This past weekend brought what has historically been the trickiest part of the whole TIFF experience: ticket selection.

In the past, this part of planning one’s festival has involved marking up a book with highlighters, making a trip to a box office, and turning in an envelope. The envelopes would then be processed at random. Where patron’s first choices were concerned, one could usually count on landing fifty-to-eighty percent of their picks depending on the luck of the draw.

This year, things went differently: The entire process was put online.

Longtime fest-goers were wary of what might await them, especially since every year like clockwork, TIFF’s website has been known to crash on the first day. Beyond that little bad omen was the knowledge that one’s ordering session would only last one hour, and then you’d be timed out. Put it all together, and you have a lot of people expecting the worst.

Well, I’m happy to report that TIFF’s online ordering process couldn’t have run smoother – and that has been a universal reaction, not just one patron’s moment of luck. In our case, sixty tickets were selected and ordered in twenty minutes.

So as if that wasn’t surprise enough, imagine my shock when time came to select my passes and I went 25-for-25! This is my eleventh festival, and only one other time in the past have I scored every screening I wanted off the opening tip.

So what did I get, you ask? Well, a little Haneke, a little Audiard, some P.T. Anderson, some Terrence Malick, some docs, some fluff, some Spanish, some Mexican, and a whole lot of cinematic joy.

Here’s what you can expect coverage of in the weeks to come, and if you’re at one of these screenings – come say hi!

 

Thursday, September 6
FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY

Friday, September 7th
RUST AND BONE
LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE

Saturday, September 8th
THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
FIN (THE END)

Sunday, September 9th
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
PAINLESS

Monday, September 10th
THE FITZGERALD FAMILY CHRISTMAS
THE IMPOSSIBLE

Tuesday, September 11th
BYZANTIUM
TO THE WONDER
MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE

Wednesday, September 12th
GHOST GRADUATION
HERE COMES THE DEVIL

Thursday, September 13th
JUMP
ROOM 237
THALE

Friday, September 14th
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
COME OUT AND PLAY COME OUT AND PLAY

Saturday, September 15th
CLOUD ATLAS
WASTELAND
FRANCES HA

Sunday, September 16th
AMOUR
THE SUICIDE SHOP
THE MASTER

29 Replies to “All Good Things – My TIFF 2012 Schedule”

  1. I love the fact there are at least half a dozen films I haven’t even heard of. I’m going to be using your reactions to gauge how closely I should watch out for them. Your last day is very interesting – I’ve seen Amour and The Suicide Shop, and they are an interesting pairing. Amour is rather intense, so it will be interesting how your energy recovers afterwards. Really looking forward to your coverage Ryan.

    1. It’s funny, I’ve started hearing a few bad things about THE SUICIDE SHOP, and at the moment it stands as my most likely film to be dumped from the slate.

      How’d you take to it?

  2. Glad you got to see you got tickets to each of your desired films. I am very excited to hear your thoughts on these films. Rust and Bone, Seven Psychopaths, The Place Beyond the Pines, To the Wonder and The Master to name a few. I have seen just the one – Amour – but many of them I am anticipating. Look forward to your coverage.

    1. You have no idea how thrilled I am that three years after the double-dose of THE WHITE RIBBON and UN PROPHETE that I’ll be seeing new films from both directors at the same festival.

      Keep a close eye on The Matinee – starting on the 7th, updates will start coming hard and fast!

  3. Amazing selection of films. The TIFF line-up really is the envy of other film festivals this year, I don’t think any of the UK ones will even come close to it. Particularly jealous that you’re going to get to see CLOUD ATLAS so early. Enjoy!

    1. I’ve actually always wanted to attend London Film Festival. When I’ve looked at the line-up in the past, it feels as though it’s always brought in a wonderful cross-section of films.

      I was a wee bit hesitant to add CLOUD ATLAS, but by the time I get to that final Saturday, I’m probably going to need something fanciful.

    2. The novel is incredible. One of the finest contemporary pieces of literature I’ve read. Really hope they do it justice. The word on it seems positive.

      I’ve never been to LFF (I’m North England) but the Leeds and Bradford festivals are good (Bradford has a team of expert projectionists) and Manchester is about to announce the lineup for its first one. Still think TIFF is going to be clear winner this year, in terms of its ‘on paper’ slate of films.

      1. If I’m ever in need of another feature on this site, perhaps I’ll do a page-to-screen comparison series.

        TIFF has been on a wonderful run for a while, but every festival I hear about sounds like so much fun too…especially in the social/community aspects.

        I vote you hop a plane one autumn and join us!

  5. Sigh…got to wait until next Tuesday to make my picks. Granted so far most of my desired films are still available. Fingers crossed that it stays that way. If I end up getting my wish list, we may actually have some films together on Sept 11th and Sept 15th

      1. I’ve been hearing nothing but good experiences across the board, so I imagine you will have lots left to choose from. Be sure to post your picks once you have them!

    1. Nicely done – though I think you left something you meant to scratch. If you *do* see GHOST GRADUATION (which I suggest you do), you won’t make it to PAPERBOY.

  7. I am still debating on whether to see Malick in a festival. I am sure the film will come out later on the year, and I have other films I want to see at that slot.

    I will regrettably miss the Kiarostami film, loved Certified Copy quite a bit. This one looks like a continuation of a similar theme, but set in Tokyo.

    1. My take on the Malick was that with no concrete release date set, it’s entirely possible that we may be getting a very advanced look at the film.

      In addition, I think it’s still something of a work-in-progress, so the version unspooled at TIFF could be rather different than the version that eventually plays.

  8. Assuming tickets are still available when I get mine on Sunday, our paths should cross for MY AWKWARD SEXUAL ADVENTURE (a film I picked based on title alone)

    2. Sadly, the problem with redeeming volunteer vouchers is that I have to go to the box office in person to get my tickets. I’m praying that I don’t wait eight hours like last year (the fact that I’m a member this year probably helps)

  10. It’s cool how you got a nice selection to cover for the site, looking forward to reading.

    It sucks that I’ll have to wait forever (if ever) for most titles to be released down here in SA.

    1. That reminds me that I’ve never asked you before: What’s the release pattern like in SA? Do you get a lot of selection or just the biggest stuff? How do you go about seeing the titles that *don’t* get a wide release?

    2. The patterns are awkward to say the least. The distributors focus on bringing the blockbusters in on time and they let the rest fall all over the place. Most of the time they are 2-3 months after US/UK dates, but sometimes much much longer (Monsieur Lazhar will be screening in Sept. more than a year after release!)

      I mostly rely on indie DVD shops who import the stuff as soon as it’s available abroad but even they never have all the titles, so I do a fair bit of downloading (not proud to admit it tho lol)

      SA is not exactly the place to be for a cineaste.

  11. Nice! I see a few I was interested in but ended up leaving off the list, so I’ll be eager to hear what you thought about them. And while we have a couple of matches on our lists, there is only one I can hope to see you at. I’ll be texting! 🙂

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