BLOG: Movies I would love to watch at TIFF 2017

Are you ready for TIFF 2017?

 

Ever since I moved to Toronto, I have been going to Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) almost religiously, increasing the number of movies I watched every year. In 2012, during my time in college, it was only 1 movie, “Laurence Anyways” by the Quebec director Xavier Dolan. In 2013, I watched 5 movies and experienced rush lines for the first time, lining up to see “The Fifth Estate” (which flopped but I still liked it), and then first disappointment as I missed out on the ticket for “August: Osage County”, and so on. In 2015, I beat my own record and watched 8 movies during the festival - for some of those movies I spent up to 4 hours in rush lines! It was intense! (You can read about my past experiences under Cinema tag.)

Unfortunately, last year I went on vacation right at the time of TIFF (which is beginning of September). I was very disappointed but seeing my family was more important. Unfortunately, this year I also going away.

So, to keep myself somewhat up-to-date with what is going on at the festival, I made a list of movies that would have been my initial list of movies to keep an eye out for. Obviously, it is not possible to watch so many during the festival (and still keep your full-time job), but it is always good to have 1-2 options to choose from for every day, as you never know if you are going to get a ticket or not.

I took the information about the movies from TIFF website, so please refer there for the schedule which will be available on August 22 at www.tiff.net.

A Fantastic Woman

Una Mujer Fantástica

Directed by Sebastián Lelio

Country: Chile

Duration: 103 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

Chilean director Sebastián Lelio follows his 2013 Festival hit Gloria with this drama about a young transgender woman struggling with both her own grief and societal prejudice after the death of her middle-aged lover.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/a-fantastic-woman/?v=a-fantastic-woman

Alias Grace

Directed by Mary Harron

Country: Canada, USA

Duration: 90 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Primetime

A layered historical drama based on of Margaret Atwood’s Giller Prize–winning novel about a poor Irish servant accused and convicted of murder, from director Mary Harron and screenwriter Sarah Polley.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/alias-grace/?v=alias-grace

Black Cop

Directed by Cory Bowles

Country: Canada

Duration: 91 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Discovery

A black police officer (Ronnie Rowe Jr.) seeks revenge after being egregiously profiled and assaulted by his colleagues, in this searing political satire by actor-director Cory Bowles (Trailer Park Boys).

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/black-cop/?v=black-cop

Breathe

Directed by Andy Serkis

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 117 minutes

Year: 2016

TIFF 2017 Program: Gala Presentations

Actor Andy Serkis makes his directorial debut with the inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish (Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy), an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/breathe/?v=breathe

Call Me By Your Name

Directed by Luca Guadagnino

Country: Italy, France

Duration: 132 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

The latest from Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino ( I Am Love, A Bigger Splash) explores the tender, tentative relationship that blooms over the course of one summer between a 17-year-old boy on the cusp of adulthood (Timothée Chalamet) and his father's research assistant (Armie Hammer).

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/call-me-by-your-name/?v=call-me-by-your-name

Dark River

Directed by Clio Barnard

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 89 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Platform

Ruth Wilson stars in British filmmaker Clio Barnard’s atmospheric and layered drama about the old wounds and bitter new grievances that come to light when a woman returns home to settle the tenancy of her family’s Yorkshire farm.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/dark-river/?v=dark-river

Darkest Hour

Directed by Joe Wright

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 114 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Gala Presentations

Gary Oldman steps into the imposing persona of Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) period drama set in the early years of the Second World War, when Churchill’s rousing leadership inspired a nation.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/darkest-hour/?v=darkest-hour

Disobedience

Directed by Sebastián Lelio

Country: United Kingdom

Duration: 114 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman, Gloria) directs Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams in this adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s novel about a woman who returns home to her orthodox Jewish community in London and rekindles a romance with her cousin’s wife.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/disobedience/?v=disobedience

Euphoria

Directed by Lisa Langseth

Country: Sweden, Germany

Duration: 104 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program:Platform

Swedish filmmaker Lisa Langseth directs her Hotell star Alicia Vikander and Eva Green (Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) in this story of two estranged sisters attempting a difficult and ominous reconciliation, with supporting performances from Charles Dance, Charlotte Rampling, Mark Stanley, and Adrian Lester.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/euphoria/?v=euphoria

For Nonna Anna

Directed by Luis De Filippis

Country: Canada

Duration: 13 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Short Cuts

In this raw and graceful testimony of intersectional womanhood, a trans girl has to care for her Italian grandmother. She assumes that her Nonna disapproves of her — but instead discovers a tender bond in their shared vulnerability.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/for-nonna-anna/?v=for-nonna-anna

Kings

Directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Country: France, Belgium

Duration: 92 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Gala Presentations

