What to see at TIFF and how to find celebrities
Lights, Camera, Action.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) may have looked a little different over the past two years as organizers turned to drive-in theaters and virtual screenings to keep it going during a global pandemic, but starting Thursday is the full, in-person event scheduled to return to town. It brings with it more than 60 world premieres and a serious injection of star power.
Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned TIFF veteran who couldn’t travel to Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic, here’s what you need to know about navigating the 10-day festival.
THE VENUES
There will be more than half a dozen venues showing films, most of which are in the city’s entertainment district. The 2,500 capacity Roy Thomson Hall will host some of the biggest gala performances including the premiere selection of ‘The Swimmers’.
Speaking to CP24.com last week, film critic Richard Crouse said that while there are many unique, one-of-a-kind venues at the TIFF, few film fans allow themselves to enjoy the “glitz and glam” of the TIFF Festival like Roy Thomson.
Among the list of films slated for gala screenings at Roy Thomson Hall this year is Drake and LeBron James-produced documentary Black Ice, which takes a closer look at anti-Black racism in ice hockey. The film “Butcher’s Crossing” starring Nicolas Cage celebrates its world premiere with Roy Thomson, as does the psychological thriller “Alice, Darling” starring Anna Kendrick.
“It always reminds me of how I pictured it in the 1950s when you went to New York and you had these nice big theaters like the Paramount in Times Square that seated two or three thousand people. It was a real event and that’s what Roy Thomson feels like to me,” Crouse said of the venue. “It’s really special to see a film in this environment and on this scale.”
In addition to Roy Thomson Hall, TIFF will be showing a range of films at the legendary Cinesphere at Ontario Place, including a special screening of “Nope” followed by a Q&A with acclaimed director Jordan Peele on September 12th. The Scotiabank Theatre, meanwhile, will be the festival’s workhorse with 11 different screening rooms. New this year, TIFF will also host a series of screenings at the 115 year old Royal Alexandria Theatre, adding to a number of venues along King Street, which is also home to the Princes of Wales Theater and the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
“I walk past this theater many, many times over the course of a week and have always dreamed of going in there as part of the festival,” TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said of the Royal Alexandria in an interview with CP24.com. “It’s a historic place and to bring state-of-the-art cinema technology to it and to be showing films there for the first time in a long time is quite exciting.”
THE MOVIES
More than 200 films are scheduled to be screened during the 10-day festival, including 63 that will have their world premiere at TIFF. Steven Spielberg’s The Fablemans is already causing a stir. It will be the first film the acclaimed director has ever brought to the festival, and perhaps his most personal – essentially a retelling of his own childhood.
Some of the other exciting films premiering at TIFF are Gina Prince-Bythewood’s The Woman King and Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers.
A new “Weird” Al Yankovic biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe was also a hot ticket. It will be shown four times during TIFF, with its premiere launching TIFF’s popular Midnight Madness program.
Speaking to CP24.com, Crouse said he’s personally excited about a Canadian film called I Like Movies, loosely based on the director’s lifelong love of film, which began while working on a Burlington blockbuster in the early 1990s 2000s began . He also circled the David Bowie documentary Moonage Daydream on his list, calling it “an immersive experience that overwhelms you with sound and vision.”
“He was an enigmatic artist, and this is an enigmatic film that just wants you to get lost in it and doesn’t look at it as a behind-the-scenes documentary,” he said.
CREATING A TRAVEL PLAN
This year’s edition of TIFF will feature everything from artistically challenging films to Hollywood blockbusters, indie films and everything in between.
A series of talks with Hollywood heavyweights are also planned, including one with Taylor Swift, which will focus on some of the visual aspects of her music.
It’s a varied list and can make the process of creating an itinerary daunting.
Bailey, who was the festival’s longtime artistic director before taking over as CEO in 2021, told CP24.com that anyone attending TIFF should “make a plan” but be ready to spin.
“Decide which films you want to see and get a feel for which film will touch you the most, which you are into the most, but then always leave room for surprises,” he said. “You know, you’re going to meet someone who’s like, ‘I just saw this amazing movie, it changed my life. You need to see it, and then you might want to see this instead.”
