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Our top 10 from the 2011 film festival

2011-10-13T17:15:00.001-04:00

After some time to reflect, we've tried to come up with our 'top-ten', from this year's film festival. We use a simple criteria — which films would we be most eager to see again?

So – for what it's worth – here's our 2011 Toronto International Film Festival top ten...

He said,

Beauty Oliver Hermanus
Shame Steve McQueen
Michael Markus Schleinzer
Carré Blanc Jean-Baptiste Léonetti
ALPS Yorgos Lanthimos
Sleeping Beauty, Julia Leigh
Martha Marcy May Marlene Sean Durkin
Love and Bruises Ye Lou
The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
Like Crazy, Drake Doremus

She said,

Beauty Oliver Hermanus
Shame Steve McQueen
Martha Marcy May Marlene Sean Durkin
Michael Markus Schleinzer
Snowtown Justin Kurzel
Like Crazy, Drake Doremus
Goodbye First Love Mia Hansen-Løve
The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
ALPS Yorgos Lanthimos
Love and Bruises Ye Lou

We agreed...

Beauty Oliver Hermanus
Shame Steve McQueen
Michael Markus Schleinzer
ALPS Yorgos Lanthimos
Martha Marcy May Marlene Sean Durkin
Love and Bruises Ye Lou
The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
Like Crazy, Drake Doremus

See you at the next fest!
www.TOfilmfest.ca

PS.
thanks to all the 9,100+ who follow us year-round @TOfilmfest :-)

PPS.
for last year's top ten, see "Our top ten from the 2010 film fest"

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Sat.01/Oct: Nuit Blanche at Lightbox

2011-10-01T18:00:00.001-04:00

Toronto's Nuit Blanche, an annual sunset-to-sunrise celebration of contemporary art, returns tonight — and there are a few events taking place at the Lightbox centre:

Man with a Movie Camera

A live digital re-scoring of filmmaker Dziga Vertov's documentary, Man with a Movie Camera.

Local artist Darren Copeland will set the everyday soundscape of Toronto in 2011 against Vertov's depiction of Moscow in 1929. Copeland creates a new perspective on the sounds of our city: allowing the audience to re-experience Toronto through the ears and imagination of Dziga Vertov.

Chiptunes Orchestra

The 'Royal Canadian Chiptunes Orchestra' (a collection of musicians playing on custom-hacked Game Boys and home-made circuit-based instruments) present an evening celebrating the music of the video game.

As well, musical groups will present their interpretations of iconic video game songs and scores. Performances by: Battle Lava, Deadbeatblast, .exe, Radius and Helena, Oxvylu, Cybernetic Orchestra, Freque, Awesome Force, Jeff the World, Starpilot, Tetris Hold'em, bossFYTE, DJ Finish Him, Press Start 2 Play, and Spell 'n Math.

Singin' in the Dark: '80s Edition

Favourite musical numbers from '80s films like Fame, Footloose, Little Shop of Horrors, Flashdance and more.

(Mature content after midnight.)

Movie Studio Playhouse

Movie Studio Playhouse takes live feeds of participants acting in spontaneously-created films and enables the audience to manipulate these feeds in a number of different playful ways.

Get involved by using fun props and costumes to make a short film that will be projected on the atrium wall. Audience members watching in the atrium are encouraged to play the role of post-production trickster, tinkering with, manipulating and re-arranging the moving images.

See you at Lightbox!
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Peter Howell's Chasing the Buzz 2011

2011-09-03T06:55:00.014-04:00

It's time again for Peter Howell's annual Chasing the Buzz poll — and we're very proud to be part of the buzz! This year, two dozen contributors were asked to name the 3 films they were most looking forward to — here are our top 3 picks:

The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

“Black and white? Silent? Yes, but Cameron Bailey tweeted raves from Cannes, Michèle Maheux wrote the program note, and it got very good reviews at our website.”
ALPS, Yorgos Lanthimos

“Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, Oscar-nominated for Dogtooth earlier this year, promises ALPS will be ‘darker and funnier,’ so count us in!”
Carré Blanc, Jean-Baptiste Léonetti

“Jean-Baptiste Léonetti’s debut film is a stunning tale of social Darwinism where the struggle for survival under a dehumanizing system has led to a de facto form of eugenics.”

...and here are all the top-picks...

Four votes

A Dangerous Method David Cronenberg
Take This Waltz, Sarah Polley

Three votes

ALPS Yorgos Lanthimos
Albert Nobbs Rodrigo García

Two votes

The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
Into the Abyss Werner Herzog
Livid Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo
Melancholia Lars von Trier
Moneyball Bennett Miller
Paul Williams Still Alive Stephen Kessler
Pearl Jam Twenty Cameron Crowe
Sarah Palin - You Betcha! Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
Shame Steve McQueen

See you at the fest!
www.TOfilmfest.ca

PS.
Here's a look back at previous picks in The Toronto Star...

