TIFF SINGLE TICKETS GO ON SALE, WHILE HYATT REGENCY WORKERS GO ON STRIKE

TIFF Box Office - 4:00 AM

Single Tickets for TIFF 2010 went on sale at 7:00 AM today, but as in past years, you have to line-up at obscene hours to secure a decent spot in the queue for your film selections.  Running on two hours of sleep last night, I woke up at 3:00 AM to head down to the Festival Box Office at Peter x King  and to my surprise there were already 100 people ahead of me with some lining from as early as 9:00 AM yesterday for front-of-the-line tickets.  

TIFF Box Office - 8:00 AM

Luckily, I ran into some old friends and readers of Mr. Will-W.:Pop Maven (Hi Sheetal, Sonia and Katie!) to keep me company and believe me, we all needed that 6:00 AM Starbucks run, pouncing on that door as soon as it opened.  The time flew by quickly and by 8:15 AM it was our turn to make our selections.  In all, I'm extremely happy to have gotten tickets for most of my selections, wisely opting to buy my tickets in-person versus online, where the ticket ordering system crashed today at its most crucial moment.  

I'm pleased to announce that at TIFF this year, I will attending the following:

-Black Swan (Gala) - Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel
-The Town (Gala) - Ben Affleck, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Rebecca Hall
-Conviction (Gala) - Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell
-127 Hours (Gala) - James Franco
-Never Let Me Go (Gala) - Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield


-Daydream Nation (Screening) - Kat Dennings
-The Debt (Screening) - Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington
-Rabbit Hole (Screening) - Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart
-What's Wrong with Virginia? (Screening) - Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Roberts
-L'amour Fou (Screening) - documentary about the rise of Yves Saint Laurent
-It's Kind of a Funny Story (Screening) - Zach Galifianakis, Emma Roberts

Marvelous!  The only films I wasn't successful scoring tickets for were:

-Blue Valentine (Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling)
-Tamara Drewe (Gemma Arterton)
-Hereafter (Matt Damon, Bryce Dallas Howard)

I'm certain though that I'll be able to find a way to get in regardless to those I was unsuccessful with and you can all look forward to reviews of all these films over the next couple weeks, well ahead of the curve as many of these won't hit theatres for months.  I do find it shocking that Clint Eastwood's Hereafter will only receive one screening at the festival, which sold out rapidly.

Speaking of which, what's a Film Festival without a bit of Drama?  It appears that Hyatt Regency Hotel workers are on-strike, picketing outside the Hotel which is situated beside the new home of TIFF - The Bell Lightbox.  Workers could be heard chanting, "What do we want?  More pay!  When do we want it?  Today!".  How uncanny that workers are striking right now with TIFF beginning next Thursday and Hyatt Regency being a major festival sponsor, playing host to most of its Press Conferences this year.  And to pour salt on the wound, a giant inflatable Rat was installed across the road with the word Hyatt printed on its chest I presume, to vilify the employer. Every good story needs a bit of tension, I suppose....

(Photo credit: Mr. Will-W.)