Crouse, meanwhile, urged TIFF attendees to “broaden their horizons as much as possible.” He said that while there’s a certain appeal to going to the big screens with the big stars, sometimes it’s the films that may not get widespread theatrical releases that end up being the most memorable.
“These films that they (the big stars) are promoting there will very likely hit theaters within a week or a month or two after the festival. I would watch movies that you probably won’t see anywhere else on the big screen,” he said. “That’s where the pearls lie, that’s where the real beauty of a film festival like this lies.”
THE STARS
Star power at TIFF has been severely curtailed over the past two years, with many Hollywood heavyweights skipping the festival due to COVID-19 restrictions that have hampered cross-border travel.
But any thought that TIFF’s appeal might have been diminished during the global pandemic was dashed last week when organizers released a list of hundreds of stars who were traveling to Toronto for the festival, including Oprah Winfrey, Harry Styles, Jennifer Lawrence, Viola Davis and Zac Efron, Daniel Craig, Daniel Radcliffe and Jordan Peele.
Entertainment blogger Mr. Will Wong has been covering the festival for years.
He told CP24.com that the “size of the movies and stars coming to town this week for TIFF” is “big by any measure,” let alone after two years of COVID-19 restrictions.
“I would say TIFF is back in full force this year, but even before the pandemic, this would be considered a big TIFF,” he said.
WHERE TO GET AN INSIGHT OF HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY
Wong said that one of the interesting things about the festival’s full return after scaled-down versions in 2020 and 2021 is that many of the popular celebrity travel destinations have changed.
“There were a number of restaurants (that were popular with celebrities) that just didn’t survive the pandemic, so there will be new hotspots,” he said. “It will be the same strip (King Street West), just different storefronts and different names on the restaurants.”
Wong said he expects the Bisha Hotel on John Street to be a popular spot for celebrities, as will the recently opened Ace Hotel near Adelaide Street and Spadina Avenue.
Regarding the restaurants, he said that Patria and Marbl on King Street West will both be preferred locations for cast dinners after starred premieres are virtually “guaranteed” to dine there.
Ditto for the Sofia Restaurant & Bar in Yorkville, which hosted Jennifer Lopez during the 2019 festival.
“Everything is in the downtown entertainment district now, but that doesn’t mean Yorkville is out of the question,” he said. “I’m pretty sure things are going to happen up there.”
Wong said when it comes to stargazing at TIFF, “luck” is often all that matters.
You need to be in the right place at the right time, whether it’s in front of a popular restaurant or just having a coffee in the neighborhood.
However, movie fans who want to see their favorite actor or actress up close can always show up early and try to get a wristband for entry into one of the designated fan zones next to the red carpets, Wong said.
“If you get there early enough, I would recommend two or three hours before the film starts, there’s no reason you can’t see who you want to see,” he said.
TICKETS
Tickets for many of the most anticipated screenings at TIFF were quick to grab after going on sale to the general public on Monday.
But moviegoers can still gain access to some sold-out screenings by rushing in line outside the venue before the screening.
TIFF will also host a series of free screenings of classic films in David Peacaut Square, and for the first four days of the festival, King Street between Peter Street and University Avenue will be closed for a street party entitled “Feststrasse” from 10am to 10pm.
WATCH AT HOME
TIFF makes a small number of its official selections available to stream online for a fee.
However, the virtual program was significantly reduced compared to the two previous festivals.
Bailey said this is largely by design, as the virtual screenings are only meant to give a “taste” of the full in-person festival for people located elsewhere in Canada.
“We definitely want people to come back to theaters. I think it remains the best way to experience film. It’s not the only way and we all watch a lot of stuff at home too. But we wanted to focus on the personal experience and the collective experience of watching a movie together and just feeling like that emotion is amplified because you’re feeling it in a room with hundreds of other people,” he told CP24 .com “Whether it’s drama, suspense or comedy, everything is just heightened and bigger when you’re in a theatre. So we wanted to bring that back.”