As with many other events and activities in 2020, TIFF had to make some drastic changes to exist in the world of the coronavirus pandemic.
It was apparent early on that a normal edition of the festival was neither practical or possible but the Festival office delayed decision making as long as possible. This made for a long period in the summer where little or no information was released on what shape the event would take.
Eventually, details began to emerge and TIFF 2020 is slated to launch tomorrow evening (the dates for the festival and the use of the Lightbox as a principal venue are some of the things that survived the chaos of the year).
What we've been presented with is a festival that is significantly smaller (61 features as opposed to the normal 300-ish) and which will be presented primarily online, although they've added outdoor theatres to the mix, three of which are drive-ins and one with some kind of physically distanced seating.
Within the theatres, practices recommended / required by the provincial and municipal health agencies are being followed. Capacity within theatres will be limited to 50 and there will be significant space between viewers to enforce physical distancing. Face coverings will be required in all interstitial spaces, although not required once someone is seated in the theatre.
After some consideration, we decided to focus our participation this year in the online, rather than the physical, space. This was partly a risk management decision, but another factor was whether any of the films seemed to require a "big screen" experience (as an example, we will probably go see Tenet next week at Cinesphere, given the extensive use of IMAX cameras in the production).
We have seven films on the schedule for this year, significantly less than previous years, but proportionally, it's about the same. As in previous years, films chosen are for the most part without distribution agreements in North America (we'll wait for those that have those agreements to open somewhere down the line).
Not sure what the online experience will be right now. A special app for Apple TV is expected in the next day or two. Based on our experience with Hot Docs, this should work just fine (assuming that the app has been sufficiently tested and is ready for prime time).
One big difference with the Hot Docs experience is the amount of time available to view films. Hot Docs gave us two weeks or more to find a time; TIFF is limiting their window to only 24 hours. I much prefer the former arrangement. The next ten days will see one or two films on most days.
As with previous years, I'll try to capture impressions on the films we see in this blog. Stay tuned.