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Mobile apps for the fest: iPhone, Android and BlackBerry

2011-08-30T15:30:00.001-04:00

Official app (BlackBerry only)

Since BlackBerry is a major sponsor of the Toronto International Film Festival, there is an official application available free:

"tiff.fest.app" from Blackberry App World

News app (Android only)

Canada's largest national newspaper The Globe & Mail has launched their own app for the festival, feeding articles, photos, and reviews to your phone.

"Globe TIFF" from the Globe & Mail.

Mobile website (iPhone/Android/BlackBerry)

Last year we announced an early-alpha release of a web-based mobile application that was designed to work with all mobile telephones — for free.

This year, the open beta release features a better layout with images for each film — in addition to synopsis, film details, and schedule information.

just visit...
TOfilmfest.ca/TIFFwidget
from any mobile phone browser

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2011 Contemporary World Cinema

2011-08-21T08:55:00.002-04:00

The Toronto International Film Festival will present 51 films from around the world, as part of the Contemporary World Cinema.

Always Brando, Ridha Béhi
Azhagarsamy's Horse, Susindran
Beauty, Oliver Hermanus
Blood of my Blood, João Canijo
Bonsái, Cristián Jiménez
Colour of the Ocean, Maggie Peren
Death for Sale, Faouzi Bensaïdi
Elena, Andrey Zvyagintsev
Extraterrestrial, Nacho Vigalondo
Footnote, Joseph Cedar
The Forgiveness of Blood, Joshua Marston
Free Men, Ismaël Ferroukhi
From Up on Poppy Hill, Goro Miyazaki
A Funny Man, Martin Zandvliet
Future Lasts Forever, Özcan Alper
Good Bye, Mohammad Rasoulof
Goodbye First Love, Mia Hansen-Løve
Guilty, Vincent Garenq
Gypsy, Martin Sulík
Heleno, José Henrique Fonseca
Himizu, Sion Sono
Hotel Swooni, Kaat Beels
Islands, Stefano Chiantini
Juan of the Dead, Alejandro Brugués
Land of Oblivion, Michale Boganim
Last Days in Jerusalem, Tawfik Abu Wael
Last Winter, John Shank
Lena, Christophe Van Rompaey
Lipstikka, Jonathan Sagall
Lucky, Avie Luthra
Man on Ground, Akin Omotoso
Michael, Ribhu Dasgupta
Michael, Markus Schleinzer
Miss Bala, Gerardo Naranjo
Mr. Tree, Han Jie
Omar Killed Me, Roschdy Zem
Restoration, Yossi Madmoni
Rose, Wojciech Smarzowski
Rough Hands, Mohamed Asli
A Separation, Asghar Farhadi
The Silver Cliff, Karim Ainouz
Sons of Norway, Jens Lien
Superclásico, Ole Christian Madsen
Think of Me, Bryan Wizemann
UFO in her Eyes, Xiaolu Guo
Union Square, Nancy Savoca
Your Sister's Sister, Lynn Shelton

The films above join the 4 Canadian titles announced last week:

388 Arletta Avenue, Randall Cole
Billy Bishop Goes to War, Barbara Willis-Sweete
I'm Yours, Leonard Farlinger
Sisters&Brothers, Carl Bessai

Eighteen Visions for the 2011 film fest

2011-08-20T10:55:00.008-04:00

The Visions program at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival brings us 18 films that attempt to 'challenge our notions of mainstream cinema'.

ALPS, Yorgos Lanthimos
Century of Birthing, Lav Diaz
Cut, Amir Naderi
Dreileben - Beats Being Dead, Christian Petzold
Dreileben - Don't Follow Me Around, Dominik Graf
Dreileben - One Minute of Darkness, Christoph Hochhäusler
Fable of the Fish, Adolfo Alix Jr.
House of Tolerance, Bertrand Bonello
Kotoko, Shinya Tsukamoto
The Last Christeros, Matias Meyer
The Loneliest Planet, Julia Loktev
Monsters Club, Toshiaki Toyoda
The Mountain, Ghassan Salhab
Mushrooms, Vimukthi Jayasundara
Play, Ruben Östlund
Porfirio, Alejandro Landes
Random, Debbie Tucker Green
The River Used to Be a Man, Jan Zabeil
Swirl, Clarissa Campolina, Helvecio Marins Jr.
This Side of Resurrection, Joaquim Sapinho

The Visions and Vanguard programs are often closely associated, but here's the difference:

films in the Visions program try to challenge the audio-visual form of cinema (by altering the process of film-making, or playing with the art of storytelling) — whereas Vanguard films present challenging content (intended to be bold, provocative, and often defying conventions).

