Wed, Sep 15 2010 - Toronto Int'l Film Festival Urban HIKE (View Original Event Details)
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Right in the very midst of TIFF, 10 brave women set off from Yonge & Bloor to investigate and discover the secrets of downtown Toronto after dark, and the mystery of the Toronto International Film Festival. In the greatest of feats, all 10 showed up on time! The sound of the drum roll droned in the distance announcing the random draw winners of a film voucher: Daring Diane and Lovely Lili!!
The skies smiled upon us all as we set off before sunset, south to the first TIFF venue: Varsity at Bloor and Balmuto. The Varsity used to be a veritable hub of TIFF excitement, but this year it’s been scaled back to only 2 screens. The RUSH line was empty. No one was on the street in a ticketholder line. The dustbunnies were palpable. On to greener pastures: The Isabel Bader theatre on Charles. AH! Signs of life. There we noted a ticketholder line with actual people! A short stop to elaborate on what a RUSH line actually was, and we were on our way again. We wound left and right and finally found my favourite University: Ryerson. My alma mater (despite my lack of any kind of degree.) The crazy long line was gone, but here we learnt about how to get advance tickets to TIFF, and what colour the volunteer t-shirts were this year (orange). Plus we got to hear about the time where Keira + rain = totally soaked me.
AMC. Dundas and Yonge. It’s a super giant complex, built on top of the Ryerson parking lot, and it took years (and years) to build. Finally complete, integrated with the subway and other shops and restaurants, AMC is sporting 8 TIFF screens this year. It was too crazy. We didn’t dare go in, but many in our group found that one particular cola company was parked right in front and giving away free samples. The thirsty crowd succumbed to the temptation.
Yonge/Dundas square also proved to be victim to the TIFF mania. Bleachers set up facing large screens in the middle of the square were allowing any passerby to ensure that they were not missing out on any pertinent TIFF action. We glammed a security guard into taking a few pictures of us!
Our southward motion was bringing us closer and closer to the venerable venue: the Visa Screening Room (aka The Elgin). Truly one crazy TIFF location, it’s now 97 years old. We learned of the secret Visa lounge, only accessible to those in possession of special coloured visa credit cards. Better still… we heard tales of the fascinating Winter Garden Theatre. Being winter all year long, expect it to be cool anytime you cross its threshold. But also, being a garden, expect the imagination to be engaged. The trees and flowers, stars and moon, all way above the Elgin, way up in the sky, will take your breath away!
But, no loitering permitted close to the red carpet, and back to reality… we continued along and then west towards the Roy Thompson Hall.
Well, this is, without a doubt, THE TIFF venue. And it turned out, we showed up at the Right Time. Just as the red carpet was buzzing, camera flashes ignited, and we found ourselves in the magic of “talent arriving”. Ryan Phillippe. And honest to god, if I had any idea at the time that THIS is what he looked like, move over Johnny, I’d have beaten a path through that crowd and thrown myself at him. Like… omg.
Composure. Deep breath.
TIFF is all over the damn place, and it turned out to be just a bit too much for 2 hours. So we skipped a couple of venues: AGO (Jackman Hall) and the Scotiabank (formerly Paramount) Theatres.
But as promised, the grand finale: the long anticipated (and overdue) Bell TIFF Lightbox. The “Canteen” was absolutely hopping. The building, which had somehow been kept so secret for so long, was finally open. Only 4 days ago. We were truly amongst the first to ever cross the threshold. We noted the TIFF gift shop, the Lightbox boxoffice, and found the wall. The wall displayed to us all the screenings for all of the venues for the whole Film Festival. We chatted a little more about buying tickets to films at the venue vs TIFF box office (at King / Peter). We chatted with a random movie goer who was also checking out the wall. Finally, it was pumpkin time… our chariots turned into streetcars, subways, cars, and plain old sidewalk. And we each returned to our respective, cherished homes (and cats.)
Girls… Thanks for a GREAT time out, I loved sharing my TIFF experiences with you all, and hope to see you again SOON!
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