Venue

The new home for TIFF is a beautiful, welcoming five-story complex at the corner of King and John Streets in the heart of downtown Toronto. It will open its doors to films lovers of all ages on September 12, 2010.

A super-scaled Douglas Fir canopy stretches along the King Street facade, leading visitors to the main entrance and box office. The upper surfaces of the building are a series of glass panels against which the shadows of people moving within are cast, creating a cinematic dimension to the exterior.

Inside, visitors gather in a three-storey public atrium, 5 public cinemas, 2 galleries, 3 learning studios, a centre for students and scholars, a bistro, a restaurant, and a lounge

Designed by world-renowned architectural firm KPMB, this unique facility will provide an essential meeting place for film professionals, educators and film lovers from around the globe.

The Daniels Corporation and the Reitman family – acclaimed filmmaker Ivan Reitman and his sisters Agi Mandel and Susan Michaels – who together form the King and John Festival Corporation, have helped TIFF to realize its dream of a building dedicated to film.

TIFF Bell Lightbox will provide a long-needed home for all of TIFF's existing programmes as well as new initiatives, community and industry events. We expect to host 4000 events, running 365 days of the year for an annual attendance of more than a million people, who will all gather for the same reason: for the love of film.

I want every film lover to feel like TIFF Bell Lightbox is theirs.

Piers Handling
CEO and Director of TIFF