It’s almost time for the Toronto International Film Festival for Children, Sprockets (it runs this year from April 12th to 18th) and the complete line-up of films has been announced. Once again this year all film journalists will find it impossible to mention the festival without bringing up Mike Myers (after all, it’s was one of the best SNL sketches ever, really) but far more relevantly, this year Sprockets features 68 films from 26......

Hello! Although you probably didn’t notice, this Torontoist writer was away for a week, and as a result we failed to do something very important. Specifically, to congratulate Norm Wilner on becoming NOW’s senior film critic. We're not doing this just because we know Wilner keeps an eye on Torontoist to see if he gets a mention, but because we like his work so much that we can’t think of anyone better to step......

Every day this week, Torontoist is exploring the future of repertory cinema in Toronto. We spoke to the theatre managers of four major rep cinemas to hear if rep cinema is dying, what it's like to exist in a YouTube society, and what original programming has them most excited. Today, we look at the model used by Cinematheque Ontario. Cinematheque Ontario, the screening program run by the Toronto International Film Festival Group, is not a......

If you're like most snow-hating Torontonians, your weekend plans are changing with the weather. Suddenly, the thought of spending Friday night in high heels and club lineups has all the appeal of an ice bath. Forget new outfits or dinner spots, you're looking for new releases instead. Should you also be looking for a way to broaden your horizons, impress your intimidatingly smart date, or celebrate the Chinese New Year and Canadian cinema, look......

Waves eroding the tip of the Toronto Islands. A project to keep it from eroding will cost around $14 million, thus reminding us all once again that attempting to combat the effects of Mother Nature is a horribly costly experience, as anybody who has ever bought a jar of Oil of Olay knows full well. Golden Globes without writers turn out to be massively boring. Number of people surprised by this: zero. In revenge......

We’re going to take a break from our usual Torontoist style in this post because the passing of John Harkness, the film critic for Now magazine since its inception in 1981, is something that has particular importance for me. As the writer of Torontoist's weekly “Film Friday” column, which, as you know, very often quotes the reviews from local critics, I have probably quoted John Harkness more than anyone. There’s a funny story in this,......

Every November and December, a handful of current and former Toronto International Film Festival employees make the trek to the United Arab Emirates to help run the Dubai International Film Festival. Its fourth year having wrapped up on Sunday, DIFF—like most everything else about Dubai—is an experiment in accelerated postmodernization, an attempt to create a world-class film festival (this year's opening movie was Michael Clayton, with George Clooney in attendance) from scratch. One of......

The Toronto International Film Festival Group announced their top ten Canadian features for 2007 last night, along with (for the first time) their top ten list of Canadian short films. The top ten Canadian features were: L’âge Des Ténèbres (Denys Arcand), Amal (Richie Mehta), Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil (Stéphane Lafleur), Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg), Fugitive Pieces (Jeremy Podeswa) , My Winnipeg (Guy Maddin), A Promise To The Dead: The Exile Journey Of Ariel......

Atonement played this year at the Toronto International Film Festival, where we didn’t have a chance to review it (along with 250-odd other films) but, for five lucky readers that won’t matter, as we’re giving away five double passes for a promotional screening of Atonement on Wednesday December 5th at 7 p.m. at the SilverCity Yonge and Eglinton, before it opens in theaters on Friday December 7th. Based on Ian McEwan’s best-selling (and Booker Prize......

Five days of Pan-Asian cinema in the city kicks off tomorrow night, as the Reel Asian International Film Festival celebrates its eleventh annual incarnation. Bloor Cinema will present the Opening Night Gala film, Finishing the Game, at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A session with lead actor Roger Fan and producer Julie Asato. Added bonus: local comedy troupe Asiansploitation will perform beforehand on the red carpet. This year's festival is poised to impress. And......

November 14 to 18 marks the return of the Reel Asian International Film Festival. Last night, the Japan Foundation played host as filmmakers and media types gathered at a press conference to kick off the 11th annual incarnation of the fest. And with more than 70 independent works from all over the world, this year’s Reel Asian Festival will be worth cracking open that golden piggy bank for. Showcasing work from 13 different countries,......

It’s not been a week since the Toronto International Film Festival left us, and this week’s new releases make it hard for us to move on despite a couple of TIFF premieres leading the way. We’ll start with Paul Haggis’ In The Valley of Elah, because he’s a good Canadian boy…or is he? It’s interesting to note that in the interviews with him in the weeklies about this film (a "murder mystery" about a......

Today’s Contest: For your chance to win one pair of tickets to Saturday’s screening of Just Like Home, directed by Lone Scherfig (Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself) at 11:00 p.m. at the Cumberland 3, email us your name at contests@torontoist.com. Winners will be randomly selected and notified by tomorrow morning with ticket pick-up information. This is our last contest and it’s one of the last films of the festival, so if you haven’t taken......

Photo by Blainekendall.com from the Torontoist Flickr Pool. The Toronto International Film Festival is exciting as all get out. Everyone loves seeing foreign films that might not otherwise get screen time in this city, and it is a little thrilling to see famous Hollywood types having breakfast in your neighbourhood diner. The problem with TIFF is that it's just too long. By day three, many of us just want these filmic types to go......

We’re pleased to announce that we’ve teamed up with the Toronto International Film Festival Group to run a contest each day until the end of the festival for tickets to next-day screenings. Today’s Contest: For your chance to win one of five pairs of tickets to tomorrow’s Doc Talks panel discussion Covering War (at 4:00 p.m. at the ROM Theatre), featuring directors Michael Tucker, Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro debating filmmaking in war-torn nations,......