In the English-language debut from writer-director Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Mustang), a recluse (Daniel Craig) helps a woman (Halle Berry) and her multiple children when riots erupt in Los Angeles following the 1992 acquittal of the policemen charged with assaulting Rodney King.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/kings/?v=kings

Mary Shelley

Directed by Haifaa Al Mansour

Country: Ireland, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, USA

Duration: 120 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Gala Presentations

Elle Fanning stars in this scintillating biopic of the Frankenstein author, chronicling her tempestuous marriage to dissolute poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and the fateful night at a Swiss chateau that inspired her most famous creation.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/mary-shelley/?v=mary-shelley

Pre-Drink

Directed by Marc-Antoine Lemire

Country: Canada

Duration: 23 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Short Cuts 

Alexe, a trans woman, and Carl, her gay best friend, disrupt the boundaries of their friendship when they decide to have sex for the first time — and raw emotional truths collide with illusions of breezy detachment at a time of transition.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/pre-drink/?v=pre-drink

Professor Marston & the Wonder Women

Directed by Angela Robinson

Country: USA

Duration: 108 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

Luke Evans (High-Rise, Beauty and the Beast), Rebecca Hall (Christine), and Bella Heathcote (Fifty Shades Darker) star in this biopic of William Moulton Marston, the American psychologist who put his progressive ideals about female liberation into practice by creating the DC superhero Wonder Woman and living in an "extended relationship" with his wife and another woman.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/professor-marston-and-the-wonder-women/?v=professor-marston-and-the-wonder-women

Submergence

Directed by Wim Wenders

Country:France, Germany, Spain

Duration: 112 minutes

Year: 2016

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

The new film from the great Wim Wenders (Pina) is a globe-trotting romance about a water engineer (James McAvoy) and a deep-sea researcher (Oscar winner Alicia Vikander) striving to reconnect although separated by oceans, continents, and civil war.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/submergence/?v=submergence

The Current War

Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Country: USA

Duration: 107 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) directs Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Holland, and Katherine Waterston in this account of the race for marketable electricity in the United States between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/the-current-war/?v=the-current-war

The Death of Stalin

Directed by Armando Iannucci

Country: France, United Kingdom, Belgium

Duration: 107 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Platform

Armando Iannucci (Veep) directs Jeffrey Tambor, Steve Buscemi, and Andrea Riseborough in this acerbic send-up of the Soviet Supremo and his band of scheming bootlicks.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/the-death-of-stalin/?v=the-death-of-stalin

The Upside

Directed by Neil Burger

Country: USA

Duration: 120 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Gala Presentations

Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart star in this remake of the French hit The Intouchables, a dramatic buddy comedy about the unlikely friendship between a rich quadriplegic and his working-class caregiver.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/the-upside/?v=the-upside

Thelma

Directed by Joachim Trier

Country: Norway, Sweden, France, Denmark

Duration: 116 minutes

Year: 2017

TIFF 2017 Program: Special Presentations

Recently moved to Oslo to attend school, a young woman falls in love and discovers that she possesses terrifying powers, in this supernatural thriller from acclaimed director Joachim Trier (Louder Than Bombs).

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/thelma/?v=thelma

What Will People Say

Hva vil folk si

Directed by Iram Haq

Norway, Germany, Sweden106 minutes2017STCColourNorwegian, UrduWorld Premiere

TIFF 2017 Program: Platform

Nisha’s double life — obedient to her traditional Pakistani upbringing at home, typical Norwegian teenager to her friends — comes crashing down when her concerned parents kidnap her and send her to Pakistan, in Iram Haq’s personal, empathetic story of family, community, and culture.

http://www.tiff.net/tiff/what-will-people-say/?v=what-will-people-say

Let me know what you would like to see this year!

TIFF 2015: My Updated Schedule

When I say that buying TIFF tickets is incredibly stressful - this is what I mean. The sale started at 9am, and I entered the website and got into the queue. I had to wait for about 45-50 minutes before I could get into the website (you see my number in the line). I didn't have high hopes, as previous years the queue didn't work properly, I was kicked out more than once, etc.

This year they must have made some major improvements, because this queue actually did work! I got into the website and I even managed to purchase tickets! Of course, The Martian, Legend and first 2 screenings of The Danish Girl, as well as Black Mass were off sale. No surprise there. But I got the ticket for the third and final screening of The Danish Girl which is better than nothing. I also got a ticket for Freeheld, which is a gala!

I made adjustments to my schedule and this is how it is going to look like. Yes, I will have to rush three movies (The Martian, Legend, Black Mass), but I already have 2 vouchers (unused from my package) plus those screenings are at rather convenient times, so I should be able to get to the rush line 2-3 hours before the screening. (It does not guarantee that I would get in, but it is a fair chance.)

I admit, I am not sure how I am going to manage this crazy schedule. I will probably need lots and lots of coffee.

