Dinner, Anyone?
In 2004, near the end of the festival, some friends and I met at an Ethiopian restaurant on Queen Street, ate ourselves silly, and spent two or three hours talking about all of the films we'd seen. Last year we did it again, renewing what we hope will become a tradition. For the sake of convenience, we met last time at Ethiopia House, which is just off of Yonge, right in the heart of TIFF'ville, and we had a pretty good turnout. I think there were ten of us. There's something about the hands-on-ness of Ethiopian food that makes it especially communal. All of the reaching and ripping and sharing.
Until the full schedule is announced and we've all had some time to map out our days, it'll be difficult to finalize a date and time. I know several people are only coming for the first five or six days of the fest, so I'd prefer to do it early. And since there are two Wavelengths programs back-to-back on both Saturday and Sunday, I'm thinking that the first Friday night might work. If not then, we'll probably have to wait until Monday or Tuesday.
If you're interested in coming, leave a comment or send me an email. And if you want to come, give me an idea of when you'll be in Toronto. We won't be able to accommodate everyone, unfortunately, but the more the merrier.
10 comments:
The Ethiopian meals in '04 and '05 were a lot of fun, and I'd love to be able to do it again, subject to film scheduling and my mid-festival trip home to Buffalo. I'll be in touch.
Sounds like fun - I'll be in Toronto till the morning of the 11th.
- Andrew
Yeah, I'd definitely be in for something like this. I arrive Thursday, Sep. 6, at 5:30pm (if for some reason the dinner gets scheduled for Thursday instead, I should be around) and stay until Wed., Sep. 12.
Darren, I'm definitely in. I'm in Toronto from September 6 (around 5pm) until the mid-morning of the 12th. Ethopian is a terrific choice for communal eating: spongy bread, lots of spice, no utensils, and low lighting. I'll be in touch once I've made my scheduling choices; I've got two 10-film passes, so it's looking like 4-5 movies a day, but I'll make time for this.
Yeah, the meals were great fun. I'd prefer a Monday or Tuesday meal, if possible. I just know the last few years, that first weekend is usually jam-packed with movies--both because of what's shown and my own enthusiasm. But by Monday or Tuesday, I'm ready for a quieter day, and a long Ethiopian meal would fit the bill. But that's just my preference, and obviously could change once the schedule comes out.
Darren, I'd like to meet up as well...I live in the city, so I'm pretty much open to any date and time (hopefully it doesn't overlap a chosen film). It'll be my first TIFF, but I'd love to join in the conversation and good food.
I'm in Toronto, too, and would love to meet up with some smart film people during the festival. Of course, it will depend on film scheduling (plus, I'm starting a new job next week and might not have as much flexibility as in past years), but I'll do my best to be there.
Great! Wavelengths 6 begins at 9:45 on Monday the 10th, so maybe we can do an earlier dinner that night.
Late Monday sounds great.
Darren - I'm interested in the dinner. Right now I'm planning a press screening of Bernal's Deficit on Monday at 7:15 pm, but maybe I can rearrange my schedule if that's when the dinner falls. (And did I hear that Deficit has a US distributor?)
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