More Galas & Special Presentations

2011-08-18T22:55:00.019-04:00

Although there were 11 Galas and 43 Special Presentations announced at the kick-off press conference, the Toronto International Film Festival has announced new additions to each program:

Gala Presentations

The Awakening, Nick Murphy
Beloved, Christophe Honoré
Hysteria, Tanya Wexler
Killer Elite, Gary McKendry
Page Eight, David Hare
Trespass, Joel Schumacher
Winnie, Darrell Roodt

Special Presentations

The Cardboard Village, Ermanno Olmi
Damsels in Distress, Whit Stillman
Death of a Superhero, Ian FitzGibbon
The First Man, Gianni Amelio
In Darkness, Agnieszka Holland
Intruders, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Life Without Principle Johnnie To
Low Life, Nicolas Klotz, Elisabeth Perceval
Mausam, Pankaj Kapur
My Worst Nightmare, Anne Fontaine
Rebellion, Mathieu Kassovitz
Sleeping Beauty, Julia Leigh
Terraferma, Emanuele Crialese
That Summer, Philippe Garrel
Violet & Daisy, Geoffrey Fletcher
Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, Te-Sheng Wei
Wuthering Heights, Andrea Arnold

There are now 20 Galas and 67 Special Presentations — but we expect a few more additions next week! ;-)

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Canadian films at the 2011 film festival

2011-08-14T22:55:00.007-04:00

The Toronto International Film Festival has supported Canadian cinema since it's inception in 1976. It's a tradition that's continued to today with its 'Canada-only' programs:

As well, Canadian films have also joined the ranks of other international programs:

Here is the official video from last week's Canadian press conference:

Just a reminder: at TOfilmfest.ca you can quickly & easily browse films...

by date of announcement; e.g. Aug.09, Aug.03, Jul.26 ...
by country; e.g. Argentina, Canada, Norway ...
by director; e.g. David Cronenberg, Bruce McDonald, Sarah Polley ...
by cast; e.g. Margaret Atwood, Russell Peters, Scott Speedman ...
by language; e.g. English, French, Spanish ...

— or quickly look-up the highest rated films coming to the festival (– based on reviews at other festivals, and from critics & fans...)

See you at the fest!
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Children's films at the 2011 film fest

2011-08-14T12:00:00.005-04:00

Since 1998, the Sprockets film festival is held each spring in Toronto for children and youth. In 2003, the Sprockets Family Zone program was introduced to allow younger viewers the opportunity to enjoy the main festival in September.

This year the Sprockets Family Zone has been renamed as TIFF Kids.

First Position Bess Kargman
The Flying Machine Martin Clapp, Geoff Lindsey, Marek Skrobecki
A Letter to Momo, Hiroyuki Okiura
A Monster in Paris Bibo Bergeron

So bring your kids! ;-)

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2011 Real to Reel program (documentaries)

2011-08-13T22:55:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, the Toronto International Film Festival announced its 2011 Real to Reel program — documentaries from around the world!

Highlights include the latest work from Werner Herzog, Nick Broomfield, Morgan Spurlock — and a 15 hour doc by Mark Cousins!

Arirang Ki-duk Kim
The Boy Who Was King Andrey Paounov
Comic-Con: Episode IV - A Fan’s Hope Morgan Spurlock
Crazy Horse Frederick Wiseman
Dark Girls Bill Duke, D. Channsin Berry
Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell, Rithy Panh
Gerhard Richter - Painting, David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
I’m Carolyn Parker Jonathan Demme
In My Mother’s Arms Atea Al Daradji, Mohamed Al Daradji
Into the AbyssWerner Herzog
Last Call at the Oasis Jessica Yu
The Last Dogs of Winter Costa Botes
The Last Gladiators Alex Gibney
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Paul Williams Still Alive Stephen Kessler
Pink Ribbons, Inc Léa Pool
Samsara Ron Fricke
Sarah Palin - You Betcha! Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
The Story of Film: An Odyssey Mark Cousins
Surviving Progress, Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks
The Tall Man, Tony Krawitz
Undefeated, Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin
Urbanized, Gary Hustwit
Whores' Glory, Michael Glawogger

2011 City to City: Buenos Aires

2011-08-07T20:00:00.003-04:00

Each year the Toronto International Film Festival spotlights a city where filmmakers tell stories that 'could only come from that particular place'. The 2011 City to City program will highlight 10 films from Buenos Aires, Argentina:

Caprichosos de San Telmo, Alison Murray
Cat Vanishes, Carlos Sorin
Crane World [1999], Pablo Trapero
Fatherland, Nicolás Prividera
Invasion [1969], Hugo Santiago
A Mysterious World, Rodrigo Moreno
Pompeya, Tamae Garateguy
The Stones, Román Cárdenas
The Student, Santiago Mitre
Vaquero, Juan Minujín

See you at the fest!
www.TOfilmfest.ca

PS. previous years...

