Cineplex Movie Blog - TIFF at 35

TIFF at 35

By Ingrid Randoja - Cineplex Magazine | Tuesday, August 31, 2010 | Awards and Festivals , Cineplex Magazine , TIFF | () Comments | Add a Comment

The Toronto International Film Festival celebrates its 35th anniversary this year and as it creeps ever closer to middle age, taking a trip down memory lane seemed rather apropos.

We won't bore you with a bone-dry history of how Toronto's festival grew from a local celebration of movies into one of the world's premiere film festivals. Instead, we present 35 random facts — one for each year — highlighting TIFF's emergence as a festival heavyweight.

1976 TIFF is created under the name The Festival of Festivals. Fifty films are screened at the Ontario Place Cinesphere.

1977 The groundbreaking, gay-themed Canadian film Outrageous! debuts at the festival and goes on to become a homegrown hit.

1978 The Ontario Censor Board threatens to ban In Praise of Older Women unless cuts are made. The festival ignores the threat and shows the film uncut.

1979 For the first time a film — the documentary Best Boy — wins the People’s Choice Award and then later, an Oscar.

1980 Legendary filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard attends a retrospective of his films, which helps put the festival on the map.

A scene from 1981 TIFF film, and Oscar winner, Chariots of Fire

1981 Chariots of Fire wins the People’s Choice Award. It’s the first sign the film could be a winner, and it goes on to take the Best Picture Oscar.

1982 When their films are rejected by the festival, newbie directors Atom Egoyan and Bruce McDonald set up a projector on the sidewalk outside the University Theatre and show their movies to festival patrons leaving the movie house.

1983 The People’s Choice Award goes to The Big Chill, and baby boomer cinema will never be the same.

1984 After every studio had passed on it, the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple is a hit at the fest. The film finds a distributor and the Coens are off and running.

1985 Catholic protestors picket the screening of the film Hail Mary, which depicts the Virgin Mary as a basketball-playing, gas station attendant.

1986 Heavy rain causes part of the New Yorker Theatre’s roof to collapse during a screening.

1987 The 1924 silent film The Thief of Bagdad is screened with a 26-piece orchestra performing the original score.

1988 The festival unveils its Midnight Madness Program.

1989 Roadkill wins Best Canadian Film and $25,000. Director Bruce McDonald accepts the prize saying, “$25,000 is going to buy me a big chunk of hash.”

1990 A new token system — to insure people in line get tickets — is introduced. But with fights between patrons reported, the system isn’t embraced.

1991 A festival van containing 21 films — including My Own Private Idaho — is stolen. The van is recovered with all films accounted for.

1992 Fisher King director Terry Gilliam disappears before his film’s screening. Festival organizers find him watching a Blue Jays game at the SkyDome.

1993 The opening-night party for M. Butterfly is one of the best as guests celebrate on a barge in Lake Ontario while fireworks explode to Malcolm McLaren’s adaptation of Madame Butterfly.

1994 The festival officially changes it name to the Toronto International Film Festival.

1995 Not every TIFF filmmaker is famous, or even full-grown. Fifteen-year-old Susanna Fogel’s short film For Real is screened.

1996 Jean-Luc Godard agrees to attend TIFF only if a video suite is set up for him to edit his film, and he can play tennis. TIFF organizers get him the suite and a tennis pro.

1997 One of TIFF’s biggest movie sales occurs when October Films buys Robert Duvall’s The Apostle for a hefty $6-million (U.S.).

1998 An Air Canada strike means many celebrities and press have to fly into Buffalo and then drive to Toronto. As one critic writes, the strike “made Buffalo’s airport look like a Cannes cocktail party.”

1999 American Beauty, Boys Don’t Cry and The Cider House Rules all debut at TIFF then win Oscars, solidifying TIFF’s reputation as a movie launching pad.

2000 Animal activists demand the Mexican film Amores Perros be banned due to its depiction of dog fighting, even though no animals were harmed during filming.

2001 The 9/11 attacks shut down the fest for the day. TIFF continues, but parties are cancelled.

2002 After being turned away from a press screening for lack of room, Roger Ebert writes a column deriding the festival for allowing industry types into press screenings. Changes are made the following year to separate the two groups.

2003 The 83-year-old Uptown Theatre’s final screening before shuttering is the TIFF selection The Undead. Before the film begins there’s a minute of silence, the audience is served champagne and toasts the theatre.

2004 TIFF experiences a meta-moment as the closing night film, Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, is set during the festival and has Martin Short gently poking fun at those who attend and cover the event.

2005 TIFF’s ability to draw star power is evident when restaurant Sotto Sotto, a favourite with visiting celebs, serves Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Sean Penn, Viggo Mortensen, Pierce Brosnan, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter and Jodie Foster — at separate tables, with guests — all at the same time.

2006 Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen and a live donkey arrive in a cart pulled by women dressed in Kazakhstani costumes for the film’s screening.

2007 A TIFF audience of 1,200 sings “Happy Birthday” to director Dario Argento when he presents his film Mother of Tears: The Third Mother.

2008 New York Post critic Lou Lumenick is vilified after he smacks fellow critic Roger Ebert on the knee with a paper roll when Ebert, who can no longer speak due to illness, taps him on the shoulder to try to get him to move out of his sightline during a screening.

2009 TIFF brings live women’s roller derby to downtown Toronto to celebrate director Drew Barrymore’s flick Whip It.

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The Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 9-19. Get your TIFF fix with our complete coverage here.

Festival Nation

It’s not just Toronto that goes film crazy this time of year. Every September and October a slew of film festivals take place across the country

Atlantic Film Festival

Halifax, Nova Scotia

September 16-25

www.atlanticfilm.com/aff

Cinéfest Sudbury

Sudbury, Ontario

September 18-26

www.cinefest.com

Calgary International Film Festival

Calgary, Alberta

September 24-October 3

www.calgaryfilm.com

Edmonton International Film Festival

Edmonton, Alberta

September 24-October 2

www.edmontonfilmfest.com

Vancouver International Film Festival

Vancouver, British Columbia

September 30-October 15

www.viff.org/festival

Antimatter Underground Film Festival

Victoria, British Columbia

October 8-16

www.antimatter.ws

Festival Nouveau Cinéma

Montreal, Quebec

October 13-24

www.nouveaucinema.ca

Ottawa International Animation Festival

Ottawa, Ontario

October 20-24

www.animationfestival.ca

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