A TIFF in review
AccessTO was once again invited to attend TIFF this past September. This post is coming in late as I have had some things happening in my personal life that have kept me from writing as much as I’d like to. I did want to put together some thoughts on accessibility surrounding TIFF and some of the movies I was able to see this year.
The TIFF website has quite extensive information about their policies and accessibility features of the venues that are used during the festival found here Accessibility at TIFF.
The information provided on each venue is quite good and gives you a quick reference with details like where to locate wheelchair accessible seating and washrooms. Unfortunately, some information like door width measurements is missing. This could be key information for some individuals, for example the door to the ‘accessible’ washroom at the Royal Alexandra Theater is very narrow and will not work for everyone.
You can also use the accessibility drop down menu on the listing of films being shown to pick a feature that you require. This will show a list of screenings where those features are available.
Most of the screenings I saw this year were at the TIFF Lightbox or Scotia Bank theaters. Once inside these locations accessibility for me in my manual wheelchair was generally quite good. The largest barrier I ran into was outside of the venues and not the fault of the TIFF organizers.
First the elevator used to access St. Andrew subway station to street level was broken the entire length of the festival. This meant the subway station closest to the main venues became inaccessible to me.
Second the sidewalk along both sides of John Street between King and Adelaide Streets remains in terrible condition. Not only is it very narrow, but it’s broken up and uneven in a lot of areas. This makes navigating it honestly dangerous at times. This issue lies with the City of Toronto, though given the massive redevelopment happening in the area the sidewalk itself will remain a low priority until future developments are completed I believe.
TIFF is a wonderful festival that ends up being a highlight of the year for me. It’s unfortunate that there are physical barriers in the urban landscape that cause access issues around their venues. Though some of these issues are outside of the control of the TIFF organizers, I believe they should use their influence to push the city to fix these issues to improve access to their event.
So what did I personally see at TIFF this year. My intent was to see movies that might focus on the disability community or feature cast members with disabilities. Again, this is not the main focus of TIFF and there were not many to be found. However, I’ll give you my top picks to watch out as they come out to wider audiences.
1. Summer Qamp
This is a movie about going to camp, an experience I loved as a child. Camp should be a safe space for kids to just be kids. Camp fYrefly in rural Alberta is that safe and supportive space for queer, non-binary and trans youth each summer. It’s a well-crafted documentary that lets us have a view into these kids lives that feels respectful and touching.
2. The Zone of Interest
A movie that is getting a lot of hype now and for good reason. It proves that you can make a movie about the holocaust that is still horrific in it’s own way, without showing the gore. We all know what happened in death camps, there are lot of movies that show what happened there. This one shows what’s going just on the other side of the wall and it’s terrifying in its own way.
3. Hit Man
A romantic comedy somewhat based on a true story. About a undercover copy, pretending to be a hitman who breaks cover to help a woman escape an abusive partner. I went into this one not expecting much and had a great time. Really strong acting and quite funny.
- Julian Stein