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2011 Vanguard program

2011-08-04T22:55:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, the Toronto International Film Festival, announced the films for the Vanguard program. The program highlights films that "defy convention; twisting genres, styles and narrative structures to tell fresh and provocative stories."

Carre Blanc, Jean-Baptiste Léonetti
Generation P, Victor Ginzburg
Headshot, Pen-ek Ratanaruang
Love and Bruises, Ye Lou
Oslo August 31, Joachim Trier
Snowtown, Justin Kurzel
The Year of the Tiger, Sebastián Lelio

2011 Midnight Madness!

2011-08-03T22:55:00.002-04:00

Film titles for the 2011 Midnight Madness program were announced earlier today. One of the most anticipated film programs at the festival, Colin Geddes brings his 10 picks to enthusiastic audiences at the Ryerson Theatre.

The Day, Douglas Aarniokoski
God Bless America, Bobcat Goldthwait
The Incident, Alexandre Courtes
Kill List, Ben Wheatley
Livid, Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo
Lovely Molly, Eduardo Sanchez
The Raid, Gareth Evans
Sleepless Night, Frédéric Jardin
Smuggler, Katsuhito Ishii
You're Next, Adam Wingard

2011 Toronto International Film Festival kick-off

2011-07-26T21:30:00.008-04:00

The 36th Toronto International Film Festival runs from Thursday, September 8th to Sunday the 18th this year — 11 days with the world of cinema on our doorstep... :-)

The kick-off press conference was held today — see the complete list of films announced, by program, at...

Gala Presentations (11)
Special Presentations (43)

We'll be updating our film list regularly – the 2011 Midnight Madness film titles should be unleashed next week – and adding reviews/videos/links, so check back often! ;-)

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TOfilmfest for 2011

2011-07-26T20:30:00.007-04:00

What began as an email-list reaching a few hundred people back in the late 1990's, slowly grew into a website – TOfilmfest.ca – by 2005.
In 2009, our re-design was provided by a local firm MouthMedia, and it's served us well for the past couple of years — reaching over 50,000 visitors per month, in 2010! :-)

We're still trying to optimize our site for mobile devices – the tiny screens of web-enabled smart-phones are a challenge – and we hope to offer an alternative for all mobile devices soon.

As always, we will be scouring the internet looking for reviews, interviews, videos, images, and links – to help everyone 'pick the best of the fest!'

See you at the fest!

PS.
here's some hype to get you ready for 2011 film fest!

PPS.
and here's a snapshot of our first day of web-traffic...
— looks like 2011 will be a busy year for our servers... ;-)

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FREE films this summer

2011-05-29T23:55:00.004-04:00

The film festival's Lightbox centre will be hosting several free film screenings this summer — and running a weekly outdoor film series, beside Roy Thomson Hall.

The Free Screen
Wed.01/Jun @ 7:00pm
— Independent/avant-garde cinema

The Perlin Papers (cycle of 8 short films) – Jenny Perlin

Canada Day
Fri.01/Jul
— Celebration of Canadian cinema

Mary Pickford, The Muse of the Movies (@11:00am, feature-length documentary)
After the screening, both Nicholas Eliopoulos (director) and Rob Brooks (who donated the materials for the Mary Pickford exhibition) will be in the Canadian Film Gallery, on the 4th floor.
Classic Canadian Shorts (@1:30pm)
- Blinkity Blank – Norman McLaren
- Romance of Transportation in Canada – Colin Low
- Walking – Ryan Larkin
- Log Driver’s Waltz – John Weldon
- The Sweater – Sheldon Cohen
- Crac! – Frederic Back
- The Big Snit – Richard Condie
- The Cat Came Back – Cordell Barker
C.R.A.Z.Y. – Jean-Marc Vallée (@4:00pm)
Voulez-vous coucher avec God? – Jack Christie, Michael Hirsh (@7:30pm)
Black Christmas – Bob Clark (@9:30pm)

Classic Musicals in the Park
Wednesdays
— Outdoor screenings in David Pecaut Square (formerly Metro Square)

Wed.06/Jul @ 9:00pm, The Wizard of Oz
Wed.13/Jul @ 9:00pm, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Wed.20/Jul @ 9:00pm, Funny Girl
Wed.27/Jul @ 9:00pm, The Sound of Music
Wed.03/Aug @ 8:30pm, Jagte Raho
Wed.10/Aug @ 8:30pm, Fiddler on the Roof
Wed.17/Aug @ 8:30pm, Singin’ in the Rain
Wed.24/Aug @ 8:30pm, The Muppet Movie
Wed.31/Aug @ 8:30pm, Mary Poppins

See you at the fest!
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Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.3

2011-05-28T10:00:00.020-04:00

Festival Tower, the residential condominium built atop the Lightbox centre, is almost complete. It's the final component of Reitman Square at King & John streets — a three-way partnership between the festival, the Reitman's, and Daniels.

