The 2021 Fall Festival season seemed to bring a sense of normalcy 18 months into the COVID pandemic. Venice, Telluride, and the New York Film Festival all had in-person screenings with no capacity restrictions. The fourth member of that quartet, however, the Toronto International Film Festival, was not so lucky. Due to government restrictions, TIFF was forced into a hybrid in-person/virtual event with limited in-person venues, capacity limits, and far fewer attendees. Happily, that won’t be the case in 2022.
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Today, TIFF announced that the festival will be back in full force this year including “Festival Street,” a closed-off section of King St. near the Bell Lightbox, which will return as a pedestrian corridor for corporate partners and live events. For those of us who were on hand last Fall, the omission of Festival Street was a bigger damper on the proceedings than anyone expected.
Additionally, the festival is adding a new venue to the mix, the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Built in 1907, this theater has a capacity of 1,000 seats and, according to the festival, its stage was graced by such its stage has been graced by 20th-century film artists such as Mary Pickford, the Marx Brothers, Olivia de Havilland, Ingrid Bergman, Fanny Brice, Fred Astaire, Mae West, Orson Welles, and John Barrymore, among others. The Royal Alexandra Theater is on King St and situated in between festival venues the Princess of Wales Theater and Roy Thompson Hall.
The festival confirmed that TIFF Bell Lightbox, Roy Thomson Hall, the Visa Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre, and Scotiabank Theatre Toronto will return as venues this year. Whether the Ryerson Theater, traditionally the hub of the Midnight Madness slate, is still part of the lineup is unclear. It is the one screening venue that is the furthest from the Lightbox and Festival Street.
In a statement, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey noted, “The city of Toronto is buzzing with excitement, as celebrations that make this city so unique return in full force. Restrictions have lifted, borders have opened up, and traveling back to Toronto has become much easier. As TIFF celebrates the full cinema experience, we are proud and overjoyed to be welcoming our audiences back. Film lovers can enjoy screenings of the most exciting new cinema from around the world in the heart of the city, including the newly announced Royal Alexandra Theatre, feel the hustle and bustle of Festival Street, and catch a glimpse of their favorite stars — but most of all they can immerse themselves back into that moviegoing experience Toronto audiences love.”
It was also revealed that the fourth annual TIFF Tribute Awards will take place on September 11. The festival itself runs from September 8-18.