Scoring special tickets at TIFF

August 5, 2009 8:11 PM

Does anyone know if members of the general public can buy/get tickets to "special presentations" of films at the Toronto International Film Festival?

I have never been to TIFF, but I see that Whip It* is premiering at the fest in September as a special presentation. A couple of girlfriends and I would love to go, but none of us have been the fest before and we don't really know how it works. The ticket info page on the TIFF site is a bit unclear if the ticket packages let you include a special presentation showing. I get a feeling that the way it is being presented means that it's sort of an exclusive thing.

Anyone out there with more knowledge about how TIFF works that could lend any tips, or is this a lost cause and we should just plan our roller derby costume viewing for the wide release date?

*(the roller derby movie with Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore, shut up, it's going to be awesome)

posted by Cyrie to media & arts (2 comments total)

I've only been to TIFF once (in 2006), but I was able to include "Special Presentation" films among my requested films (I bought 2 10-film packages). Among my 20 first choice films were 6 of the Special Presentations, and I ended up getting 5 of those 6 in advance. (The sixth I ended up getting later, anyway, as a same-day purchase.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:39 PM on August 5

Yes, you can get a Special Presentation with pretty much any ticket packages. The special fancy ones you can't get into will be the Gala showings - but later in the festival those movies will have public screenings, too.

TIFF movies do sell out and they sell out FAST, often during the advance order stage, so depending how important this is to you, you may want to get an advance ticket package order in now, if the deadline hasn't already passed.
posted by Stacey at 2:39 AM on August 6