Toronto International Film Festival

I have always been a film fanatic and from an early age was drawn to independent and foreign films rather than the mainstream flicks that clog up multiplexes and are quickly dismissed after their initial box office weekend. I had a great time watching a wide variety of films at the Toronto International Film Festival, including a midnight screening of «Haute Tension” – the horror classic that launched the career of Alexandre Aja, but this was still intended as a business trip.
A friend of my father’s found success in the home security business. After selling his company, the family friend was eager to enter the entertainment industry. He set up SenArt Films in Scranton, Pennsylvania and I was hired as one of his script reviewers. I was privileged to read some scripts that were eventually made by other studios, as well as the unfilmed last screenplay Jason Miller, Pulitzer-​Prize winning dramatist, wrote shortly before his death. Still, for every good screenplay that came across my desk, I had to navigate the slush piles of badly written dreck.
I was one of the first people to read the screenplay for «The Station Agent,» written by a semi-​known television actor named Thomas McCarthy. I instantly fell in love with the script and pushed for SenArt to make it as their first feature. Eighteen months later the film won the top three awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Years later, Thomas McCarthy was nominated for an Oscar for co-​writing «Up» and is currently receiving massive award buzz for his upcoming film «Spotlight.»
I attended the première for «The Station Agent» at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival in Canada. Also premiering at the festival was «The Fog of War,» a documentary film SenArt Films also produced – it would go on to win that year’s Academy Award.
There was a party held after the première and it was my first major film event. I saw a number of celebrities, including Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci, and Neil Young; I had a long conversation with Errol Morris, the director of «The Fog of War.»
During the party a large bouncer took hold of my drink and escorted me to the bathroom. He made me empty out my pockets and searched me for contraband. Supposedly, someone at the party was passing out cocaine to the guests and I was suspected of being the drug dealer in question. In all honesty, it wasn’t me and someone made a huge mistake. Only eighteen years old I wasn’t even drinking beer that night, let alone doing blow. One by one, all the actors from «The Station Agent» were taken to the restroom and also searched, including Peter Dinklage, the star of the film who is now best known for his role of Tyrion Lannister on «Game of Thrones.»
The rest of the movie stars were great people and I don’t have any gossip to report about them. The cocaine dealer was not found, if he or she even existed at all. I believe the bouncers were a tad overzealous that night. Even with the aforementioned short detention period, I enjoyed my first film première. The rest of the night was success and people loved the film; I took immense pride in my small role.
I worked at SenArt for a few more years and was then hired in a position at another production company, continuing my love of film to this very day.

Another great year at the TIFF, with the back half pack again. It never disappoints!

Really everyone knows about the Toronto Film fest and its benefits to the city, which is why I came on to make a comment here on Unilocal.The films are good, bad, average and the usual personality deficient selfie and autograph hounds abound of course.
What really ticks me off is how the new régime works in Canada. Everyone declares themselves a non-​profit community event and instead of hiring and paying people calls for colunteers. And OF COURSE all sorts of gratuitous thanks are hurled at the volunteers but why should there be volunteers when the festival is reeling in millions of dollars, has more sponsors and advertising than you can shake a dollar tree at and the top brass make reportedly upwards of $ 300,000?
Every event, fest, night market whatever has volunteers. Are they volunteers or suckers?

I’ve attended TIFF for two years now. I fly there from NY b/​c it’s relatively close, even though you need a passport to enter Canada. TIFF is unique that it’s an industry event but the public can attend. They schedule 300+ films every year from many countries, so it can be a bit daunting to choose films you want to see. The first 3 – 4 days of the festival are intense, since most of the celebrities are in town then for their premieres.
I’ve enjoyed most of the films I’ve seen at TIFF, and it’s great to see some of your favorite movie stars and directors in the flesh, excitedly plugging their movies. My favorite screening ever was ’12 when Joss Whedon and cast were there for the «Much Ado About Nothing» Q&A even though it was the 2^nd screening for their movie. At TIFF’13, my favorite film was «Philomena» w/​Judi Dench and Steve Coogan.
I won’t give TIFF five stars b/​c they could really use improvement with the customer experience aspect. I joined as a TIFF member so I could skip the general line and go to the members line to pick up my tickets, as well as be eligible to purchase premium ticket packages. TIFF doesn’t mail tickets in advance or use PDFs, you have to pick them up in person, which can take anywhere from 1 – 2 hours or 30 – 40 minutes on the members line. This is my least favorite aspect of the festival, and I really wish they would rethink this. I missed my first film last year b/​c I was waiting in line and was almost late to my first one this year.
I also think their premium pack ($ 360 for 6 gala premieres) is a waste of money. Because they gave me a late window time to buy my tickets online, most of the things I wanted to see were offsale and I didn’t use all of them.
A much better deal is the regular flex pack (approx $ 18/​film), but you can’t buy any gala/​premieres with them. If you are lucky, the director and some of the cast will come to the 2^nd screening, especially the first weekend.
They also need to do a better job of keeping the films on schedule, b/​c if a film runs late, you either need to duck out early to catch your next film, or risk missing it entirely. Given that it’s advisable to arrive at least 1 hour before screening time to secure a place on line (or have a friend hold your place), this is a challenge if you are running late.
To end on a positive note, it’s very easy to make conversation with fellow moviegoers while waiting to get in. Some people I know have made friends that way and meet up every year at the Festival. So even if you are attending by yourself, you may wind up meeting some nice people to attend with in future years.