Weekday	Date	Time	Movie	Location	Ticket
Thursday	10-Sep	21:30	LONDON ROAD	Elgin Theatre	Yes
Friday	11-Sep	21:30	THE MARTIAN	Roy Thomson Hall	RUSH
Saturday	12-Sep	15:30	ABOUT RAY	Princess of Wales	Yes
Saturday	12-Sep	21:30	LEGEND	Roy Thomson Hall	RUSH
Sunday	13-Sep	11:00	LEGEND	Elgin Theatre	RUSH
Sunday	13-Sep	15:45	EQUALS	Princess of Wales	Yes
Sunday	13-Sep	21:30	FREEHELD	Roy Thomson Hall	Yes
Monday	14-Sep	21:00	BLACK MASS	Elgin Theatre	RUSH
Tuesday	15-Sep	19:15	Downriver	Scotiabank Theatre	Yes
Thursday	17-Sep	21:30	DISORDER	Roy Thomson Hall	Yes
Friday	18-Sep	21:30	STONEWALL	Roy Thomson Hall	Yes
Saturday	19-Sep	15:15	THE DANISH GIRL	Princess of Wales	Yes
Saturday	19-Sep	21:15	LEGEND	Princess of Wales	RUSH

TIFF 2015: Intro & My Plans

TIFF 2015 is almost here and I want to share with you what I am planning to see. This year is going to be fantastic. There are a lot of great movies and a lot of celebrities coming, and most importantly TIFF is celebrating 40th Anniversary! Woohoo!

Same as last year I purchased a tickets package - My Choice Premium Pack of 6 tickets. Which means that I get 6 tickets for gala and special presentations (which involve red carpet and often cast Q&As). This is my favourite type of screenings as they usually bring the top movies as galas and special presentations.

I admit that the choice was tough. There are amazing movies that are coming, but I had to narrow the choice down to six. To be honest, my list has at least 20 movies, but seeing as the festival runs only between 10-20 September, I won't be able to see all I want.

You can have a look at the full list of TIFF movies here - http://tiff.net/festivals/festival15/films

My priority list of movies that I would like to see is:

• The Martian
• The Danish Girl
• Black Mass
• Freeheld
• Legend
• Stonewall
• London Road

The top three movies are my top choices, but sadly I didn't tickets for them. What happens after you buy a tickets pack is that you are given a certain time window (a date and a time) to select tickets. How soon you are able to do that depends on the level of your membership (priority is given, obviously, to sponsors), so my window was September 3, almost a week after the selection was open. I wasn't really surprised that those tickets got sold out as those are quite highly anticipated movies. I did get 4 tickets out of 6, which means that I will get the two remaining ones as vouchers.

Individual Tickets go on sale to general public on September 6 at 9am. I will try to buy what galas and other screenings that I want, and whatever I don't get - I will rush. I successfully rushed a lot of movies the last two years, so it should be ok. And the schedule looks quite good.

Weekday	Date	Time	Movie	Location	Ticket
Thursday	10-Sep	21:30	LONDON ROAD	Elgin Theatre
Friday	11-Sep	21:30	THE MARTIAN	Roy Thomson Hall
Saturday	12-Sep	15:30	ABOUT RAY	Princess of Wales	Yes
Saturday	12-Sep	18:15	THE DANISH GIRL	Princess of Wales
Saturday	12-Sep	21:30	LEGEND	Roy Thomson Hall
Sunday	13-Sep	11:00	LEGEND	Elgin Theatre
Sunday	13-Sep	12:00	THE DANISH GIRL	Roy Thomson Hall
Sunday	13-Sep	15:45	EQUALS	Princess of Wales	Yes
Sunday	13-Sep	21:30	FREEHELD	Roy Thomson Hall
Monday	14-Sep	21:00	BLACK MASS	Elgin Theatre
Tuesday	15-Sep	19:15	Downriver	Scotiabank Theatre
Wednesday	16-Sep	19:15	Heroes Reborn	Scotiabank Theatre
Thursday	17-Sep	21:30	DISORDER	Roy Thomson Hall	Yes
Friday	18-Sep	21:30	STONEWALL	Roy Thomson Hall	Yes
Saturday	19-Sep	12:30	Desde Alla	Scotiabank Theatre
Saturday	19-Sep	15:15	THE DANISH GIRL	Princess of Wales
Saturday	19-Sep	21:15	LEGEND	Princess of Wales
Sunday	20-Sep	18:00	LONDON ROAD	The Bloor Hot Docs

Some of the movies' screenings overlap, so I won't see them all, but still I am excited. I won't be able to see The Danish Girl on the first day, which is a bummer, but I hope to catch it later. I am still not sure if I should watch Heroes Reborn as they are coming quite soon on cable, plus it is not the first screening, so I might end up skipping that.

