At 8:54 this morning, we received our Toronto International Film Festival ticketing package including the program guide, order booklets, drop-off and pick-up vouchers, pre-paid FedEx return envelope, and detailed instructions because someone decided that this should be the most complicated and annoying procedure ever. Someone decided that this should be a LOTTERY.
The full schedule was released yesterday, and since then I have read all 312 film descriptions, narrowed them down to 77 favorites and narrowed them down again, eventually settling on 20 choices (10 first picks, 10 backup picks).
This year, I'm especially impressed the number of documentaries I'm dying to see. These were just a few that caught my eye:
- The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World
- Blood Trail
- Every Little Step
- American Swing
- Unwanted Witness
- Sea Point Days
- Soul Power
- Food Inc.
- Dungeon Masters
And, of course, there is Religulous, which Dan and I saw chunks of last year, courtesy of Bill Maher and Larry Charles. (The only reason we chose not to see the full version this year was... well, we only get 10 TIFF movies a year, and I didn't want two of them to be the same movie.)
So, this morning, I madly filled in the necessary booklets and forms, and we sent off our FedEx envelope back to Toronto for processing this Friday. Fingers crossed that we get our first picks, but as we learned last year, it seems difficult to go wrong with such an amazing selection. I mean, even Alan Ball's abyssmal Nothing Is Private (now re-edited and re-titled Towelhead for release this fall) was an unexpected bit of Slow Roll glory.
For your perusal, here are mine and Dan's 10 picks for this year:
- Edison & Leo
- JCVD
- Adela
- The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World
- Patrik Age 1.5
- The Girl From Monaco
- Cooper's Camera
- Uncertainty
- Tears For Sale
- Dungeon Masters
And here is our collection of backup picks:
- $9.99
- A Film With Me In It
- Universalove
- Detroit Metal City
- Cold Lunch
- Unspoken
- Skin
- Witch Hunt
- Lymelife
- Kisses
Now that I look at it, I'm surprised that only two of our eye-catching documentary faves made it onto the final playlist, but I guess I have more confidence that I'll be able to rent those at some point. I don't know when else I will be able to see an Norwegian film entitled "Cold Lunch."
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6 comments:
I'll bet you're thinking what I'm thinking: This sounds like a whole lot of hullabaloo compared to SIFF. I guess that is the difference between and audience-oriented festival and a marketer/distributor/please-buy-our-film festival. Hmmm.
I can only hope that JCVD causes some serious Van-Dammeage to the audience! Sounds awesome!
And I love the fact that the title of The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World is completely literal. Hooray for documentaries!
It is just a wee bit complicated. TIFF is now up to using something like 30 screens scattered around downtown, with 340,000 public and industry screening admissions expected over just ten days.
I'm volunteering at the Midnight Madness premiere of JCVD, so I'm hoping there's not too much Van-Dammeage. (He's not actually listed on the festival's list of expected guests, so it might not be quite so wild.) I'll keep my eye out for Eric and Dan instead, who accidentally got left off that press release somehow.
Box 9 of 78 was picked!
I was able to pick my 10 with an on-line service this year, so I didn't have to do the whole fed. ex. panic/rush. I hope they implement this permanently next year because it was a GODSEND!
I was in box 74.
It's 5:20pm on Sunday and I have yet to receive confirmation that my order was processed.
Have I mentioned that I hate the lottery?
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