Lightbox (the film festival's new headquarters) and Oliver & Bonacini's new restaurants (Luma, O&B Canteen) opened last summer during the film-festival.

Occupancy in Festival Tower began last fall,

see Above Lightbox: Festival Tower for a preview of the suites;

amenity areas started to take shape this past winter,

see Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2 for a tour of the construction.

As the building will soon be turned over to the purchasers, we're very grateful for Daniels allowing us a follow-up photo-shoot — most of the amenity spaces are now finished, so here are the snapshots!

Lobby lounge
The Fantasm, an art installation by New Brunswick sculptor Peter Powing; located in the lobby lounge, but the animated lighting easily visible from the outside sidewalk.
Tower lounge
Also has an outdoor terrace – adjacent to the rooftop patio of the Lightbox film centre.

Sports bar
The balcony overlooks the Casa Malaparte inspired roof-top of Lightbox.Cinema
Theatre has room for 66 – with the same Quinette Gallay cinema-seating, and Christie digital cinema projection used in the theatres at Lightbox.Party room
Decor for the building was handled by Mike Niven Interior Design – with furnishings from Kiosk Design.
Roof-top terrace
Fitness areas

The fitness areas are operated by Results Fitness Lifestyle – scheduled classes include pilates, yoga, spinning, and vary each month. Personal training sessions are also offered.

Spa
Spa services in the building are provided by Family Tree Health Clinic – registered massage therapists available, and osteopathic care coming soon.

Concierge
A full-time resident services director is provided by Zebrano life|style|solutions.

Festival Tower

Just like the Lightbox centre at it's base, Festival Tower was designed by KPMB and built by Daniels — and both buildings are equally impressive, in design and construction. In fact, they were recently nominated for the 2011 PUG awards – the people's choice award for architecture.

There are still a few units for sale through Baker Real Estate at the FestivalTower.com website – and rentals & re-sales can be found at http://bit.ly/FestTwrMLS.

The sequel: Cinema Tower

Daniels has already begun construction on the sequel to Festival Tower: Cinema Tower. Sales will be handled by Baker Real Estate (– the presentation centre had it's final touches just recently).

The 43 story building was designed by Kirkor Architects (– they provided KPMB with design support for Festival Tower), and the interior design is by HOK.

The UrbanToronto.ca forum has posted several snapshots of the construction site, and the Toronto Star featured Another condo blockbuster — a spotlight on Cinema Tower (May 28/2011).

The official website is CinemaTowerCondos.com — you can follow @Cinema_Tower on Twitter.

...and that's a wrap... ;-)

see you at the fest! :-)
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PS.
Special thanks to everyone at Daniels who helped us make arrangements – Niall, Simona, and Jake – plus Aurora at Zebrano, for taking us on the tour! ;-)

PPS.
UPDATE: On Jun.6/2011, Toronto Star's Condos on the Market featured the Toronto's downtown west neighbourhood; locations & prices of all new residential buildings in the area are listed, including Festival Tower.

UPDATE: Site Seeing Downtown West appeared in the Aug.27/2011 Saturday Star.

FREE film Wednesdays at Lightbox

2011-02-22T23:45:00.003-05:00

Although the free Family Day weekend has just passed, there are more free screenings – part of a series of short avant-garde films – coming up at the Lightbox centre:

