TIFF 2007 BLOGS - Doc Blog

September 10, 2021

Time to Relax and Mingle

Posted By Heidy Morales At 12:36 PM

File under: Parties

Discovery Films arranged for a party to celebrate the launch of Werner Herzog's (shown here) latest documentary Encounters at the End of the World, screening at this year's festival.

Herzog's latest project takes him to the depths of the South Pole in Antarctica. It appears there is a lot of interest in this documentary. We will have to see where his journey will take us.

The soiree also allowed other filmmakers (director Scott Hicks pictured here) to enjoy each other's company, perhaps talk a little film but I think...

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August 14, 2021

TIFF picks from True/False's David Wilson

Posted By Thom Powers At 4:22 PM

File under: Parties, Picks

David Wilson, who collaborates with Paul Sturtz to program the plucky True/False Film Festival in Columbia, MO, weighs in with three picks from the Real to Reel titles announced so far. In this photo from TIFF 06, he appears with Blindsight director Lucy Walker at the aforementioned Summercamp! party (snapped by Indiewire). David says:

One of the great things about seeing the film lineup from a fest like Toronto is knowing that, as a viewer, you're...

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August 13, 2021

Memories of Summercamp! at TIFF 06

Posted By Sarah Price At 3:46 PM

File under: , Memories, Parties, Directors

Last year's TIFF was a blast for us--we literally tried to bring summercamp to the festival. As if dressing up like camp dorks and whipping the audiences into a frenzied round of Baby Shark (a camp song favorite) wasn't enough, we had a party where they served camp food, had an illegal bonfire in the parking lot of the bar, and the Flaming Lips did an acoustic sing-a-long. All with blinking disco visors and whistles (pictured). Summercamp! is currently being released theatrically through Argot Pictures (we opened in NYC...

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September 14, 2021

Celebrating Office Tigers

Posted By Thom Powers At 4:06 PM

File under: Parties, Directors

Producer Lawrence Elman and director Liz Mermin celebrate the world premiere of their film Office Tigers at a party for the film on Saturday night, held at the Tribute Lounge at the Century Room. For the film's second screening on Monday, the audience sang "Happy Birthday" to Mermin.

Yesterday, Lorrie Goldstein of the Toronto Sun praised Office Tigers in a warm review, excerpted here:

Employees working for big corporations everywhere will identify with Office Tigers harried staff as they cope with long hours, demanding bosses, early deadlines, constant retraining, jargon-filled...

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September 12, 2021

Docs Discussed Over Breakfast

Posted By doc blog reporter At 1:50 PM

File under: Parties

Doc Corner Breakfasts give directors, industry, and press a chance to mingle at TIFF. The breakfasts are running from Sunday to Wednesday, sponsored by HBO Documentary Films. Left, Shot in the Dark director Adrian Grenier discusses his film with Priya Shah from TIFF's Sales & Industry office.
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September 11, 2021

Killer After Party for Premiere

Posted By doc blog reporter At 7:27 PM

File under: Parties

One of the best draws at TIFF every year is the parties, not just for the open bar and great food, but it's a chance for the talented people that attend the festival to mix and mingle.

This afternoon, Discovery Films hosted a party at Prego restaurant to honor their film The Killer Within and their broader sponsorship of the entire Real to Reel programme. Attendees included Killer Within director Macky Alston, seen left with the film’s Executive Producer, Andrea Meditch.

Al Maysles participated...

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September 10, 2021

Doc Directors Debate over Dinner

Posted By doc blog reporter At 3:35 PM

File under: Parties

One of the highlights of TIFF is directors getting to meet each other as they did last night for a dinner at Pangaea restaurant. The diverse group inspired a lot of discussion about the films at the festival and filmmaking in general. Left, Liz Mermin (Office Tigers) and Adrian Grenier (Shot in the Dark) are engaged in a heated debate about filmmaking. Other guests included Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein (The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair), Sophie Fiennes (The Pervert's Guide...(more...)

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September 8, 2021

Pervert's Guide Kicks of TIFF

Posted By doc blog reporter At 1:42 AM

File under: Parties

Director Sophie Fiennes (left) kicked off TIFF on Thursday with the North American premiere screening of her film, The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, to a packed house at the ROM on Thursday. The three-part film features the witty and insightful Slavoj Žižek discussing everything from sexuality in the works of Lynch, Kubrick and Hitchcock to how film is equal to viewing shit backing up a toilet. Needless to say, Fiennes had many questions to answer in the Q & A after the screening. The director also shared anecdotes about...

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September 7, 2021

Jorgen Leth is in the House

Posted By Thom Powers At 12:01 AM

File under: Parties

The night before the Festival begins, the good folks at Cinematheque Ontario traditionally host a gathering for art house programmers from around the world. This year, the keynote speech was delivered by Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth, who brought his documentary collaboration with Lars Von Trier The Five Obstructions to TIFF in 2003.

Afterward, Leth told me of his gratitude to museum and art house programmers for keeping his kind of cinema alive. On Saturday, Leth's son Asger will be premiering his documentary Ghosts of Cite Soleil with the proud father on hand for support.

Leth is pictured here with Cinematheque Ontario's...

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September 6, 2021

Planning for the SUMMERCAMP! party...

Posted By Sarah Price At 3:47 PM

File under: Parties

...trying to get all our ducks in a row--planning a marshmallow roast is not as easy as it seems. brad ordered the whistles and they're good to go, but now i think we may need more visors....
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