico, but in Asia), that it makes life cost so little; when it becomes about how much we can not spend on people, life becomes cheap.
• Berman: in Mexico, the film is polemical; some believe they shouldn't be talking bad about Mexico, that they should be showing the funny, beautiful parts, or that a romantic story is nicer; other think they need this kind of cinema.
• Berman usually does comedy. She took a comedic show to Juarez and afterwards met girls who told her what was going on, and was shocked and dreamt about it for a year and decided one should do what they can do; she started doing research, and what was shocking to her was the indifference to the phenomenon. The last version of the script focuses more on the silence in Juarez around the problem.
  
  
  

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Perrier's Bounty

Michael McCrea (Cillian Murphy), is a layabout n'er-do-well who is estranged from his parents and in love with Brenda (Jodie Whittaker, who I first saw at the festival a few years back in Venus) the girl who lives downstairs from him. But Brenda sees him nothing more than a friend to whom she can complain about her indifferent and cheating boyfriend.

One day, Michael awakes in his apartment to a visit from two thugs who work for Darren Perrier (Brendan Gleeson), a local crime boss to whom Michael owes money. Given a deadline only a few hours away to come up with the money, Michael sets off across the city to find a way out, soon drawing in Brenda and his dad Jim (Jim Broadbent), who suddenly appears with news of his impending death.

The film has the right mix of drama and humour, and is given more depth in the fractured relationship between father and son. All the leads acquit themselves well, especially Murphy and Broadbent. Murphy captures well his character's frustration with life, and Broadbent demonstrates his usual skill in displaying an offbeat, eccentric personality that is often a cover for deeper-held feelings. The Guy-Ritchiesque voice over narration occasionally present in the film seemed a bit unnecessary at first, but there is a payoff in the end. Overall, the film provided a good start to the festival for me.

Director Ian FitzGibbon (A Film With Me In It), and stars Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleeson were in attendance and did a Q&A after the film:

• The humor, imaginations, dark obsessions, and hilarious fixations come from the mind of screenwriter Mark O'Rowe (Boy A, Intermission).
• As a director, FitzGibbon said your first day on set you realize everything is a gamble, which is both terrifying and exciting. You have something in your head which you hope makes sense, and when you're joined by members of the cast, it's a shock, because they obviously see things differently or they have a different take on stuff, but that's also what is magical about filmmaking for him.
• FitzGibbon says when he watches some of the scenes towards the end in the warehouse, when Cillian and Brendan are fronting off of each other, he still gets excited, because he says 'f-me, they've got balls' and that's kind of rare these days to have that kind of humour, and that it's a real privilege to work with that kind of script and language, and these actors who can bring it to life and just fly with it and make it sing.
• Scenes with the ocean were filmed about 40 minutes north of Dublin.
• Cillian said it was a real thrill to work with everyone. He's worked with Brendan several times now (28 Days Later, Breakfast on Pluto, etc.). It's a real privilege to get to work with him over the years; admired when he was young before starting to act, and now as a friend. With Jim, was a fan. Enjoyed every minute of it.
• Gleeson; when you work with something like this, the risks have already been taken by the writer. Mark (O'Rowe) has such a flow and a fearlessness, and had a gumption to be more colourful in the language. Characters came from Mark, and it was fantastic to get hold of them. Proud that they are producing the likes of Murphy as actors from Ireland, and that FitzGibbon was willing to take risks and let the actors go ballistic.
• Murphy: Mark O'Rowe writes Irish males really well, he wrote Intermission that Murphy was also in, and brilliantly identified something about Irish males, maybe it's universal, a tendency to procrastination and not really doing anything. Michael has this relationship with his parents and with this girl and he's letting them all be because he hopes everything will just be all right in the end. Also enjoyed working with Jodie Whittaker, fantastic actress.
• Ian: no plans for next film yet.
• Has Irish and UK distribution with a release in Feb/Mar 2010, but nothing for US yet.
• On working with dogs, FitzGibbon says it was nothing short of a nightmare, and jokes if anyone has a script with dogs, he doesn't want to see it, hear about, or even go see it. Frustrating for everyone because dogs have clearly not read the script and have a shabby attitude when they come on set, have a lot of minders and food requirements, but they don't give you the shot. Gleeson: thought they were brilliant.
• FitzGibbon: Always element of risk, as separately that might make sense in and of themselves, but most crucial thing is chemistry, how does one element react to another element. You just don't know, because the nature of film means you can't get together and rehearse for 3 weeks, it's often just on that day, and they were blessed with good producers that were proactive and had good ideas, and that helped them to give the film a real cohesion, and the cast achieved that. Many of minor roles are filled by local actors that do know each other incredibly well because acting community in Dublin is quite small, but when Jodie or Jim arrived in, those are unknowns.
• Murhpy and Broadbent spent some time together before filming, but for Murphy, it's that feeling when regardless of how successful or old or mature you are, when you're in the presence of your parents you turn into a teenager and everything about them irritates you. Brilliantly observed in Mark's writing, so they just slotted into that.
• Someone asked that since FitzGibbon has done two films about Northsiders (from the rougher, north end of Dublin), will he do anything about cultchies (as FitzGibbons described the term, basically idiots from the country)? FitzGibbon replied he has no idea what his next film might be yet.

