For some people, July means the start of the summer vacation, the start of beach season, and the start of "when is this heat ever going to end" complaining spree. For me, July means preparations for the Toronto International Film Festival are well under way and I can expect to see tons of news coming from the TIFF Group in the next few weeks. Okay, so maybe I'm a bit of a film nut.

The first sign of TIFF season hit my screen today with the launch of the new Festival website at tiff07.ca. The site may seem bare so far, but in the upcoming months it will be the place to go (apart from blogTO of course) to find out what's going on during this year's festival. For those of you who can't wait, there are some important links and dates after the jump.

Here's a quick timeline as to the major events leading up to this year's festival:

• Today - Website goes live
• July 9 - Passes and Coupons on sale for VISA holders
• July 16 - Cash sales begin for Passes and Coupons
• August 21 - Film List goes live
• August 25 - Gala Tickets go on sale
• August 28 - Official Film Schedule and Pass and Coupons selection forms become available
• August 31 - Pass and Coupon selection forms are due by 1pm
• September 5 - Single tickets go on sale
• September 6 - The Festival begins!

For those of you that want to get a jump start on things, you can sign up as a volunteer by visiting the Get Involved page or sign up to be a donor.

Stay tuned to blogTO on July 23, where we'll be posting the film lists for the Midnight Madness, Wavelengths, Canadian Retrospectives, and Sprockets Family Zone programmes during the Festival.