Toronto film fest group's Lightbox to illuminate downtown district

Amid last minute preparations for this year's Toronto International Film Festival, organizers took time out on Monday to announce the name of its new home, currently under construction in the city's theatre district.

Bell Lightbox "is a link to the past, present and future," Piers Handling, TIFF Group co-director and CEO, said in a video announcement Monday morning.

Michael Sabia, president and CEO of Bell — TIFF's longtime lead sponsor — described Lightbox as "a name that evokes both the history of film and the power of movies to illuminate ideas and to captivate us.

"Not only for Torontonians and Canadians but for people from around the world," he added.

Lightbox, which will be located at the corner of King and John streets along with a condominium project, will consist of a five-storey headquarters that will house five theatres, two galleries, three studios for educational programming, archival and meeting space, a reference library and a retail store.

Construction on the site began in February, with completion slated for late 2009. The new facility is being designed by Toronto-based firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects.

The project is a partnership between the TIFF Group, real estate development firm Daniels Corporation and producer and director Ivan Reitman and his family.

In 2003, the filmmaker behind movies like Animal House and Ghostbusters came forward with his sisters to offer the site, which his parents had purchased more than 30 years ago.

Organizers have set a campaign fundraising goal of $196 million (including capital costs, an endowment fund and operating costs), with approximately $133 million of the total raised so far.

The Toronto International Film Festival gets underway Sept. 6.