How Big is Your Package?

Every year after the festival is over I am exhausted. All I want is to sit quietly with my legs elevated wearing some sort of beer hat device full of 50 while minions rub my sore festival knees and my dry hobbit feet.

Every year after the festival I also wish I had seen just one more movie. Last year The King’s Speech and Super were on my list of festival regrets, along with the three bar night that started with me leaving Blue Valentine early and missing the QandA so that I would have enough time to get to the bathroom and get a coffee before getting back to the Ryerson to see Kaboom. Araki can be entertaining, but one must always make room for more Gosling. Always. More. Gosling.

End tangent.

You will never see everything you want, but if you plan, you will get to see what you need to get you through until Christmas. Many high-profile ‘good quality’ festival movies will be released just before the end of December so if you miss out on a Black Swan or a Precious because they are Galas with limited public screenings it’s not the end of the world.

Unless you are taking part or all of the week off to dedicate to seeing movies anything more than 10 to 15 films will be pretty tough. Even with the extra Sunday it’s a lot – and weekend screenings are always more crowded and likely to run late due to timing and traffic issues that slow the programmers and talent down when it comes to intros. Whether you go with a programmer choice pack, choose your own adventure option or some combination of both you still need time for bodily functions and travel time between theatres. Options are limited in the evenings for the first few days because of the amount of tough-to-get premium screenings and high profile North American premieres.

For the semi-pro crowd who take a couple of days off and locals that have flexible work schedules (or absentee managers) you can try for 15 to 20, but the high end of that range will still require some creative scheduling, a lucky draw in the ticket lottery and an ability to enjoy a broad range of films.

If you are planning to dedicate the week (and your life and back and feet) to the festival then you can go for 20 or more up to the ultimate hardcore 50 film pass. I still have yet to meet anyone that is not paid in some way to see movies for their day job that sees over 45 films, but like the unicorn I must believe they exist. A pale and magical creature that needs neither daylight or sustenance and simply lives on the dust illuminated by the projectionist during a film.

Good luck, and as always be VERY patient with the TIFF site when trying to purchase.

Sold Out

Visa Screening Room weekday evening pack sold out.

Sold out

Double-date gala pack sold out.

Sold Out

Visa screening room opening weekend pack sold out.

TIFF Tickets

July 11 – Packages on sale for everyone else (not just members and Visa card holders – odds are the 20-daytime and Visa Screening Room evening premium packages will be sold out by this date. Just give in, get a Visa card and buy on July 4th.

TIFF Tickets

June 20 – Packages on sale for TIFF Members (Visa only, does not include Visa Screening Room packages)

On Sale / Off Sale

On Sale
Majority of these will be weekday, daytime second screenings with limited buzz and low probability of talent appearing – but could still be an awesome film.

Off Sale
They aren’t selling tickets anymore because they sold a crap ton initially.

How do you get a ticket for a movie that is off sale?

• You are the director of the movie.
• You are above the title talent that appears in the movie.
• You are a Reitman – preferably Ivan or Jason because they are awesome. Ivan gave us Ghostbusters and Jason and Jason gave us Thank you for Smoking.
• You were the music guy or wardrobe person and the movie was directed by Jason Reitman he will get you ten tickets because he is awesome.
• You get Doc Brown and a flux capacitor and go donate a crap ton of money to the festival four months before the start of public screenings.
• You stalk the box office, the website (it will have moments of functionality throughout the next two weeks) and keep going back hoping for a miracle of being there or online at the exact moment they put another block of ten on sale because the music guy told Jason that he doesn’t need the extra tickets for his entire family anymore.
• You go rush.

How do I “go rush”? Is Geddy Lee involved?
Going rush is a bit of a misnomer. It actually involves standing very still for a considerable amount of time. You must go to the theatre on the same day of the showing well in advance of the start time and wait, usually for an hour at least for something with anyone remotely recognizable that already has some kind of buzz or release date. If the movie has a title that someone you know who has never gone to the festival has heard of, then up that to two or three hours. The good news is if you are one of the first people in the front of the rush line you will probably get a in, either when the ticket holders are let in or from someone passing by with an extra ticket.
The other news is if you go rush you will either get a crappy seat or an awesome one. If you go rush with your 15 friends you will not get to sit together even if you all want to sit in the very front row.  However occasionally they open a block of reserved seats just as they let the rush line in, so you may get very lucky. But be careful – if you see a great seat still available for a packed A-list screening odds are the person next to it smells a bit and someone moved just before the rush line was let in. Give the area a sniff first. 86 minutes can seem a lot longer when you have stranger funk enveloping your personal space.

Unexpected Error

It appears the TIFF site is having performance issues with the shopping cart on the main site and the MaxWeb online ordering on September 2nd.

Sold out

15 film day pack.
Visa Screening Room Weekend evening 3-pack.
Visa Screening Room Weekday evening 3-pack.
Double-date Gala pack.

On sale

Packages on sale for Visa card holders.