Wednesday, 23rd of February @ 7pm
Keeping Trace — On Time and Film
- Pro Agri, Nicky Hamlyn [Great Britain, 2008, 3 min, 16mm]
- Les Chaises, Vincent Grenier [Canada, 2008, 8 min, HD]
- August Afternoons, Deanna Morse [USA, 1985, 5 min, 16mm]
- She is Away, Bruce Elder [Canada, 1976, 13 min, 16mm]
- Tamalpais, Chris Kennedy [Canada, 2009, 14 min, 16mm]
- Lacuna, Shannon Harris [Canada, 2008, 10 min, DV]
- Transitions, Barbara Sternberg [Canada, 1982, 11 min, 16mm]
Presented by the Canadian Film Makers Distribution Centre.
Wednesday, 9th of March @ 7pm
Mantler’s Visual Music
- Introduction by Chris Cummings
- Allegretto, Oskar Fischinger [USA 1936, 3 min, 35mm]
- Motion Painting No. 1, Oskar Fischinger [USA, 1947, 11 min, 35mm]
- Trade Tattoo, Len Lye [USA,1937, 5 min, 16mm]
- Rhythm, Len Lye [USA, 1957, 1 min, 16mm]
- Free Radicals, Len Lye [USA 1958, 4 min, 16mm
- Synchromy, Norman McLaren [Canada, 1971, 7 min, 35mm]
- Lines Horizontal, Norman McLaren & Evelyn Lambart [Canada, 1961, 6 min, 35mm]
- Gymnopedies, Larry Jordan [USA, 1965, 6 min, 16mm]
- Friendly Witness, Warren Sonbert [USA, 1989, 22 min, 16mm]
- When the Organ Played ‘Oh Promise Me’, Cecil Stokes [c.1940, 3 min, 16mm]
- 15-minute live musical performance by Mantler
Presented by The Music Gallery.
Wednesday, 23rd of March @ 7pm
Images of Nature, or The Nature of the Image
- Light Magic, Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof [Canada, 2001, 3 min, 16mm]
- View of the Falls from the Canadian Side, John Price [Canada, 2006, 7 min, 35mm]
- Migration, David Rimmer [Canada, 1969, 11 min, 16mm]
- Notes in Origin, Ellie Epp [Canada, 1987, 17 min, 16mm]
- Plein Air, Richard Kerr [Canada, 1991, 20 min, 16mm]
- Trees of Syntax, Leaves of Axis, Daïchi Saïto [Canada, 2009, 10 min, 35mm]
- Beauty Plus Pity, Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby [Canada, 2009, 14 min, video]
Presented by the Canadian Film Makers Distribution Centre.
Wednesday, 30th of March @ 7pm
Landscape as Expression — San Francisco Bay Area
- A Trip Down Market Street, Miles Brothers [USA, 1906, 12 min, Silent, 35mm]
- North Beach, Dion Vigne [USA, 1958, 5 min, 16mm]
- Visions of a City, Lawrence Jordan [USA, 1957-78, 8 min]
- All My Life, Bruce Baillie [USA, 1966, 3 min]
- Golden Gate Bridge Exposure: Poised for Parabolas, Lynn Marie Kirby [USA, 2004, 5 min, Silent, DV]
- Junkopia, Chris Marker [USA, 1981, 6 min, 35mm]
- Street Noise, Michael Glawogger [USA, 1981, 9 min, 16mm]
- Degrees of Limitation, Scott Stark [USA, 1982, 3 min, Silent, 16mm]
- Side/Walk/Shuttle, Ernie Gehr [USA, 1991, 41 min, 16mm]
Presented by the Images Festival.

See you there!
#TOfilmfest

Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2

2011-02-22T22:45:00.012-05:00

Festival Tower sits atop the festival's new Lightbox centre on Reitman Square at King & John — it's the residential portion of the three-way venture between the festival (cinema/galleries/work-spaces/offices), the Reitman family (land), and Daniels (developer/builder).

Although Lightbox opened during the September 2010 film festival, occupancy in Festival Tower began later in November.

[Previous posts about the building: Lightbox developments, Lightbox tour, and Lightbox tour, part 2; also O&B Canteen, Luma, and Malaparte dining spaces.]

The Urban Toronto forum was kind enough to mention our article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, and they have also posted snapshots of suite interiors at Festival Tower.

Last fall, we weren't able to see any of the residential amenities — tentatively scheduled for completion this spring — but we recently took a tour of some of the common areas now under construction...

Tower entrance

Tower cinema

Tower pool/fitness room

...and some views...

East

South

West

Night

"What's On Today"

A unique feature of Festival Tower: a flat-screen displaying the day's film schedule at Lightbox (plus opening hours for the gallery, library, studio, lounge and gift shop) — conveniently located by the elevators, on the ground-floor entrance — nice! :-)

See you at the next fest!
@TOfilmfest

PS.
Want to live at Festival Tower? – check http://bit.ly/FestTwrMLS for a list of all the suites currently for sale/rent...

...or, how about living nearby the new Lightbox centre? – look for the Condos on the Market in the Toronto Star – UPDATE: the downtown west area was featured Mar.3/2011.

PPS.
CONTINUED:
Part one of this article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower.
Part three of this article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.3

Sun.20-Mon.21/Feb: FREE Tim Burton show at Lightbox

2011-02-16T15:45:00.018-05:00

In celebration of Family Day, the Tim Burton exhibition at the new Lightbox centre will be FREE on both Sunday, February 20 and Monday, February 21 from 12pm to 6pm.
(Regular price, $22.75)

The Lightbox centre opens at 10am.