Tags: 2009,films,tiff

Best Bets for Sunday, September 13, 2009

Best bets for tickets for Sunday, September 13, 2009 from the festival alerts:

Blessed
Sunday, September 13, 2009, 8:30 PM
Scotiabank

Carcasses
Sunday, September 13, 2009, 6:15 PM
Scotiabank

Should I Really Do It?
Sunday, September 13, 2009, 8:00 PM
Varsity

Mall Girls
Sunday, September 13, 2009, 7:00 PM
AMC

My Heart Goes Hadippa
Sunday, September 13, 2009, 1:30 PM
Roy Thomson Hall

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

TIFF Mystery Screening

TIFF is having a free mystery screening of a world premiere of a new film by a "leading French director", at which the director and cast will appear. Tickets will be handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis starting at 4:00 PM on Saturday, September 12, 2009, with the film starting at 6:00 PM, at the AMC theatre at Yonge and Dundas.

Tags: 2009,films,tickets,tiff

30 For 30: Peter Berg and Barry Levinson

ESPN's Bill Simmons (aka The Sports Guy) has an essay up on the web on the genesis of the network's 30 For 30 project (http://30for30.espn.com/bill-simmons-essay.html). 30 For 30 consists of 30 films made by filmmakers, athletes, and others, exploring a variety of sporting-related stories.

Two of those films are playing at TIFF this year in the Mavericks program, and features both the film and a discussion with the filmmaker.

Barry Levinson (Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man) presents The Band That Wouldn't Die, about a marching band in Baltimore trying to keep football alive. This presentation is at the AMC on Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 2;15 PM. Tickets are still available for $19.76.

Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom) presents Kings Ransom, about the trade that sent Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the LA Kings. This presentation is at the AMC on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at 2:45 PM. Tickets are still available for $19.76.

Tags: 2009,films,tickets,tiff

Best Bets for Saturday, September 12, 2009

Best bets for tickets for Saturday, September 12, 2009 from the festival alerts:

Barry Levinson Presents The Band That Wouldn't Die
Saturday, September 12, 2009, 2:15 PM
AMC

Independencia
Saturday, September 12, 12:45 PM
Scotiabank

The Hole
Saturday, September 12, 3:00 PM
Ryerson

Trash Humpers
Saturday, September 12, 9:45 PM
Scotiabank

I, Don Giovanni
Saturday, September 12, 9:30 PM
Roy Thomson Hall

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

TIFF BlackBerry App

The festival released an official app for BlackBerry devices, that allows you to browse film and ticket info, customize your schedule, view maps and trailers, read news, and get info on best bets for tickets.

The app can be downloaded from:

http://na.blackberry.com/eng/tiff/app.jsp

Tags: 2009,tiff

Best Bets for Friday, September 11, 2009

Best bets for tickets for Friday, September 11, 2009 from the festival alerts (and this is for Friday, not today (Thursday)):

Women Without Men
Friday, September 11, 2009, 12:00 PM
Ryerson

If I Knew What You Said
Friday, September 11, 2009, 3:30 PM
AMC

La Pivellina
Friday, September 11, 2009, 4:00 PM
Scotibank

Hotel Atlantico
Friday, September 11, 2009, 6:30 PM
Isabel Bader

Short Cuts Canada 1
Friday, September 11, 2009, 9:30 PM
Isabel Bader

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

How Do I Buy Tickets for TIFF 2009? - Part 4

This is the fourth in a series of posts on how to buy tickets for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In this post, we'll look at ways you can purchase tickets while the festival is underway.

