Above Lightbox: Festival Tower

The new Lightbox centre officially opened during the 2010 film festival. More than seven years in development (announced in 2003; construction began in 2007), the building is a three-way partnership between:

• the festival — cinema, galleries, work-spaces, and offices;
• the Reitman's — who donated the land for the project;
  
• and Daniels — residential/commercial developer and builder.
  

Some of our previous posts about the building: Lightbox developments, Lightbox tour, and Lightbox tour, part 2 (also O&B Canteen, Luma, and Malaparte dining spaces).



Urban Toronto's coverage on the building: Lightbox took centre-stage, exploration continues inside, and a swing of the exterior — including some articles on the residential component called Festival Tower:

• suites,
• balconies,
• amenities, and
• views.

While we haven't been able to tour the residential amenities yet, we did get a chance to tour a couple finished suites at Festival Tower (occupancy commences next month) — and take quick snapshots of some features and finishes!






See you at the next fest!
#TOfilmfest
TIFF10

PS.

• the elevators inside Festival Tower are quite quick — P5 to 46 at less than one second per floor! ...also, each apartment has it's own heat-pump — residents can switch between heating and cooling year-round...
  
  
• the UrbanToronto.ca forum have posted snapshots of suite interiors at Festival Tower
  
  
• want to live at Festival Tower? – or near the new Lightbox centre? – See Condos on the Market Yonge to Bathurst south of Bloor (UPDATED Nov.5/2010 by Allison Harness at the Toronto Star), for prices & locations of all new residential buildings in the neighbourhood.

PPS.
CONTINUED in part two: Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2.

Early peek at Lightbox MALAPARTE

Malaparte, the rooftop event dining space at Lightbox, is set to open this December. It will be the third space operated by Oliver & Bonacini, after the opening of both O&B Canteen and Luma.

Here are a couple of snapshots we took of the roof-top during a day tour of Lightbox, and a couple more from Oliver & Bonacini, taken at an evening event during the film-fest:




Also, a snapshot of the interior space, during the evening event, and an image-rendering posted by BizBash.



We anticipate seeing this new space again soon, and look forward to the outdoor film-projection possibilities, next spring (i.e. watching a film under the stars — the space is named after the Casa Malaparte, in Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt).

See you at the next fest!
#TOfilmfest
TIFF10

PS.
Some scenes from Jean-Luc Godard's Contempt, featuring the Casa Malaparte.

Sat.02/Oct: Nuit Blanche film-fest events

Toronto's annual sunset-to-sunrise contemporary art celebration Nuit Blanche returns this Saturday (October 2nd, 2010), with a number of film-fest related events:

• The Essential Cinema
  
  The 100 films that represent the "best" and the "most influential" works of all time – filling a gallery with iconic objects, images and video clips that mark these achievements and their ripple-effect through the history of cinema and world culture.
  Two of Canada's greatest living filmmakers contribute new media art projects that dig deeper. Atom Egoyan explores the unusual relationship between the viewer and the screen with 8 ½ Screens, while Guy Maddin's Hauntings I and Hauntings II re-imagines the lost work of master filmmakers to produce the ghosts of cinema's past.
  
  
• Arcadian Renaissance
  
  Remember the days of darkened arcades, bleeps and bloops in the dark? Remember being wrapped in a cocoon of sound and light, transported to another reality with a button under one hand and a joystick in the other? For some, it was a cultural blip. For others, utterly formative. The Indie games community is made up of the latter.
  
  Working solo or in tiny teams with an experimental and creatively singular approach, artists make the simple and engaging games that turned them on to the potential of a medium. For Nuit Blanche, the videogame culture collective Hand Eye Society is presenting several new arcade-style games by Toronto gamemakers in the classic stand-up arcade cabinet context they were meant to be played. For one night, regain the lost feeling of what it felt like to play games in public, without losing any quarters.
  
  Here are the games presented (click for info/download):
  
  
  
  
  And, here's a video, from the exhibit, at Lightbox:
  
  
  
  
• A Girl and a Camera /
  A Girl and a Gun
  
  SUNSET TO 1:00AM: The first female director, producer and studio owner, cinema pioneer Alice Guy Blaché's keen sense of storytelling helped the cinema evolve from documentary actualités into an intricate narrative art form. The films on display also demonstrate her pioneering broaching of sexual and political issues and her remarkable formal experimentation.
  AFTER 1:00AM: The Toronto premiere of Austrian montage master Gustav Deutsch's "Film Ist: A Girl and a Gun", compiling archival footage from the first four decades of film history into a carnal celebration of the quasi-supernatural energy of erotic desire and a dark rumination on the battle of the sexes, set to a spectral score by electronic icons Christian Fennesz, Martin Siewert and Burkhard Stangl.
  [Mature content, suitable for audiences 18+]
  
  
• Singin' in the Dark
  
  The tunes you remember, from the movies you can’t forget.
  7:00PM-MIDNIGHT: Join us and a special on-stage host for a riotous sing-along featuring hit tunes from movie musicals. [Suitable for all ages.]
  AFTER MIDNIGHT: As the night gets later, the movies get darker and the songs get... surprising! [Suggested for mature audiences.]
  
  
  
  
• Grindbox!
  
  A tribute to the beloved American institution of the grindhouse – a term for theatres that mainly showed exploitation films, named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on New York City's 42nd Street where "bump n' grind" dancing and striptease were featured – this presentation of vintage trailers for horror and exploitation films from around the world is a cinematic celebration of the weird, the wild and the wonderful, balanced on the border between art and trash. Curated by Midnight Madness programmer Colin Geddes.
  [Mature content, suitable for audiences 18+]
  

Night Navigator App
Take your mobile phone with you!

Download the Night Navigator App for Android
("Scotiabank Night Navigator" at the Android Market)
Download the Night Navigator App for BlackBerry
("Scotiabank Night Navigator" at BlackBerry App World)
Download the Night Navigator App for iPhone
("Scotiabank Night Navigator" at the App Store)

ScotiabankNuitBlanche.ca has a home page designed for mobile phones at ScotiabankNuitBlanche.ca/home_m.shtml

See you at Nuit Blanche! ;-)
#TOfilmfest