2015 TOfilmfest: Chasing the Buzz

Today Peter Howell, movie-critic for the Toronto Star, published his annual Chasing the Buzz feature — a panel of critics/programmers/film-buffs name the one film they are most looking forward to at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.  We're very happy to be part of the buzz panel once again this year — our 8th! :-)
Here's our top pick:

• 2015: The hottest TIFF tickets in town
• Victoria: “With more than 150 extras across 22 locations, this 12-page script required six assistant directors to capture the story in one genuine uninterrupted shot for 134 minutes. An astonishing cinematic feat.”

Here's a look back at the buzz, along with some of our picks from past years:

• 2014: The buzz is for Bill Murray
• The Tribe: “Miroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s feature debut uses only sign language (no subtitles or voice-over) to immerse us into the violently tribal underworld of a deaf boarding school.”

• 2013: 12 Years a Slave tops our annual buzz poll
• Of Good Report: “Initially banned in South Africa, Jahmil Qubeka’s controversial feature stirred worldwide debate until it finally won approval for release, plus ‘Artistic Bravery’ prize from the Durban Film Fest.”

• 2012: To the Wonder, The Master top our Buzz poll
• Middle Of Nowhere: “Ava Duvernay became the first black woman to win best director at Sundance, with the lead-debut of the radiant Emayatzy Corinealdi.”

• 2011: Festival faceoff: Cronenberg and Polley top poll
• The Artist: “Black and white? Silent? Yes, but Cameron Bailey tweeted raves from Cannes, Michèle Maheux wrote the program note, and it got very good reviews at our website.”

• 2010: Ten bee-utiful years of great buzz
• Submarine: “Richard Ayoade, music video director, talented comedy-writer and very funny actor (‘Moss’ from the U.K.’s Channel 4 The IT Crowd) helms his first feature film.”

• 2009: Serious buzz
• Antichrist: “See the film that won the first anti-award from Cannes' ecumenical jury.”

• 2008: Must-see films
• Medicine for Melancholy (Barry Jenkins): "Being a fan of Cameron Bailey's Planet Africa program in years past, I'd pick this feature debut, which was well received at SXSW."

#PicktheBestoftheFest
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2013 TOfilmfest Top 20 (anticipated)

For the past 5 years, we've been very happy to be invited by Peter Howell, movie critic for the Toronto Star, to be a part of his annual Chasing the Buzz poll — a panel of critics/programmers/film-buffs name the films they are most looking forward to at the festival.
[This year was especially challenging as panelists were asked to provide just one film title — and just one sentence to state the reason for their choice.]

As part of the process, we narrowed our list down to 20 films that we're most looking forward to at TIFF'13; here they are, in no particular order:

1. Blue is the Warmest Color, Abdellatif Kechiche
2. Of Good Report, Jahmil X.T. Qubeka
3. 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen
4. Heart of a Lion, Dome Karukoski
5. The Double, Richard Ayoade
6. October November, Götz Spielmann
7. Belle, Amma Asante
8. We are the Best! Lukas Moodysson
9. Gloria, Sebastián Lelio
10. Paradise: Hope, Ulrich Seidl
11. Blue Ruin, Jeremy Saulnier
12. Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón
13. Proxy, Zack Parker
14. Brazilian Western, René Sampaio
15. Moebius, Kim Ki-duk
16. Miracle, Juraj Lehotsky
17. Abuse of Weakness, Catherine Breillat
18. I Am Yours, Iram Haq
19. Young & Beautiful, François Ozon
20. Exit Marrakech, Caroline Link

The top picks from all panelists will be published in the September 1st edition of the Sunday Toronto Star, and also appear online at TheStar.com.

#PicktheBestoftheFest!

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2013 Discovery, Masters, Mavericks, and more!

On Tuesday, August 20th, the final film announcements of the Toronto International Film Festival were released, in addition to the official schedule:

• Download
  PDF of the official 2013 film schedule
• Browse
  2013 film schedule by date / time
• Browse
  2013 film schedule by cinema location

Many new films were announced for the Discovery, Masters, and Mavericks programs; several cinema-related art exhibits will be showcased in the Future Projections program; and three new Special Events were added:

• List of films announced, August 20

We're now looking forward to Peter Howell's annual 'Chasing the Buzz' poll, in next Sunday Star [September 1st, 2013] — an annual round-up of the most anticipated films from critics, programmers and regular film-buffs (like us! ;-) ...here's a look back at previous picks...

• 2012: To the Wonder, The Master top our Buzz poll
• 2011: Festival faceoff: Cronenberg and Polley top poll
• 2010: Ten bee-utiful years of great TIFF buzz
• 2009: TIFF: Serious buzz
• 2008: TIFF's must-see films — our first year as buzz panelist!
• 2007: TIFF: The buzz

#PicktheBestoftheFest!

www.TOfilmfest.ca
@TOfilmfest

PS.
btw, here's an official promo video for the 2013 film-fest...

