Written by The Strategy

The days that the Toronto International Film Festival take over our town, is our favourite time to be in our beautiful city of Toronto. The city, while chaotic (construction, closures and black SUVs pulling up curb-side), becomes over run with film industry elite, and you never know who you’ll be literally rubbing elbows with in line at the Starbucks on King St.W.

For 10 glamorous days, we attended the festival and it’s events. We saw the movies on their way to Oscar-infamy, we spent nights out attending after parties and we were truly pampered at the gifting suites and lounges.

THE SUITES

EGPR Essentials Lounge 10

If the name isn’t any indication, this year was EGPR’s 10th year in hosting their Essential’s Lounge. With so much talent in the city, it’s easy for the media, who have jam packed schedules running from screening to screening, to be overlooked. That’s why EGPR created their lounge. The lounge was created solely for media to enjoy a day before the mayhem of the festival begins. This years lounge offered hair touch-ups by Goldwell, makeup touch-ups by Aveda, facials by ThisWorks, foot massages by Hayu and engraved bottles of Good Girl by Caroline Herrera.

NKPR’S IT House X Producer’s Ball

NKPR’s IT House x Producer’s Ball is one of our favourite suites to stop by. Not only is the It House filled with brand activations, it also is home to some amazing film panels, including a one-on-one with Swarovski and stylist Karla Welch. Brand activations included makeup touch-ups with Bobbi Brown, hair styling by OGX, a bar (where we may have indulged in one too many) offering Hounds Vodka mixed drinks, and a Swarovski portrait studio where guests were encouraged to model some of the brands newer pieces. The lounge was visited by some pretty heavy Hollywood names, including Priyanka Chopra and Julia Stiles.

Glo Communcation’s Bask It Style

This year, Glo Communcation’s operated their Bask It Style Lounge out of the Thompson Hotel, a hot bed of activity during the festival. Guests were walked through the lounge and introduced to brands like Michael Hill, Monat, Amber & Ash, DK Publisking, Dr. Bronner’s and the Toronto Popcorn Company. And added, exciting touch, was the Delorean from Back To The Feature waiting out front for guests to take photos in. The car can be rented by Turo, a new AirBNB style car rental service.

THE PARTIES

Birks Diamond Tribute to the Year’s Women in Film

We suppose this event was more of a luncheon than a party, but we’ll put it under this category anyway. The luncheon was in honour of Canadian women in film who are making Canada proud with their work. It was hosted by a past winner, Sarah Gadon and awarded Wendy Crewson, Micheline Lanctot, Jean Yoon, Marie Clements, Jasmin Mozaffari, and Sophie Dupis.

NKPR Producer’s Ball

One of the biggest events of the festival is NKPR’s Producer’s Ball. Hosted by NKPR’s very own Natasha Koifman and The Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan Scott, the night sets the tone for the rest of the festivals parties. This year, the event was attended by the likes of Sean Paul, The Handmaid’s Tale’s Amanda Brugel and Toronto’s favourite, Elaine Lui.

THE MOVIES

I mean, aren’t they why we attend the festival in the first place?

Seberg

Starring Kirsten Stewart, Jack O’Connell and Anthony Mackie, this film tells the tragic tale of Jean Seberg and her struggles during the 1960s when she was targeted by the FBI for her connection to civil rights activist Hakim Jamal.

The True History of the Kelly Gang

George MacKay, Essie Davis and Nicholas Hoult headline this film based on Peter Carey’s novel of the same name. It tells the story of Australian bush-ranger Ned Kelly.

Jungleland

Ok, we’ll be honest, we attended this screening 100% for the eye-candy. The film stars Charlie Hunnam and Jack O’Connell as brothers. The latter is a boxer, and the former is his manager and the film centres around their trip across country for a boxing match.

Hustlers

Because, obviously. This was the festivals break-out movie that led to immediate talk of J.Lo winning an Oscar. We’re still not over her work in Selena, but we’d love to see her win for her role as Ramona. The film, features an all-star female cast that includes the aforementioned J.Lo, Constance Wu, and Julia Stiles.

For more TIFF BTS, check out our TIFF 2019 Instagram Highlight!