You can purchase tickets in advance (i.e. not on the same day of the screening) by the following methods:

Online at http://www.tiff.net/

At the Festival Box Office at Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St W

• September 4 to 18: 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• September 19: 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM

At the Festival Box Office at Roy Thomson Hall, 60 Simcoe St

• September 4 to 18: 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• September 19: 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM

By phone at (416) 968-FILM, or toll-free at 1-877-968-FILM

• September 4 to 18: 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• September 19: 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM

On the day of the screening, in addition to the above methods you can also purchase tickets at the venue box office; i.e. the box office located at each theatre showing films for the festival. Venue box offices open one hour before the first scheduled screening of the day at that theatre, and close 30 minutes after the last scheduled screening of the day at that theatre.


Ticket prices are as follows:

• Regular Public Screenings - $19.76, Student/Senior - $17.14 (in person only, same-day sales only)
• Premium Public Screenings - $38.33, Student/Senior - $19.05 (in person only, same-day sales only)
• Children’s Tickets for Sprockets Family Zone programming only - Child (12 and under) - $12.86

Prices do not include GST, building-fund fee, or service charges. You can pay by cash, debit, or Visa.

You can purchase a maximum of 4 tickets to a single screening. All sales are final; to exchange tickets, there is a $2.50 fee per ticket, and you can only do exchanges up to the day before the screening (i.e. no same day exchanges allowed). Exchanges can only be performed at the Nathan Phillips Square or Roy Thomson Hall box offices.

For Student and Senior (+65) discounts, you need to present your ID with your ticket when entering the screening.

If a particular screening is marked as Off Sale, i.e. sold out, then keeping trying throughout the festival. People may exchange their tickets for other movies, and those originals are then released back for sale.

Additional tickets may also be made available the day of the screening, so try checking then. The TIFF website will list their "best bets" for same day tickets available on the following day, on the website at http://www.tiff.net/thefestival, and through e-mail if you subscribe to their TIFF Alerts at http://www.tiff.net/tiffalerts.

Try a different screening. Screenings early in the week tend to sell out faster than those later in the festival.

Try checking the forums at TIFF Reviews, at http://www.tiffreviews.com/forum/. People will often post if they are looking to trade their tickets.

If all else fails, you can try the rush line outside the theatre screening your film. If any last minute seats open up, because someone doesn't show up for their screening, or seats reserved for people associated with the film aren't all filled, the theatre may release those seats. People in the rush line will get first crack at purchasing any seats that come available (sales are cash only, so make sure you have enough on you). Note there is no guarantee anyone in the rush line will be able to get in.

On occasion, ticket holders that don't want to see the film or that have extra tickets, may go down the rush line offering their extras; I've been on both ends of this before, where I've sold my ticket to someone in the line, or been in the line and bought a ticket off of someone looking to sell.

Some tips for the festival:

• Make sure you are in the right line. Ask festival volunteers (the ones with the headsets or festival t-shirts) what line you should be in. Multiplexes like the Varsity will have multiple films lining up at the same time, so you want to make sure you are in the right one. Plus, each theatre has a rush line as well, which is for people who still want to buy tickets, not those who already have one.
• Be at the theatre at least 15 minutes before the start of the screening, otherwise you are not guaranteed a seat, even if you have a ticket. If you arrive more than 10 minutes after the scheduled start of a movie, they may not let you in.
• Not all theatres allow food and/or drink. The Cumberland, Varsity, AMC, and Scotiabank theatres allow food/drink since they are all part of the big theatre chains, but other theatres like Ryerson do not. So don't buy take-out or a big coffee right before you go into one of those.
• Don't leave empty seats next to you. Squeeze in, because generally speaking, every film will be playing to a packed house.
• Be aware of where you sit if you are watching a subtitled movie. Not all theaters have good sight lines to the bottom of the screen.
• If you have limited time between screenings, don't forget all the factors that might affect you: many screenings will have a Q&A after the movie, and the time for any Q&A is not factored into the screening time in the schedule (you're not obliged to stick around for the Q&A, though); films will occassionally start late for a variety of reasons; some theatres are far apart from one another.
• If you're watching a Midnight Madness film at midnight, don't forget that the subway may not be running by the time the film ends, so plan accordingly.
• Speaking of Q&As, if you're going to speak up, make sure you actually have a question or keep it short. No one else wants to hear you gush over the director or cast for 5 minutes, no matter how good the film was. If you want to do that, try to catch them after the Q&A is over. In a similar vein, it generally does not go over well if you want to spend your question severely criticizing the director without anything constructive to say or ask.
• Don't forget to turn off your cell phone, and for pete's sake, don't text or talk through the movie (especially if you're in the industry; the rest of us don't care how much of a Hollywood bigshot you are :-))
• It should go without saying that you shouldn't be taping movies, but in case that's not obvious, I've been at a number of films where they've had people scanning the audience during the screening, with and without night-vision goggles. Also note that taping movies is now a criminal offense that could net you 2 years in prison.
• Be nice to the volunteers; they don't get paid for this (other than getting a ticket from whatever is still available after having worked for several hours in a row). Just think about how much *more* expensive the festival would be without them. :-)

