While a modified version of TIFF did take place over the past couple of years, 2022 marks a full-scale return to the in-person festival that typically sets Toronto buzzing. And that means that the TIFF Festival Street is back too.
During the first few days of the festival, King Street will be shut down between Peter Street and University Avenue so that it can be transformed into Festival Street 2022.
The street festival will allow the general public to take in some of the glitz around the film fest and will include free screenings, interactive activations and musical performances from Thursday, Sept. 8 to Monday, Sept. 12.
David Pecaut Square will also host some of the Festival Street events and other activities will continue to run there through Sept. 18.
In a recent chat with cp24.com, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said the festival will be "fantastic."
“I really have to thank the City of Toronto and Mayor (John) Tory who very early on said we want to bring this back this year,” Bailey said. “We were beginning to make plans fairly early in the year. We still had to wait to see what the public health situation was going to be like but we got the go ahead.”
While TIFF ran in a limited format over the past couple of years because of the pandemic, King Street was conspicuously quiet during the festival — a stark contrast to past years when throngs of festival-goers packed the streets taking selfies, trying to catch glimpses of celebrities and took in free entertainment.
“There'll be all kinds of activations and fun stuff to do through our partners,” Bailey said. “We'll have nighttime screenings in David Pecaut Square that will be free for everyone and you can just come and check out a classic movie that we are showing. So there's just all kinds of great stuff that we couldn't do for the last two years and we're thrilled to be able to bring it all back.”
StreetARToronto will also be creating a live art walk that will kick off Thursday.
Live music will include performances inspired by some of the films coming to TIFF this year, including pieces on Buffy Sainte-Marie and Kardinal Offishall.
Sainte-Marie will kick things off herself with a performance at the Slaight Music Stage Thursday at 7 p.m.
Some of the films you can take in at the OLG Cinema Park in David Pecaut Square include The Greatest Showman, UHF, West Side Story (2021), The Mummy, a 30th-anniversary screening of A League of Their Own (1992), School of Rock and Love & Basketball.
This year the TIFF Cinematique program will also return to offer screenings of five classic films free of charge to the public. They include The Stranger (Agantuk), I Shot Andy Warhol, Strictly Ballroom, Werckmeister Harmonies (Werckmeister harmóniák) and Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux.
Those heading to Festival Street will find food trucks and outdoor patios, not to mention plenty of open bars and restaurants in the area.
According to TIFF, Festival Street saw 200,000 visitors over four days the last time it ran in 2019.
During the closure, streetcars which normally use that stretch of King Street will be diverting along alternate routes.
Regular TTC service will resume at 5 a.m. on Mon., Sept. 12, but due to red carpet events on King Street, service diversions will be in place on Sept. 12-13 from 3:30 to 6:15 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. A full list of affected routes can be found on the TTC's website.
You can search free screenings and performances by going to the TIFF schedule on the festival website and checking ‘free’ in the filters.
