TIFF's new home Lightbox set for Sept. debut
Organizers confirmed on Friday that the group's new headquarters will open in September.
TIFF Bell Lightbox, located in downtown Toronto's King and John theatre district, will officially open its doors on Sept. 12 — a few days after this year's festival gets underway.
TIFF director and CEO Piers Handling described the KPMB-designed headquarters as "a permanent home for cinema lovers from around the world.
"We have spent a decade working on this project and its opening marks a new step in the evolution of TIFF. Audiences visiting our new home and experiencing our wide range of programming will see that we are so much more than a 10-day event in September," he said in a statement from the Cannes Film Festival.
Along with its five public cinemas, the multi-use venue will feature a soaring public atrium and include two gallery spaces, several learning studios and an academic centre, staff offices and a restaurant.
The initial art exhibitions set for Lightbox are:
- Tim Burton, the vast and successful exhibit examining the U.S. filmmaker's drawings, sculptures, videos and installations. Organized by the Museum of Modern Art, it ended its run in New York in late April.
- Essential Cinema, a TIFF-curated exhibit of films, images and iconic objects tracking the history of cinema. Screenings will include titles from TIFF Cinemathèque's list of Essential 100 films to watch.
Some TIFF programming will indeed be hosted at the new venue, but organizers are still uncertain whether all five of the Lightbox cinemas will be fully operational by Sept. 12.
Construction on TIFF's new home — which continues through the summer — began in February 2007 after the family of filmmaker Ivan Reitman and real estate firm Daniels Corporation donated the downtown site to the project, which also includes a condominium tower.
The 2010 Toronto festival runs Sept. 9-19