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Peter Howell's Chasing the Buzz 2011

It's time again for Peter Howell's annual Chasing the Buzz poll — and we're very proud to be part of the buzz! This year, two dozen contributors were asked to name the 3 films they were most looking forward to — here are our top 3 picks:

• The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius

  
  

  “Black and white? Silent? Yes, but Cameron Bailey tweeted raves from Cannes, Michèle Maheux wrote the program note, and it got very good reviews at our website.”

• ALPS, Yorgos Lanthimos

  
  “Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, Oscar-nominated for Dogtooth earlier this year, promises ALPS will be ‘darker and funnier,’ so count us in!”

• Carré Blanc, Jean-Baptiste Léonetti

  
  “Jean-Baptiste Léonetti’s debut film is a stunning tale of social Darwinism where the struggle for survival under a dehumanizing system has led to a de facto form of eugenics.”

...and here are all the top-picks...

Four votes

• A Dangerous Method David Cronenberg
• Take This Waltz, Sarah Polley

Three votes

• ALPS Yorgos Lanthimos
• Albert Nobbs Rodrigo García

Two votes

• The Artist Michel Hazanavicius
• Into the Abyss Werner Herzog
• Livid Julien Maury, Alexandre Bustillo
• Melancholia Lars von Trier
• Moneyball Bennett Miller
• Paul Williams Still Alive Stephen Kessler
• Pearl Jam Twenty Cameron Crowe
• Sarah Palin - You Betcha! Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill
• Shame Steve McQueen

See you at the fest!
www.TOfilmfest.ca

PS.
Here's a look back at previous picks in The Toronto Star...

• 10th Anniversary of Peter Howell's CHASING THE BUZZ
  
• Peter Howell's CHASING THE BUZZ '09
• Must-see films, 2008
• The Buzz, 2007

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Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.3

Festival Tower, the residential condominium built atop the Lightbox centre, is almost complete. It's the final component of Reitman Square at King & John streets — a three-way partnership between the festival, the Reitman's, and Daniels.

Lightbox (the film festival's new headquarters) and Oliver & Bonacini's new restaurants (Luma, O&B Canteen) opened last summer during the film-festival.

Occupancy in Festival Tower began last fall,

• see Above Lightbox: Festival Tower for a preview of the suites;

amenity areas started to take shape this past winter,

• see Above Lightbox: Festival Tower, pt.2 for a tour of the construction.

As the building will soon be turned over to the purchasers, we're very grateful for Daniels allowing us a follow-up photo-shoot — most of the amenity spaces are now finished, so here are the snapshots!

Lobby lounge
The Fantasm, an art installation by New Brunswick sculptor Peter Powing; located in the lobby lounge, but the animated lighting easily visible from the outside sidewalk.
Tower lounge
Also has an outdoor terrace – adjacent to the rooftop patio of the Lightbox film centre.

Sports bar
The balcony overlooks the Casa Malaparte inspired roof-top of Lightbox.Cinema
Theatre has room for 66 – with the same Quinette Gallay cinema-seating, and Christie digital cinema projection used in the theatres at Lightbox.Party room
Decor for the building was handled by Mike Niven Interior Design – with furnishings from Kiosk Design.
Roof-top terrace
Fitness areas

The fitness areas are operated by Results Fitness Lifestyle – scheduled classes include pilates, yoga, spinning, and vary each month. Personal training sessions are also offered.

Spa
Spa services in the building are provided by Family Tree Health Clinic – registered massage therapists available, and osteopathic care coming soon.

Concierge
A full-time resident services director is provided by Zebrano life|style|solutions.

Festival Tower

Just like the Lightbox centre at it's base, Festival Tower was designed by KPMB and built by Daniels — and both buildings are equally impressive, in design and construction. In fact, they were recently nominated for the 2011 PUG awards – the people's choice award for architecture.

There are still a few units for sale through Baker Real Estate at the FestivalTower.com website – and rentals & re-sales can be found at http://bit.ly/FestTwrMLS.

The sequel: Cinema Tower

Daniels has already begun construction on the sequel to Festival Tower: Cinema Tower. Sales will be handled by Baker Real Estate (– the presentation centre had it's final touches just recently).

The 43 story building was designed by Kirkor Architects (– they provided KPMB with design support for Festival Tower), and the interior design is by HOK.

The UrbanToronto.ca forum has posted several snapshots of the construction site, and the Toronto Star featured Another condo blockbuster — a spotlight on Cinema Tower (May 28/2011).

The official website is CinemaTowerCondos.com — you can follow @Cinema_Tower on Twitter.

...and that's a wrap... ;-)

see you at the fest! :-)
TOfilmfest.ca
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PS.
Special thanks to everyone at Daniels who helped us make arrangements – Niall, Simona, and Jake – plus Aurora at Zebrano, for taking us on the tour! ;-)

PPS.
UPDATE: On Jun.6/2011, Toronto Star's Condos on the Market featured the Toronto's downtown west neighbourhood; locations & prices of all new residential buildings in the area are listed, including Festival Tower.

UPDATE: Site Seeing Downtown West appeared in the Aug.27/2011 Saturday Star.