I'm going to the Toronto International Film Festival. Friends of mine got a movie in called "Meet Me in Montenegro".

Anyone been to the festival? Anyone know the best way to get around and of cool places to eat (both early morning and late night)?

TIFF is one of my favourite fall events in Toronto. The quickest way to get around would be taxi; the most engaging would be on foot; a fun compromise would be bike -- and you can rent a bike through bikesharetoronto.com. If you're interested in traveling a bit farther afield than the downtown core, TTC trains and busses are the way to go. ($3 per one-way trip; $39.95 for an unlimited 1-week pass).

The centre of TIFF festivities will be the TIFF Bell Lightbox near the corner of King Street West and John Street. It's where you'll see celebrities and sycophants hanging out in local bars, restaurants and clubs, trying to be fabulous. The other place you'll find celebs hanging out would be a high-end shopping district called Yorkville, just north of Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Bay Street.

If you actually want to eat somewhere, as opposed to simply watching others do so and contending with nutty crowds, you may have a better bet of retreating from the aforementioned places and trying the spots in the nearby gay village (centered around Church and Wellesley streets) or along Queen Street West or College Street West. You'll still enjoy a bustling downtown, but with a slightly less fever pitch.

For the actual names of good late night/early morning eateries, I'd hit up Ace, who lives in the downtown area. He'll never agree to meet you, but he may know the cool hangouts.

[Edited 9/2/14 20:15pm]

Great to see T.Dot love here

Thanks! I arrive tomorrow night, stay for 6 days. I won't try to meet up with Ace. But I'll orgnote him.

Have fun, and give us a full report.

Lammastide said:

TIFF is one of my favourite fall events in Toronto. The quickest way to get around would be taxi; the most engaging would be on foot; a fun compromise would be bike -- and you can rent a bike through bikesharetoronto.com. If you're interested in traveling a bit farther afield than the downtown core, TTC trains and busses are the way to go. ($3 per one-way trip; $39.95 for an unlimited 1-week pass).

The centre of TIFF festivities will be the TIFF Bell Lightbox near the corner of King Street West and John Street. It's where you'll see celebrities and sycophants hanging out in local bars, restaurants and clubs, trying to be fabulous. The other place you'll find celebs hanging out would be a high-end shopping district called Yorkville, just north of Bloor Street between Avenue Road and Bay Street.

If you actually want to eat somewhere, as opposed to simply watching others do so and contending with nutty crowds, you may have a better bet of retreating from the aforementioned places and trying the spots in the nearby gay village (centered around Church and Wellesley streets) or along Queen Street West or College Street West. You'll still enjoy a bustling downtown, but with a slightly less fever pitch.

For the actual names of good late night/early morning eateries, I'd hit up Ace, who lives in the downtown area. He'll never agree to meet you, but he may know the cool hangouts.

Great tips from Lamm (who probably knows more about the city at this point than I do ). Subways, streetcars and buses would also probably serve your needs for places in the downtown core that are too far by foot.

For the first time, this year they'll be closing several city blocks around the festival headquarters for the first few days, for a pedestrian mall (with art installations, etc.):

http://www.tiff.net/festi...valstreet

If you want any tips, please feel free to hit me up via orgNote.

ufoclub said:

I'm going to the Toronto International Film Festival. Friends of mine got a movie in called "Meet Me in Montenegro".

Just read the synopsis. Sounds like an interesting film!

Had lots of fun so far... but Day 4, I'm under the weather. taking a break and will skip "Muddy" and "REC 4" a midnight movie. We're all the way out at 202 Gilbert on the bus route north.

ufoclub said:

Had lots of fun so far... but Day 4, I'm under the weather. taking a break and will skip "Muddy" and "REC 4" a midnight movie. We're all the way out at 202 Gilbert on the bus route north.

Sorry to hear you're under the weather. I was running around, doing some networking on Sunday, and I'm still wiped out.

What's "202 Gilbert"?

[Edited 9/11/14 4:57am]

Ace said:

ufoclub said:

Had lots of fun so far... but Day 4, I'm under the weather. taking a break and will skip "Muddy" and "REC 4" a midnight movie. We're all the way out at 202 Gilbert on the bus route north.

Sorry to hear you're under the weather. I was running around, doing some networking on Sunday, and I'll still wiped out.

What's "202 Gilbert"?

That's the street address of the AirBnB house we are at. Feeling better now (and yesterday) saw a great Austrian film with a bad title "Goodnight Mommy".

today is our last day, but our flight isn't until the evening, so we will try to rush aditional movies early in the day. I'm going to the 9:15 am Canadian Short film block at TIFF lighthouse. Maybe we could meetup to say hello? I'll message my number in case.