For now this is my schedule and what I plan to do. Some days will be quite intense, but thankfully those fall onto weekend. (Some movies show up more than once in my schedule but it is only for my reference. I plan to see each movie only once.)

Whatever I don't get to see at TIFF, will either hit movie theatres later this year or will be screened at TIFF Lightbox after the festival.

I am supper pumped. Are you?

TIFF 2013 - Only Lovers Left Alive

Originally written: SEPTEMBER 7, 2013 "Only Lovers Left Alive" is a 2013 internationally co-produced vampire film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, and starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, Slimane Dazi, and John Hurt.

I arrived to the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema around 10:40am (the movie time was 12:15pm). I intended to arrive earlier, but I underestimated the distance. For some reason I thought it is an intersection with Yonge. Go me.

I got into the rush line. It was pretty short compared to the lines for The Fifth Estate and 12 Years A Slave. It was pretty quiet. Maybe because it was raining quite a bit.

At 12pm the line was not moving. And nobody was telling us how many people are ahead or how many tickets there might be. Compared to other screenings I went to, the volunteers here were few and not very talkative. Maybe it was the rain.

At 12:10pm the line moved a bit. Then a bit. It was moving very slowly. At 12:20pm somebody said that the movie had started (which doesn’t make sense because they wouldn’t be keeping people in the line then). Then 5 minutes later somebody said that they were going to start shortly.

There were few people ahead of me, when we heard that they would let 5 more people inside (they were letting in people in fives) and that was it.

I was lucky to be that 5th person in the line.

I got inside the theater when the movie was on already, but barely missed anything. I think they let in another 5 people after me, because I saw more people coming in later. But it was definitely not the whole rush line (compared to two other galas). And this was not even a premiere! I think there were about 30 people ahead of me in the line. So I estimate that there were about 40 rush tickets sold.

But I can only guess, since nobody told us how many people were in the line.

The movie was a visual and musical delight. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton played vampires, a married couple, Adam and Eve. They were beautiful in their Yin/Yang harmony, a pair of glamoury and artistic hippies with fangs. The story is quite simple. It is less of a story and more of a painting, where you want to watch every detail for hours. Mia Wasikowska was Ava, Eve’s younger sister. She was adorable. John Hurt played an old vampire (hinted to be Shakespeare himself).

It was an odd but pretty movie, a very soft one, with no sex, no biting, no violence. It was so different from any other vampire movie that I have seen that I want to give Jim Jarmusch an Oscar only for creating his own folklore about vampires.

Acting was brilliant. It looked as if Tom and Tilda were not playing vampires, but rather themselves, being as deep, thoughtful, intelligent and lithe as they are in real life.

There was only one scene in which both of them were naked (nothing graphic though) - both of them are so thin! And Tilda is over 50! And she looks amazing!

I want that movie. I want to watch it again.

The movie was shot in Detroit, Colon and Tangier. The scenery was amazing. Every single frame is worth capturing.

I didn’t expect that there would be Q&A afterwards, since it was not a premiere and there were very few people, no paps and no buzz. But I was wrong! Jim Jarmusch, Anton Yelchin (who plays Adam’s friend) and Tom Hiddleston were there!

Oh my god. I still can’t believe I saw Tom Hiddleston! He is as charming and as polite in real life as everyone says he is. Anton was adorable. And Jim was freaking hilarious. He joked about Tom, saying that they, the producers, do not really care about how nice/not nice the actors are, so far they can do their job. He laughed and said that Tom is a very nice guy. All while Tom was looking down and being all adorably abashed about it.

There were quite a few questions from the audience (compared to the gala of "12 Years A Slave" where there were no questions from the viewers, only a couple from the host). Somebody asked Tom how it was to work with Tilda and he said that it was amazing. Compared their work to dancing. It was quite lovely (he sounded so adorable).

I was sitting at the far back, but I did manage to take a picture of all of them at the podium. They were also broadcasting the image to the screen. Which was very good because I could see them, compared to 12 Years A Slave (again), where I could see almost nothing from my balcony seat.

When the Q&As were done, I left, because I didn’t want to fight my way to the front to have another look at Tom (I am still wondering if he is as tall as he looks like on screen). People were very nice though, no rabid fangirls. Everyone was leaving (as if we didn’t have the freaking LOKI in the room, but seeing as it was a bit different movie from The Avengers, some people might have not seen it), I saw only a couple of people go closer to the cast and the producer, but I think only because they were already at the front.

It was quite lovely. And seeing Tom Hiddleston made me really happy! :) A photographer was snapping shots right behind my seat all through Q&As, so I am sure we all will see the pictures of my left ear from it on tumblr.

This movie is very much worth seeing. And also this also answers another questions - if it is worth going to any screening but galas/premium. Yes and yes.

And I can’t believe I got lucky again! Woohoo! Hopefully my luck holds through the rest of TIFF.

Happy movie watching!