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Category: TIFF

TIFF 08 – Special Presentations Announced

Published on August 14, 2008

A whole bunch more films were announced yesterday – 20 films were added to the Special Presentations programme, including some that I’m really looking forward to:

Me and Orson Welles by Richard Linklater, one of my favourite film makers.  Starring Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Ben Chaplin and Christian McKay.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno by Kevin Smith – starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks – the Q&A following this one should be a BLAST!

Synecdoche, New York by Charlie Kaufman starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Dianne Wiest, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Emily Watson and Hope Davis.

The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky starring Mickey Rourke (who is AWESOME!).

TIFF 08 – The List… so far.

Published on July 25, 2008

Ok, I’m ridiculously excited about this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.  We’ve got our tickets, we’ve booked our apartment, now all we have to do is wait (augh!) – the full film list won’t be available until August 19th and we won’t be scheduling until August 27th.  In the meantime, the Midnight Madness and Canada First! programmes have been announced and I’m starting to build my list.  Here are some Midnight flicks that I’m looking forward to:

JCVD – “The Muscles from Brussels is back!” – Starring Jean Claude Van Damme as himself, “JCVD tells the comeback story of a screen hero who has been on the receiving end of kicks that are getting harder and harder to take. “

The Burrowers – One of my favourite film experiences of TIFF 06 was JT Petty’s S&Man – and this year JT is back with what has been described as a creature feature wrapped inside a gritty western.

There’s a bunch of flicks I want to see from the Midnight Madness series – I’ll be sure to keep linking them up.  I’m really looking forward to spending some late nights at Ryerson this year.  As for the Canada First! programme, some flicks I’d like to check out:

“Control Alt Delete is an unusually quirky romantic comedy set in 1999. When computer geek Lewis Henderson (Tyler Labine) is dumped by his longtime girlfriend, he becomes more and more obsessed with internet porn. After a while, the images lose their power over his libido and he begins a strange sexual relationship with the machine itself. As Lewis starts dating the new receptionist Jane (Sonja Bennett), he realizes he may not be the only one harbouring a dirty little secret.”

and

“A wild and deranged comedy set in 1985 suburbia, Cooper’s Camera follows the disintegration of a truly dysfunctional family Christmas after the arrival of an estranged uncle. As everyone gets drunker and drunker, old conflicts and secrets are unearthed to hilarious effect. The story is told through the eyes of the youngest son Teddy, via the family’s newest Christmas present, a second-hand VHS camcorder. The film stars Jason Jones, Samantha Bee, Peter Keleghan and Mike Beaver and is written by Jason Jones and Mike Beaver.”

Most in Canada would agree our summers are short enough as it is… but with TIFF coming, I find myself wishing August would just hurry the hell up already!

TIFF 08 – Ticket Packages Purchased!

Published on July 23, 2008

I just put our order in for our Toronto International Film Festival ticket packages!  We got 5 10-ticket packages (maximum flexibility) and I made a $250 donation to TIFFG to make sure our orders are among the first processed.  It is exciting times indeed.

TIFF 08 – Tix on sale!

Published on July 7, 2008

Tickets have gone on sale today for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.  I really really really wanted to get my passes secured today but my damn paycheque has been delayed (DAMMIT) and I need to wait until that’s cleared up before blowing any cash.  So I wait with much anticipation…

BluesFest, TIFF, and my bad blogging past

Published on June 19, 2008

Alright, I’m a spotty blogger at best.  So I’m not going to be making any more promises about how I’m going to become a better blogger, but one thing I’ve noted is that the times that I’ve really enjoyed blogging have been when I’ve written about an event or trip or something that I’m building towards.

I’ll link ’em up later, but my blog leading up to my second trip to Burning Man comes to mind.  Also two years ago when I went to the Toronto International Film Festival I did a pretty decent job of writing about that experience while I was there.

Well, this summer I’ve got a couple of big events that I’m really looking forward to – starting with the Ottawa BluesFest in July – this is the first year I’ve bought a pass for the entire festival and I’m really looking forward to more than 10 days of music right here in my home town.

Actually, this summer should be pretty good for music all around (last year was phenomenal too – I’ll write up some of the shows I saw later).  I just got my tickets for the Radiohead show in Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal in August.  I’ve been dying to see these guys for a long time.

And to wrap up the summer, the girlfriend and I just booked our apartment in Toronto for the week of September 4-11th – we’re officially going to the Toronto International Film Festival 2008!  We’re pretty excited about it – the last time we went we were there for 8 days and saw 22 films – but we took one day off.  This year we’re there for 7 days and I’d like to hit at least as many films.

We booked an apartment just off Yonge near Ryerson – smack in the middle of everything!  Being so close to Ryerson will be good for those late nights after the Midnight Madness films – and we’re pretty much half-way between the theatres up at Bloor/Yorkville and the Paramount theatres down at King.

Even though I know the new site doesn’t launch until June 27th, I find myself checking the www.tiff08.ca website every day to see if something new pops up.

With all this to look forward to, I’ve got lots to write about this summer/festival season.  Like I said, no promises, but I will try to get some posts up about these events as the dates approach.  Now I think I’m gonna go and hit refresh a couple times on the TIFF website.