TIFF 2015: My Updated Schedule

TIFF_Sep6 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?