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Category: TIFF

TIFF 2011 – The Films We’re Seeing

So after a year off, we’re heading back to the Toronto International Film Festival this year. Unfortunately we’ve used up all our vacation, so it’ll be a quick weekender, but it’ll be good to be back all the same.

Since we have such a short amount of time there, and we had to wait until tickets went on sale to the public before picking our films, we formulated a pretty simple strategy. We decided we’d get a hotel as close to the Ryerson as we could, and then just get as many films at that theatre as possible.

We figured this would save us running around town from theatre to theatre, plus it simplified our selection process – instead of putting together a big wishlist and then trying to fit as many into our schedule as we could, and then having to make substitutions on the fly on ticket day, this way our selections were pretty much made for us.

The only exception to this strategy was on the Sunday when we were hoping to get some films at the new Bell Lightbox since we haven’t been there yet (it opened last year). But on ticket day, everything that was showing there for for the timeframe was sold out, so I just grabbed a couple random movies that fit our timeline. I made sure we have a couple hours before we have to head home so we can go visit the Bell Lightbox – wish we could have seen a film or two there, but thems the breaks.

So we ended up getting 8 films total – I was hoping for 9. The only gap we ended up with is on Saturday night between 8pm and midnight – the film that was showing at The Ryerson is Drive, a big release that we don’t mind missing at the fest since it’ll be in theatres next week. We didn’t bother trying to cram something else in that gap – the few we were interested in were sold out anyway – we just figure we’ll take a little break and maybe have a sit-down dinner like human beings that night.

Here’s the list of films we’re seeing, and any trailers I could find. Counting down the hours now!

The Hunter
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIQfxCQ0PKA

God Bless America

Trishna
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ywxcP5XJpA

Goon

Melancholia
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpVHnXCQlDk

You’re Next

Think of Me
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7CmooxsD30

Dark Horse
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp9ueZ6rUA8

TIFF09: Day 1 – On our way (almost)!

In a couple of hours we’ll be boarding our flight, and then a short while later we’ll land in Toronto for the opening night of TIFF09!  We’re just in town for a weekend this year but we managed to get tickets for 13 films, the big day being Friday when we’ll be in and out of the theatre all day seeing 6 films starting at 9:30am and ending sometime around 2:00am.

Tonight is the Diablo Cody written horror flick Jennifer’s Body starring Megan Fox.  I have always loved the Midnight Madness series at TIFF, and I’m so glad to be able to catch the opening night flick this year.  Actually, we’ll be catching all the midnight flicks while we’re in town, so I’m really excited about that.

I think we got a decent cross-section of films – some mainstream stuff, some indie, some Canadian, some international… since we were just buying individual tickets, obviously some of the more buzzed-about films were sold out long before we got to them.  We didn’t get a lot of first screenings, so we may not see as many Q&A’s, but that’s ok.  Most of what we got I’m pretty excited about regardless, and really it’s all about the films this week.

As I have in the past, I’m going to try to blog when/if I can, but will tweet throughout so be sure to follow me on Twitter.  Below is the trailer for Jennifer’s Body again – can’t wait to see the Midnight Madness crew out for this one tonight!

TIFF09: What we got

georgearomeros_011

It took some effort, as the TIFF website crumbled under the demand for single tickets this morning, but we got our order in and got a decent list of films to see next weekend!  We’re still going to try to fill in some gaps, but here’s what our schedule looks like right now:

Thursday September 10
Midnight – Jennifer’s Body

Friday September 11
9:30am – The Happiest Girl in the World
12:15pm – Huacho
3:00pm – Creation
5:45pm – Perrier’s Bounty
9:00pm – Passenger Side
Midnight – Daybreakers

Saturday September 12
10:30am – The Informant!
2:15pm – All Fall Down
9:00pm – A Serious Man
Midnight – George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead

Sunday September 13
10:00am – Cracks
2:30pm – Vallhalla Rising

As expected, we didn’t get a lot of first-screenings, so we’ll be missing out on some of the Q&A, usually a highlight.  But really it’s all about the films, so TIFF09 HERE WE COME!!

UPDATE:  And now that we’re officially on our way, I’m filing this link here for later reference:  Where to get late-night drinks during TIFF – establishments that are open until 4am during the festival.

UPDATE 2: Added two more films to our list: Passenger Side and A Serious Man!

TIFF09: Midnight Madness!

At FanExpo in Toronto last weekend the Midnight Madness crew were selling advance tickets to screenings at TIFF09 – a (newly favourite) friend of mine happened to be there and hooked us up with our first set of tickets for next weekend!  We didn’t get an advance package this year, so we’re kinda really taking a shot in the dark by going down… so it’s nice to have at least a few tickets in the bag – here’s what we’re seeing so far at TIFF09:

Jennifer’s Body

Daybreakers

George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead