Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2

Festival Tower sits atop the festival's new Lightbox centre on Reitman Square at King & John — it's the residential portion of the three-way venture between the festival (cinema/galleries/work-spaces/offices), the Reitman family (land), and Daniels (developer/builder).

Although Lightbox opened during the September 2010 film festival, occupancy in Festival Tower began later in November.

[Previous posts about the building: Lightbox developments, Lightbox tour, and Lightbox tour, part 2; also O&B Canteen, Luma, and Malaparte dining spaces.]

The Urban Toronto forum was kind enough to mention our article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, and they have also posted snapshots of suite interiors at Festival Tower.

Last fall, we weren't able to see any of the residential amenities — tentatively scheduled for completion this spring — but we recently took a tour of some of the common areas now under construction...

Tower entrance

Tower cinema

Tower pool/fitness room


...and some views...

East

South

West


Night


"What's On Today"

A unique feature of Festival Tower: a flat-screen displaying the day's film schedule at Lightbox (plus opening hours for the gallery, library, studio, lounge and gift shop) — conveniently located by the elevators, on the ground-floor entrance — nice! :-)

See you at the next fest!
@TOfilmfest

PS.
Want to live at Festival Tower? – check http://bit.ly/FestTwrMLS for a list of all the suites currently for sale/rent...

...or, how about living nearby the new Lightbox centre? – look for the Condos on the Market in the Toronto Star – UPDATE: the downtown west area was featured Mar.3/2011.

PPS.
CONTINUED:
Part one of this article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower.
Part three of this article, Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.3

Thanks to all for 2010!

Back in 2009, it was a very big year for us — we were fortunate to receive help, advice, encouragement, and support from many organizations and individuals. This past year, time constraints prevented making any great changes to the 2010 TOfilmfest website — so we simply focused on providing the best content we could, so everyone could pick the best of the fest! ;-)

We're very pleased to note that in 2010 our following at Twitter.com/TOfilmfest doubled — and the number of visitors to TOfilmfest.ca increased over 65% from last year.

We greatly appreciate everyone who follows us @TOfilmfest or visits us at TOfilmfest.ca — and we are committed to providing a reliable, independent, alternative guide to films at the next film festival, in 2011.

One more thank you: to the film festival organizers, donors, and fans – who each contributed to the new cinematic landmark that is Lightbox (for more info see Lightbox tour + Lightbox tour, pt.2). It is a privilege to live in a city that values cinema as much as Toronto does. We look forward to the 2011 festival — and plan on visiting Lightbox regularly until then!

See you all next year!
#TOfilmfest

PS. a personal thank-you and best wishes to some people who made 2010 memorable: Peter (Chasing the buzz), James (CAST awards), and Jason/Jane/Paul (and all the staff) at Luma and O&B Canteen -- plus everyone who emailed/Twittered/blogged/linked to us! THANK YOU!

Top film lists for 2010

With a new year beginning soon, a number of year-end movie lists have been published.

The film festival's annual "Canada's top ten" list for 2010:

• Les Amours Imaginaires
• Barney's Version
• Curling
• The High Cost of Living
• Incendies
• Last Train Home
• Modra
• Splice
• Trigger
• Trois temps après la mort d'Anna

Local writers at the Toronto Film Critics Association announced their 2010 awards list:

• The Social Network — Best picture, best director, best actor, best supporting actor, best screenplay
• Winter’s Bone — Best Actress
• True Grit — Best Supporting Actress
• Uncle Boonmee — Best foreign-language film
• Exit Through the Gift Shop — Best first feature, Documentary award
• How to Train Your Dragon — Best animated feature
• You Are Here — Emerging talent award (Daniel Cockburn)
• Runners-up/Mentions — 127 Hours, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, Despicable Me, The Fighter, Get Low, Inception, Inside Job, The King’s Speech, Marwencol, Monsters, Mother, Of Gods and Men, Toy Story 3

Also, the inaug­ural CAST awards ('Cinema Appreciation Society of Toronto' – an initiative by local blogger Toronto Screen Shots) were announced today; here's their top ten:

1. Inception
2. Toy Story 3
3. Black Swan
4. Shutter Island
5. The Social Network
6. Scott Pilgrim
7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
8. Winter’s Bone
9. I Am Love
10. The King’s Speech

(We were fortunate to be asked to contribute our picks for the first annual CAST awards — although none of our top-ten picks made it into the final list... chacun son cinéma! ;-)

See you at the next fest!
#TOfilmfest

PS.
See also Peter Howell's 2010 'Chasing the Buzz' and our top-ten from the 2010 film fest.

Friday night at Lightbox MALAPARTE

Malaparte, the 6th-floor event space at Lightbox hosted its first event this past weekend! Named after the Casa Malaparte, in Jean-Luc Godard's film Contempt, it's the final addition by Oliver & Bonacini to Lightbox – after the opening of the O&B Canteen (market café; street-level), and Luma (fine-dining; upstairs, on the 2nd floor).

The interior design is by Anacleto Design (who also did Oliver & Bonacini Café Grill in Blue Mountain) — here's the original computer-rendering (above), and a photograph of the finished space (below).

The dining-space has seating for 200 people — but there's also an adjoining rooftop terrace, and outdoor amphitheatre — see our earlier article: Early peek at Lightbox MALAPARTE for images of the outside space.

Even the entrances to the washrooms are quite stylish...












We're definitely looking forward to more events at Malaparte in the spring, and during the next film festival, this summer! :-)

See you at the next fest...
#TOfilmfest

PS.
O&B Events executive chef Jamie Meireles helms Oliver & Bonacini's Malaparte at Lightbox — see booking info for rates/details.

PPS.
The Toronto Society of Architects will be celebrating architecture & design tonight by recognizing the new Lightbox centre as a 'great space in Toronto.' (Last year, the event was held at the Royal Conservatory of Music — designed by the architects of Lightbox, KPMB.)

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.