TIFF etiquette: Rules of engagement - TIFF 2010 Street Level - Action News
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TIFF etiquette: Rules of engagement - TIFF 2010 Street Level

TIFF etiquette: Rules of engagement

etiquetterules.jpg

JD_photo.jpgChris Berube.jpgBy Jonathan Doyle and Chris Berube, citizen contributors





Offence: Bringing food or drinks into the theatre
Acceptability: Very low
J.D.: You can't even buy food or drinks at some venues, which is particularly problematic if you're spending 80 per cent of your waking hours in screenings. If you're really immersed in the festival, sneaking the occasional food or drink into a screening is a must.
C.B.: I've actually seen those volunteers who wear night-vision goggles to stop piracy pull people aside because they brought in a candy bar.
J.D.: Maybe that's the real reason for the night-vision goggles: candy control.

Offence: Making noise during the anti-piracy message
Acceptability: Acceptable, but getting old
J.D.: I really don't care for the whole "arrrgh" pirate thing that some people still insist on doing whenever the piracy warning appears onscreen. It definitely started getting old - like  three years ago.
C.B.: I don't know if I'm as annoyed by it as you are. I think it's become kind of a cute tradition at the festival. One of the reasons that I try and see movies at TIFF is that audiences take more licence to react to what's going on onscreen. There's applause, and heckling, and it's all welcome.

Offence: Texting and Tweeting
Acceptability: Increasingly acceptable (unfortunately)
C.B.:  Actually, I've noticed that it's become more and more acceptable. I love how TIFF attendees feel the need to tell everyone what they've seen as soon as it happens. I'm very guilty of this, but I'm also a hypocrite.  

Offence: Walking out of a movie midway
Acceptability: Usually fine
C.B.: Some films at TIFF practically beg to be stormed out of. When TIFF screens movies from divisive and confrontational filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard, Harmony Korine, and Gaspar Noe, it is seen as a weird badge of honour by the filmmakers if some members of the audience walk out.
J.D.: There are occasional walkouts at public screenings - we saw a few at Thursday's subtitle-free screening of Film Socialism - but most TIFF filmgoers seem to pride themselves on being able to sit through anything. Journalists walk out more frequently, as they have other obligations on their hands, including deadlines, interviews ... and parties. A friend once told me that he saw a critic (who shall remain nameless) walk out halfway through a press screening of Appaloosa. Right after the screening ended, this friend discovered that the critic had already posted a review on his blog, despite skipping the second half.

Offence: Applauding at the end of a film
Acceptability: Not just acceptable, but necessary
J.D.: There's an equation for this: applause level = audience enthusiasm x number of guests from the movie. I'm Still Here got some of the most muted applause I've ever heard because a) there were no guests and b) it was far more odd and confrontational than most people were expecting. I saw the opposite scenario at the first Juno screening in 2007. Most of the crowd loved it and there was something like 15 guests, so the applause was deafening.

Offence: Napping during the movie
Acceptability: Not encouraged, but acceptable
J.D.: It's generally seen as odd to nap during a movie, but it's fairly common during TIFF because of the crazy hours that so many people keep.
C.B.: Yes, I actually did that once. It was during a 9 a.m. screening of Steven Soderbergh's 3 1/2-hour Che Guevara biopic, and I had started my day with a breakfast burrito - big mistake.
J.D.: I was also at that screening. And I managed to stay awake for the whole thing. But that screening had it all. Including intermission, it was roughly four hours long and there's no snack bar at the Ryerson theatre, so people were hungry/thirsty, checking their mobile devices, walking out, falling asleep, etc. You couldn't ask for a better case study on the challenges and nuances of TIFF etiquette.

You can follow Jonathan and Chris throughout #TIFF10 on Twitter at @media_party and @chrisberube



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