If you want a really detailed breakdown of tips of what to do during the festival, check out Larry Richman's series of posts, the first of which is linked below:

http://www.pronetworks.org/index.php/independent_films/post/how_to_do_the_toronto_film_festival_-_real_tips_for_real_people/

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

Tickets On Sale Now

Tickets for the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival are now on sale.

As a commenter posted, prices are:

• Regular Public Screenings - $19.76, Student/Senior - $17.14 (in person only, same-day sales only)
• Premium Public Screenings - $38.33, Student/Senior - $19.05 (in person only, same-day sales only)
• Children’s Tickets for Sprockets Family Zone programming only - Child (12 and under) - $12.86

Prices don't include GST, building fund fee or service charges.

You can pay by cash, debit, or Visa (Visa only online).

Tickets can be purchased from:

• Festival Box Office at Nathan Phillips Square
  September 3 to 18, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
  September 19, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM
  
• Festival Box Office at Roy Thomson Hall
  September 4 to 18, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
  September 19, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM
  
• Online (http://www.tiff.net/)
  
• By phone (416-968-FILM, or toll-free at 1-877-968-FILM)

Note the website is extremely busy right now, and I imagine the box offices will be the same.

Tags: 2009,tickets,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

TIFF Tickets on Sale Friday, September 4, 2009

Just a reminder that general ticket sales for TIFF begin at 7:00 AM on Friday, September 4, 2009. If you haven't bought a ticket package so far, then Friday will be your first chance to buy tickets.

Tickets can be purchased from:

Festival Box Office at Nathan Phillips Square

• September 3 to 18, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• September 19, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Festival Box Office at Roy Thomson Hall

• September 4 to 18, 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM
• September 19, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Online (http://www.tiff.net/)

By phone (416-968-FILM, or toll-free at 1-877-968-FILM)

During the festival, tickets can be purchased from Venue Box Offices, but that won't start until September 10.

Commenters can give their own takes, but pretty much any of the above options will be extremely busy on Thursday morning. People in line usually complain that people online have bought up all the tickets to popular films, but people online usually complain about problems with the website box office going down.

Note additional tickets may be released for films the day of the screening or throughout the festival, so if you can't get a ticket for something right away, keep checking back on other days. I'll post more tips in a subsequent posting.

Individual tickets will cost more than your average movie, and galas will cost more than that. I can't remember off the top of my head the exact price last year, but I think it was somewhere between $12 and $20 per ticket (please post a comment if you can remember the exact price you paid last year for individual tickets).

Tags: 2009,tickets,tiff

My Fest Schedule

Got confirmation on my films for this year:

Perrier's Bounty, Ian FitzGibbon (Ireland/United Kingdom)

Backyard, Carlos Carrera (Mexico)

Five Hours From Paris, Leon Prudovsky (Israel)

Defendor, Peter Stebbings (Canada)

Les Herbes folles, Alain Resnais (France/Italy)

In Conversation with Michael Caine

V.O.S., Cesc Gay (Spain)

Police, Adjective, Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania)

Accident, Soi Cheang (Hong Kong, China)

Soul Kitchen, Fatih Akin (Germany)

Gigante, Adrián Biniez (Uruguay/Argentina/Germany/Spain)

Vengeance, Johnnie To (Hong Kong, China/France)

La Soga, Josh Crook (Dominican Republic/USA)

Like You Know It All, Hong Sang-soo (South Korea)

Kamui, Yoichi Sai (Japan)

Bare Essence of Life, Satoko Yokohama (Japan)

La Donation, Bernard Émond (Canada)

Les Derniers jours du monde, Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu (France/Spain/Taiwan)

Men on the Bridge, Asli Özge (Germany/Turkey/The Netherlands)

L'Affaire Farewell, Christian Carion (France)

Mr. Nobody, Jaco Van Dormael (France/Germany/Canada/Belgium)

Air Doll, Hirokazu Kore-eda (Japan)

Road, Movie, Dev Benegal (India/USA)

Hipsters, Valery Todorovsky (Russia)

Tags: 2009,films,tiff