I’ve attended various TIFF parties and screenings over the years and can say this festival is a joke.
If you are a member of the public and want to buy tickets online the day they go on sale, you will be placed in a «virtual waiting room.» The room will estimate a wait time to buy tickets. Let’s say the estimate is 12 minutes. As eleven minutes go by, and you think you are close to access, the clock will reset to another seemingly random amount, like say 15 *more* minutes. Repeat for hours until you get access and see that the movies you want to see are sold out.
I was just at a red carpet première. Don’t be fooled by the name. The public ticket holders will not be allowed to walk on the red carpet. Rather you have to wait in line outside for an hour to get mediocre seats, bypassing the actual red carpet. The red carpet premieres cost more, when in reality you may get less service than your local movie theatre.
Once you are at a première, if it is not at a commercial movie theatre, the joke continues. There is no food (such as popcorn) or drinks (alcoholic or otherwise) for sale. If this was a true upscale event, they would let people in early to buy a drink or two. As TIFF is a charity, I cannot justify donating my money to a charity that misses these obvious revenue opportunities.
I’ve been to many TIFF gala parties. Be warned: the «VIP’s» are in separate areas. I have honestly never seen a celebrity at a TIFF party, and I see many celebs elsewhere.
In conclusion, this festival needs lots of room for improvement. My one star was because that’s the bare minimum.

Yes this festival is not an easy experience for the casual audience member looking to watch a movie or two, tickets for big movie gala’s sell out early, and yes gala ticket prices are much more expensive than they should coming in at $ 45 and $ 20 for regular viewings. Yes gala events can be a let down as the director/​producers or cast only come out for a few minutes to talk about the screening and then the movie starts. Yes you have to line up for hours on rush with the chance of not being lucky. Yes you can feel social inferior missing out on big time parties.
But apart from all that, tiff is one of the best times to be in Toronto and definitely the best time for a movie lover like me. Some people love it for the chance to see the biggest names in cinema walking around not just in Yorkville and some love it for the quality movie watching (not all movies though). The latter is the bigger reason I look forward to for tiff along with the reason that it’s something that the whole city talks about (good or bad) for a couple of weeks in September and I love that. And from this past year as a volunteer, I saw it from a new angle and it’s something everyone should try doing.
Some people complain that movies at tiff are not worth watching as they will come out in wide or limited release eventually, but they have to realise that a large majority of movies get that oppertunity because of festivals like tiff (some movies come in with a distributor in hand though so yes if you are watching only a few movies at tiff, I would recommend avoiding them).
Some advice — line up for rush tickets for non gala events, you are very likely to get in.
The movies are separated in to different categories, if you don’t want to go through the entire movie list, browse the different categories (e.g. from hot up and coming directors, movies that push the boundaries etc) to select what you would want to watch.
Ask the volunteers what they have seen, or if they know what movies are getting buzz, a lot of volunteers would have seen a lot of movies or at least have heard about which movies are getting a lot of the buzz from the press screenings etc.
Volunteer for the festival! It is fun just waiting for you to join!

There are some serious problem with the film festival, but overall it is definitely something to enjoy and I would not miss out. So problems first, tickets are really expensive and the special prices are all limited. First come first serve so it is fair. I feel the TIFF is out to make money rather than to promote the great addiction of movies. For example, $ 20 for a movie (twice of regular movie ticket) and you have to pay $ 30 for the movie guide. I saw the guide and it is probably worth it if you plan to watch a lot of movies as it is very comprehensive. Planning online is a complete nightmare.
The nice thing I have come to learn is if you really want to see a movie, you can do it even if there are no tickets available. There are many options, buy them second hand, at box office morning of, or rush lines. I tried to see five movies in a day. For another film festival this may be reasonable, but not for the TIFF. The theatres are not close together and subway will not get you there fast enough. The end result was I missed one movie, but it was still a great day. They would not exchange or refund it either even though they still filled the theatre. =(