There are also free film screenings on both days!

[Free tickets distributed 30 minutes prior to showtime — first-come, first-served; capacity is limited. See FAQ for details.]

Sunday, February 20th

Free Black History Month event

3:30pm – Witness As Desired: A Celebration of African Canadian Film
"A selection of short films programmed/curated by Kenneth Montague, followed by a panel discussion hosted by Cameron Bailey. Witness As Desired is an exploration of African Canadian identity in film. The program presents a series of short films by emerging and established filmmakers that reflect historical journeys and challenge representations of African Canadians as well as document contemporary perceptions of race and identity." – Presented shorts include:
- Sum of the parts: what can be named, 2009 [18min] – Deanna Bowen
- Where Do White People Go When the Long Weekend Comes?, 2008 [7min] – Powys Dewhurst
- Batty Boys Revenge, 2010 [3min] – Alison Duke
- Olé’, 2010 [3min] – Jason Ebanks
- CHAINS, 2009 [11min] – Sharon Lewis
- Keep On Keepin’ On, 2010 [3min] – Sylvia Hamilton
- The Little Prince, 2009 [7min] – Chantal James
- MAKING CHANGE, 1995 [18min] – Colina Phillips
- Proverbs 24:10, 2008 [2min] – Peter Dean Rickards
- Looking for Dawn, 2011 [25min] – Dawn Wilkinson

Free documentary screening

1:00pm, 6:15pm, 8:40pm – Unauthorized [Harvey Weinstein documentary by Barry Avrich], 2010
3:30pm – Cameraman [Jack Cardiff documentary], 2010

Free cinema classics

1:00pm – Leave Her to Heaven, 1945
6:00pm – Red Shoes, 1948
7:00pm – The Rules of the Game, 1939

Monday, February 21st

Free Tim Burton screenings

12:30pm – Alice in Wonderland, 2010 — Tim Burton
1:45pm – James and the Giant Peach, 1996 — Tim Burton
3:00pm – The Nightmare Before Christmas, 1993 — Tim Burton

Free live music performance

4:30pm – Sherlock Jr., 1924 — Buster Keaton (with live music from iNSiDEaMiND; see the Toronto Star interview with Cheldon Paterson and Erik Laar plus Silent Toronto's Buster Keaton, turntables and sound effects: The early days of cinema redux.

Free Mary Pickford screenings

12:00pm – Suds, 1920 — Mary Pickford
2:30pm – Through the Back Door, 1921 — Mary Pickford
4:30pm – My Best Girl, 1927 — Mary Pickford

The Mary Pickford: The Invention of the Movie Star, on the 4th-floor in the Canadian Film Gallery runs free from January 13 to July 3, 2011.

See you there!
#TOfilmfest

PS.
For families with children, Lightbox is also bringing back Bibi Blocksberg (2002, Germany; previously screened for Halloween), and Singin' in the Dark hosted by Shawn Hitchins (presented during the 2010 Nuit Blanche celebration).

Thanks to all for 2010!

2010-12-31T23:55:00.008-05:00

Back in 2009, it was a very big year for us — we were fortunate to receive help, advice, encouragement, and support from many organizations and individuals. This past year, time constraints prevented making any great changes to the 2010 TOfilmfest website — so we simply focused on providing the best content we could, so everyone could pick the best of the fest! ;-)

We're very pleased to note that in 2010 our following at Twitter.com/TOfilmfest doubled — and the number of visitors to TOfilmfest.ca increased over 65% from last year.

We greatly appreciate everyone who follows us @TOfilmfest or visits us at TOfilmfest.ca — and we are committed to providing a reliable, independent, alternative guide to films at the next film festival, in 2011.

One more thank you: to the film festival organizers, donors, and fans – who each contributed to the new cinematic landmark that is Lightbox (for more info see Lightbox tour + Lightbox tour, pt.2). It is a privilege to live in a city that values cinema as much as Toronto does. We look forward to the 2011 festival — and plan on visiting Lightbox regularly until then!

See you all next year!
#TOfilmfest

PS. a personal thank-you and best wishes to some people who made 2010 memorable: Peter (Chasing the buzz), James (CAST awards), and Jason/Jane/Paul (and all the staff) at Luma and O&B Canteen -- plus everyone who emailed/Twittered/blogged/linked to us! THANK YOU!

Top film lists for 2010

2010-12-28T22:55:00.003-05:00

With a new year beginning soon, a number of year-end movie lists have been published.

