Your guide to the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival

by

Lovers of movies and the arts of Oakville, of Ontario, and across all of Canada and the world: get excited. Today is the start of the 47th Toronto International Film Festival, or TIFF 2022.

TIFF is one of the biggest cultural events in the Greater Toronto Area every year, and after two heavily digital events, the 2022 festival will host hundreds of thousands of local attendees. And like last year, there are numerous events that you can either attend in person or watch from home in Oakville and around Halton Region. 

After more than two years of scaled-down and postponed events, TIFF still has some stipulations to both the in-person and digital offerings this year. But for lovers of film, cinema, and all forms of art, TIFF is still like an early Christmas. (And a great way to ease the wait until the 10th OFFA festival in Oakville next June!)

Want to participate? Oakville News has you covered, navigating the different kinds of events and more than 240 titles programmed this year. Even if you've never been before or watched a movie from TIFF, it's a lot of fun - and there's lots of ways to do it.

The festival runs eleven days this year from today, Thursday, September 8, until next Sunday the 18th. Here's our now annual guide to all the excitement for the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival:

1. How to watch movies in person

This the way a majority of attendees will see their films this year; there are hundreds of public screenings at six different venues:

  • TIFF Bell Lightbox (on King Street)
  • Princess of Wales Theatre (called the Visa Screening Room)
  • Roy Thomson Hall
  • Royal Alexandra Theatre
  • Scotiabank Cinema
  • Cinesphere IMAX

For all the movies playing at these venues, ticket prices range based on seat, your age, whether the event is a world premiere, and how large the theatre is. As a broad rule, general admission events are $11-30 each, assigned seating is $20-38, and gala events range from $27-85 per seat.

Rush tickets are also available at every show from $25-45 each, available at each theatre in case there are no-shows. Masks and proof of vaccination is no longer required to attend, but masking is still strongly recommended (and will be practiced by a large number of attendees.)

Tickets are available online here. TIFF has also released a helpful video for anyone wanting to see or rent a show this week:

For a list of reviews on most of the films at this year's festival, see all of our critic (Tyler Collins)'s TIFF reviews online here. Here are some of Tyler's picks, all with tickets still available in-person, with the Digital Cinema or both:

  • The Banshees of Inisherin (Special Presentations)
  • Black Ice (Gala Presentations)
  • Empire of Light (Special Presentations)
  • Free Money (TIFF Docs)
  • Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Special Presentations)
  • How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Platform)
  • A Jazzman's Blues (Gala Presentations)
  • Susie Searches (Discovery)
  • Theatre of Thought (TIFF Docs)
  • Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Midnight Madness)
  • The Whale (Special Presentations)
  • The Woman King (Gala Presentations)
  • Women Talking (Special Presentations)

2. How to watch movies at home

Can't head into the city? Want to enjoy the festival locally? That's where Digital TIFF Bell Lightbox comes in - a website and app where anyone across Canada (and some other countries for the next ten days only) can rent movies featured during this year's festival.

Here’s how it works: You buy a ticket to a film online (between $19-26 per film), which will become available on a certain day and time during the festival. You (and however many fellow cinephiles you can cram into your living room) will then have a 48 hour window to start and finish watching the movie.

24 features from this year's official selections are included in this year's Festival at Home. Selections include Canadian movies, documentaries, and world premieres from talents like Werner Herzog, Tanya Tagaq and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The full selection, including purchases for digital rentals, can be found at the digital box office online here.

3. How to attend one of the festival events

One of the best parts to the full TIFF returning in 2022 is the return of festival events! Not only is King Street closed to traffic and open for pedestrians inclusive Sept. 8-11, but there are lots of free events and screenings throughout the city and, of course, the infamous "TIFF Parties."

There are dozens of free movies screening all week, both in cinema and on Festival Street, showing classics like A League of the Their Own, Love & Basketball, School of Rock and The Greatest Showman. There are also free concerts in the park, including one on Friday with Buffy Ste. Marie. All of these event listing are online here.

Have you ever wanted to attend a party? You still can! While many events are closed to filmmakers and are ultra-exclusive, there are lots of parties that are also open to the general public and have tickets on sale.

Entertainment brand Hollywood North, led by Sophon Chou, is hosting four different events over the festival with tickets on sale for anyone who wants to come.

"There were never any parties for Canadians," says Chou. "Because they're mainly run by studios from out of town. Now we make going to these kinds of events accessible so people can network."

Here are the four events being held by Hollywood North (with tickets available here):

  • Film Carnival Anniversary Gala (Thursday Sept. 8 at 8 p.m.)
  • Latin American Film Party (Saturday Sept. 10 at 2 p.m.)
  • 3rd annual "The Hangover" Brunch (Sunday Sept. 11 at 2 p.m.)
  • The CREATORS Event with NorthTO (Tuesday Sept. 13 at 8:30 p.m.)

Whether you decide to see one movie or one hundred, there's no bad way to enjoy the live and virtual offerings of the festival. It's a great celebration of art and culture in the Greater Toronto Area, and we hope you make some time in the next week and a half to be part of it!

A full guide with detailed information about venues, prices, schedules, tech support and film availability is on TIFF's thorough and extensive website here.