My first TIFF experience was thoroughly awful from start to finish. I purchased tickets to see the «Red Carpet Gala» première of The Town for the 2010 festival and it was a total Gong Show.
What is a «Red Carpet Gala» première you ask? Well it’s the opening night of the film at TIFF where the actors and production crew walk the red carpet and «attend» the première.
But lets unpack all these little concepts to understand what they truly mean when you buy your tickets.
When they say «Gala», they don’t actually mean it in the strict sense of the term because no one would be allowed into a gala in skinny jeans and flannel shift. Needles to say, I was over dressed for this «red carpet» occasion. I was blown away. I know asking a Torontonain to put on a tie and jacket is a kin to murder, but for christ sake people you’re at a film première, would it kill you to wear a suit for a few hours.
And when it comes to the «Red Carpet» don’t actually plan to see anything going on on because you have to line up an hour or two before the films starts. Can you line up next to the red carpet and watch the actors come in at least while you wait? No, you wait around the other side of the building while all the people who aren’t going to the show get to watch the red carpet action.
Now, one would think having tickets to a show would guarantee you a seat, and this ticket does, but why do you need to line up an hour before if the seat is guaranteed? I have no idea, but at TIFF you do. Why can’t you go in early and sit in a sit? Who knows, no explanation was given by any of the less than useful staff/​volunteers. I was told people line up early to get better seats, but why do they need to line up? Why not just let them sit in the seats when they show up? What’s the difference is there are people in the seats an hour before? Apparently it’s a big deal and they didn’t even start letting people in until after the showing was supposed to begin.
Also, don’t make any time sensitive post-​movie plans because the movie doesn’t start when it says its going to, they’ll pick an arbitrary time to let people start sitting down (in the seats that have been empty for the last hour) and start the movie whenever is good.
But it doesn’t matter, right, because you are here to watch the première with the starts? Wrong again. They did a 15 minute intro, walked off stage and were never seen again.
Now the movie was good, but there is nothing I enjoy more than watching a movie at a 45 degree angle let me tell you. RTH is not the place to see a movie unless you are front and centre. Perhaps movie screenings should be done at, possibly, movie theatres? Apparently live stage productions and movies have entirely different types of theatres? There is a reason for this that is entirely obvious but that seems to eluded the fine folks at TIFF.
All in all, don’t waste your money. See the movie when it comes out a week or so later for ¼ the price and head on with the screen and no line-​ups.

Though I understand Erin’s frustration with the madness surrounding «The Festival», some of those people wearing the badges are people who work there (or are there as part of their job, ie. members of the press, industry, etc), and are too busy being exhausted and bloodshot to even think about congratulating themselves. Some of them. The people who are buying the tickets and subscribing to any sort of mania don’t usually wear badges.
I heard many people complaining this year about things getting «too big». Understandable for those who have been enjoying TIFF since the early days, nobody likes it when their favourite indie band gets too popular. But yeah, as Anna said, it is incredibly important to our city’s economy and status (sadly yes, I’m going there) and can be pretty fun and interesting if you let it. It can also be a little inconvenient for those not involved, but what can you do? It’s better than flash floods and earthquakes, and maybe you’ll see Brad Pitt at Starbucks. I’m just kidding, you won’t.

Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF as the locals like to call it, is the biggest cluster F**ck in Toronto. 1200+ accredited members of the international press, 2^nd largest film fest in the world (next to Cannes) and one completely out of control celebrity skin flick. I live at Avenue Rd. and Bloor which is ground zero for parties and red carpets and paparazzi. It’s out of control. Think of the tangle of girls outside MuchMusic times 500 and you get an average day outside the hotels during TIFF. BUT the good part is that it pumps money into the city like Pride day for 10 days, all the bars get in on the action by flying in DJs from all over the world, bars pour till four am (all TEN DAYS!) and the hype is infectious.
If you don’t live in my hood, then it’s great. But beware of Yorkville during that time if you’re planning on moving, every little thing, like getting a coffee or groceries is a huge production of crap American’s in the film business all up in your junk putting gum in the machine.

Before I was a Cheesemonger, I was an indy film guy (which doesn’t have quite the same ring as ‘Cheesemonger’ but was a very cool gig nonetheless).
In the nineties I spent many an hour in dark rooms watching film, and some of the best times were at the Toronto Int’l Film Festival.
Well curated, professionally staged and extremely well organized, TIFF is a film professional’s dream, and a model to how other cities could and should grow their festivals into world class, world envious events.
Kudos to festival staff for pulling all of this off with aplomb, and to the local, provincial and national governments for supporting this jewel (hint to the gov’t back home in the USA, get a clue!)

I know this review is probably not helpful but I need to get this off my chest: If I see one more person walking around Yorkville with a TIFF badge hanging from his/​her neck, I’m going to Throw myself onto Bloor St., get flattened out by a car, stick a string through my ear hole and hang myself like one of those bloody ID tags off the top of Silver City Cinema.
When did movie watching become such a self-​congratulatory event? I know the festival does have a slight purpose for the industry but why do regular people suddenly line-​up half-​way across the city to see movies that are going to be released (and inevitably get panned) 1 week later? There is no point, save for the slight spine-​tingle one might receive by telling one’s friends that they got into a film at the fest.