The film festival's annual "Canada's top ten" list for 2010:

Local writers at the Toronto Film Critics Association announced their 2010 awards list:

The Social Network — Best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best screenplay
Winter’s Bone — Best Actress
True Grit — Best Supporting Actress
Uncle Boonmee — Best foreign-language film
Exit Through the Gift Shop — Best first feature, Documentary award
How to Train Your Dragon — Best animated feature
You Are Here — Emerging talent award (Daniel Cockburn)
Runners-up/Mentions — 127 Hours, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, Despicable Me, The Fighter, Get Low, Inception, Inside Job, The King’s Speech, Marwencol, Monsters, Mother, Of Gods and Men, Toy Story 3

Also, the inaugural CAST awards ('Cinema Appreciation Society of Toronto' – an initiative by local blogger Toronto Screen Shots) were announced today; here's their top ten:

(We were fortunate to be asked to contribute our picks for the first annual CAST awards — although none of our top-ten picks made it into the final list... chacun son cinéma! ;-)

See you at the next fest!
#TOfilmfest

PS.
See also Peter Howell's 2010 'Chasing the Buzz' and our top-ten from the 2010 film fest.

Friday night at Lightbox MALAPARTE

2010-12-06T23:55:00.007-05:00

Malaparte, the 6th-floor event space at Lightbox hosted its first event this past weekend! Named after the Casa Malaparte, in Jean-Luc Godard's film Contempt, it's the final addition by Oliver & Bonacini to Lightbox – after the opening of the O&B Canteen (market café; street-level), and Luma (fine-dining; upstairs, on the 2nd floor).

The interior design is by Anacleto Design (who also did Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill in Blue Mountain) — here's the original computer-rendering (above), and a photograph of the finished space (below).

The dining-space has seating for 200 people — but there's also an adjoining rooftop terrace, and outdoor amphitheatre — see our earlier article: Early peek at Lightbox MALAPARTE for images of the outside space.

Even the entrances to the washrooms are quite stylish...

We're definitely looking forward to more events at Malaparte in the spring, and during the next film festival, this summer! :-)

See you at the next fest...
#TOfilmfest

PS.
O&B Events executive chef Jamie Meireles helms Oliver & Bonacini's Malaparte at Lightbox — see booking info for rates/details.

PPS.
The Toronto Society of Architects will be celebrating architecture & design tonight by recognizing the new Lightbox centre as a 'great space in Toronto.' (Last year, the event was held at the Royal Conservatory of Music — designed by the architects of Lightbox, KPMB.)

Above Lightbox: Festival Tower

2010-10-23T15:30:00.018-04:00

The new Lightbox centre officially opened during the 2010 film festival. More than seven years in development (announced in 2003; construction began in 2007), the building is a three-way partnership between:

the festival — cinema, galleries, work-spaces, and offices;
the Reitman's — who donated the land for the project;
and Daniels — residential/commercial developer and builder.

Some of our previous posts about the building: Lightbox developments, Lightbox tour, and Lightbox tour, part 2 (also O&B Canteen, Luma, and Malaparte dining spaces).

Urban Toronto's coverage on the building: Lightbox took centre-stage, exploration continues inside, and a swing of the exterior — including some articles on the residential component called Festival Tower:

While we haven't been able to tour the residential amenities yet, we did get a chance to tour a couple finished suites at Festival Tower (occupancy commences next month) — and take quick snapshots of some features and finishes!

See you at the next fest!
#TOfilmfest
TIFF10

PS.

the elevators inside Festival Tower are quite quick — P5 to 46 at less than one second per floor! ...also, each apartment has it's own heat-pump — residents can switch between heating and cooling year-round...
the UrbanToronto.ca forum have posted snapshots of suite interiors at Festival Tower
want to live at Festival Tower? – or near the new Lightbox centre? – See Condos on the Market Yonge to Bathurst south of Bloor (UPDATED Nov.5/2010 by Allison Harness at the Toronto Star), for prices & locations of all new residential buildings in the neighbourhood.

PPS.
CONTINUED in part two: Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2.

Early peek at Lightbox MALAPARTE

2010-10-13T21:30:00.013-04:00

Malaparte, the rooftop event dining space at Lightbox, is set to open this December. It will be the third space operated by Oliver & Bonacini, after the opening of both O&B Canteen and Luma.

Here are a couple of snapshots we took of the roof-top during a day tour of Lightbox, and a couple more from Oliver & Bonacini, taken at an evening event during the film-fest:

Also, a snapshot of the interior space, during the evening event, and an image-rendering posted by BizBash.

We anticipate seeing this new space again soon, and look forward to the outdoor film-projection possibilities, next spring (i.e. watching a film under the stars — the space is named after the Casa Malaparte, in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt).

See you at the next fest!
#TOfilmfest
TIFF10

PS.
Some scenes from Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt, featuring the Casa Malaparte.