tiff toronto

TIFF says attendance way down at the Lightbox

The Toronto International Film Festival is nearly upon us and as we wait for celebrities to flood our streets, TIFF has released its new strategic plan.

According to the Toronto Star, TIFF will look to offer "transformative experiences through film." That's its response to a world where it seems to be harder and harder to get folks out of their houses to watch movies.

The Star reports that 49,000 fewer people attended screenings at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in 2016 than in 2015. These, of course, are screenings that occur outside of the 10-day film festival.

TIFF will also stop staging large-scale exhibitions at the Lightbox, like the ones on Stanely Kubrick and Andy Warhol, because apparently they weren't bringing in enough money.

Instead, TIFF will focus on other experiential initiatives, such as its digiPlaySpace, among others.

Lead photo by

Jesse Milns


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