Photo by TerraS. The Toronto International Film Festival has only been on for four days and Torontoist is already sick of overhearing conversations like: "I saw George Clooney walking down Bloor Street!" "Oh my God, no way! I walk down Bloor Street all the time!" But that's probably because we haven't had any of our own celebrity encounters as of yet. In fact, contributors to our Flickr Pool seem to be having better luck......

Our most anticipated part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s new Future Projections programme, the Into the Pixel exhibition, had its opening reception last night at the at the Ontario College of Art & Design's Great Hall, where it will remain until the end of the festival. The exhibition is worth seeing, and many of the large canvases are striking when observed in the flesh. And while, yes, an exhibition of paintings is an......

A 13-year-old boy at St. Mary's Catholic Secondary School in Toronto was arrested after he was found to be carrying an illegal 200,000 volt stun gun in his backpack.The Star quotes school board chair Oliver Carroll as saying that "everyone was shocked." Presumably Carroll was not speaking literally. The Toronto International Film Festival opened yesterday, and as always, will showcase some of the most creative minds and promising newcomers in the movie industry. More......

It begins! Tonight the Toronto International Film Festival opens officially with Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces, so if you want to start soaking up the atmosphere of the festival head down to Roy Thompson Hall before 8 p.m. It’s easy to write off the festival before it’s even begun: maybe you’re already sick of all the coverage, annoyed about how scarce tickets can be (despite some high ticket prices—this year we’re perplexed as to why......

Well, this is it. The Toronto International Film Festival begins tomorrow, and this is the last of our previews, with coverage of Vanguard films Boy A (pictured above) and Help Me Eros from Jonathan Goldsbie and Mathew Kumar, and reviews of a selection of Short Cuts Canada shorts from Mathew Kumar (in which he has the audacity to hand out a 0/5). Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to preview the Wavelengths or Midnight Madness......

With this year's Toronto International Film Festival kicking into high gear, it seems appropriate to look back to the advertising for its tenth edition, back in the days when it was known as the Festival of Festivals. Besides today's ad, Toronto Life also featured an article on the festival, highlighting its first decade and offering a preview of that year's fare. The "Tribute to" event was scratched for 1985, after the debacle surrounding the......

If you missed it, yesterday our Toronto International Film Festival preview began with a look at the Gala and Contemporary World Cinema programmes, and if you didn’t know, tickets go on sale tomorrow morning online, at 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM and at the TIFFG Box Office at the Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor Street—so after you’ve read this, you might want to start queuing. Today we have our preview of the Special Presentations, Real To Reel......

Our Toronto International Film Festival preview coverage is a little different this year. While last year, our reviews came from our film editor, this year we were lucky enough to have our reviews come from many of our Torontoist writers. Today we have our Gala Presentation and Contemporary World Cinema preview, with reviews of Emotional Arithmetic, Jane Austen Book Club, Sleuth, The Band’s Visit, Breakfast With Scot, The Counterfeiters and Jar City from Christopher......

It’s always strange to write a Film Friday column in the week before the Toronto International Film Festival, since by this point it’s hard to think about anything else. We’ll be previewing the festival on Monday, so be sure to check back if you can’t think of anything else, either. In the meantime, have you had a chance to enter our Canadian Retrospective contest? You could win one Canadian Retrospective ticket package containing tickets......

The arduous, lengthy, and expensive quest to name the Bell Festival Centre is over. The Star described the process for finding a new moniker for the home of the Toronto International Film Festival Group in dramatic terms: "[it] has gone on for years," wrote Martin Knelman, "involving high-priced consulting firms and a committee of board members and gurus, climaxing with a think-tank meeting at a retreat in Cambridge, Ont." No small feat, then, determining......

As you surely know, the Toronto International Film Festival is rapidly approaching, now just ten days away. The Toronto International Film Festival Group have offered us one Canadian Retrospective ticket package to give away to a lucky winner––a $65 dollar value containing tickets for six screenings featuring nine Michel Brault films. Michel Brault’s work as a cinematographer and director runs the spectrum from a documentary on whale hunting (Pour La Suite Du Monde) to......

Continuing his love affair with Toronto, American horror king George A. Romero will be stopping by the Bloor Cinema this coming Sunday to answer some audience questions and offer a sneak peek at his upcoming Diary of the Dead. The legendary director, who may not have actually invented zombies, is still single-handedly responsible for the modern portrayal of the cinematic undead. Filmed in Toronto (like its predecessor, Land of the Dead), and premiering September......

Toronto came in 5th in the livability survey of the Economist Intelligence Unit, behind Vancouver, Melbourne, Vienna and Perth. While we can rightfully be proud of our score, it's kind of like being one of the kids who sits in the front of the room near the teacher while all the cool kids like New York and London are having a lot more fun down in the 40s and 50s. The Supreme Court has......

Out of respect for the funeral of Richard Bradshaw, the Toronto International Film Festival Group chose not to hold their traditional big final press conference in Nathan Phillips Square yesterday, and so with slightly less fanfare than usual we received a massive lump of press releases from the Festival announcing that they’ve announced absolutely everything about the festival there is to announce, pretty much. So what does that entail? Well, in the 32nd Toronto International......

The Toronto International Film Festival have announced 73 films today, which is, er, a lot. Too many for us to even pretend to give them even coverage, so as usual we’re just going to pick and choose from today’s announcements, which are made of films from international filmmakers, and tell you about the ones that interest us personally. Gala Presentations gains Blood Brothers, the debut of director Alexi Tan. Produced by John Woo, it’s......