Toronto International Film Festival

September 4, 2004 10:29 PM

The Toronto International Film Festival begins Thursday. The 2004 program is one of the best they've had in years (certainly the best since the 90s). Planning on attending? If so, you may appreciate TIFF Reviews - "the online meeting place for fans of TIFF 2004". Since TIFF is the the largest film festival in the world, most attendees (myself included) find it very difficult to pick their films. Once the fest starts, members of the TIFF Reviews forum are encouraged to leave reviews of what they've been watching in the hopes that it'll help other people plan their 10 days in the dark.
posted by dobbs (9 comments total)

I'll be there -- got a 30 ticket pass. My advance ticket orderform was placed in box 14, and the starting box was drawn at 10, so I'm pretty confident I'll get all my choices.
posted by Robot Johnny at 11:02 PM on September 4, 2004

Box 7, I'm very sad (but hopeful [but sad]).
posted by Capn at 7:10 AM on September 5, 2004

I had a friend who was there at the absolute last minute to hand in her order form. It was apparently a madhouse -- people scrambling to fill in their selections frantically... then the festival employees yelled out, "You have 30 SECONDS!!"

After a mad rush of getting everything handed in to what was obviously the last box (Box 43), they did the random draw to see which box would be chosen first.

"Box 10!"

There were lots of very very upset people there. (Best of luck, Capn)
posted by Robot Johnny at 8:37 AM on September 5, 2004

I'm split across two boxes, one of which I know is 17 so that one will get all its picks. I haven't been told what my other box is yet but I think it's in the 30s as the guy was there at 9 am or so. Should still be cool.

I've been going to the fest for 20 years or so and feel that every year the festival people make some new rule which makes the organization of the thing even more fucked. This year they were insistent that no one could submit envelopes unless they were the ones who bought the coupon books. So, theoretically, I couldn't buy a few books of 10 and give them to friends and let them pick their own movies. They would have to submit thru me. This is absurdly stupid, imo (and is the reason I'm split across two entries instead of just putting in one of my own). Very annoying.

And yeah, good luck Capn.
posted by dobbs at 10:06 AM on September 5, 2004

Jesus.
posted by dobbs at 10:09 AM on September 5, 2004

Jesus indeed dobbs!

Now I seem to recall that the order book/envelope just had a line that said "if these cupons/pass were purchased by someone other than you, write their name here"
posted by Capn at 2:40 PM on September 5, 2004

Capn, I spoke with 3 people in the box office, one who was put on after I asked to speak to a supervisor, and they all told me I couldn't submit coupons I didn't myself purchase. I didn't see the actual book as there was no point, once I'd been told this, so I did it all online and emailed to my coupon purchasers. If that line was really there, they're even more confused than I thought they were.
posted by dobbs at 4:56 PM on September 5, 2004

Dobbs, that line was definitely there.

In fact, my cheap TIFF tote-bag that came with the big fat film guide and several other goodies came with TWO order forms and schedules that I assumed were for those who wanted to share their coupons...
posted by Robot Johnny at 5:04 PM on September 5, 2004

Agreed. I have the form here and that line is on it.
Is it possible that they were giving you a hard time because of the 1 order form per pass/coupon book rule? That one at least makes some sense to me.
posted by Zetetics at 8:25 PM on September 5, 2004