Anything Goes : TIFF 2017 The Festival Experience by Lucia Cascioli

Sigh...

Yes, TIFF has great movies. HOWEVER, each year it feels like it’s the first time the festival has ever been run. Why? Improvements are made with the tiniest of baby steps that they come out as half-assed attempts.

For example, last year was the first time that tickets could be purchased online and downloaded to your phone or printed at home. Great! Did this solve the issue with the long lines outside the main theatres? No. As I wrote last year, the Princess of Wales Theatre, Roy Thomson Hall, Elgin Theatre and the Wintergarden Theatre all have numbered seats as they are THEATRES all year long. Why not have numbered tickets?

This year, when I went online to purchase, I was so happy to see a “View Seat Map” hyperlink so that I could select my seats. Wrong. The link simply went to the TIFF poster. The seats were assigned. Okay, I guess, better than lining up. They did it only for two theatres (Princess of Wales Theatre, Roy Thomson Hall). The Elgin Theatre and the Wintergarden Theatre, which are on the busiest street in Toronto, were not included. Instead, a car lane of Yonge Street was blocked off for the human lines that, of course, snaked around the corner and across the street for the entire festival. Why? These theatres deal with performances every day of the year. No one gets trampled. No one rushes the doors. People trickle in. No insanity. In fact, the Ryerson Theatre and two theatres in the Cineplex theatre also have numbered seats. These need to be added to the list. Standing in line while rush hour traffic whizzes by is not fun.

This issue irks me because they are using TICKETMASTER. Buy the full suite for heaven’s sake.

This is the 42nd year of the festival, one would think by now that the call centre would be beefed up to handle the load of calls. This year, it just rang busy without a cue…oops, ran out of operators I guess.

The online process was a mess as well. Get the servers powered up and get rid of the gerbils on their wheels. It’s 2017 people.

Maybe next year I’ll go to Telluride for a change. I hear the patrons are treated very well.