The first weekend of TIFF is officially over, and it is safe to assume that most of the city is moving in a slower pace than normal. It has certainly been a whirlwind, as we kicked the festival off early on Wednesday night with the Producer’s Ball and the Young Filmmakers Party. Here are some social highlights of the first weekend from the Notable.ca team, as we opted to divide and conquer the TIFF circuit.
Friday, September 7
The Artists for Peace and Justice Cocktail Party was a hot ticket at Le Societe, which was co-hosted by Paul Haggis and George Stroumboulopoulos. The venue was packed to the point where we were amazed that we emerged without being spilled on, as familiar faces came together in the name of a good cause.
Toro Magazine’s After Dark party at the Hoxton kicked off the weekend on Friday night, which then slowly transitioned into She Does the City’s TIFF Edition with special guest DJ Fred Falke. We couldn’t quite tell when one party ended and the other started but, with the open bar being extended to midnight rather than its initial 10pm close, we weren’t complaining. Oh, and superstar DJ/producer Skrillex show up around 2:30am to take over the decks for a surprise performance after spending the day cruising the festival circuit.
Meanwhile, it was the AmfAR event back at the Shangri-La. The event faces we had grown familiar with over the festival thus far, including no shortage of homegrown talent and party circuit regulars. The rain couldn’t keep partygoers away, but thankfully the Shangri La supplied black umbrellas for guests to take with them on their merry way.
Saturday, September 8
A hot ticket for Saturday was the Artists for Peace and Justice event at a private mansion in Rosedale from 3:00pm-6:00pm, which included some of the biggest names in Hollywood and in Canadian and international music, as well as a performance by K’naan and Arcade Fire. Also in attendance were Chantal Kreviazuk and Jude Law.
We stopped by the Hello! Canada party at the Ritz Carlton. The party was packed full of talent from an assortment of Canadian and American productions (including faces from every major Canadian show, along with the Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev), all of whom were excited to see one another, toast their respective successes and make funny faces in the popular photo booth. We even saw Conrad Black.
Meanwhile, the ONEXONE Presents: an Intimate Evening with Ms. Lauryn Hill fundraiser concert took place at Toronto’s Kool Haus to raise money for children in need in Canada and around the world. Eight-time Grammy Award-winner Lauryn Hill electrified the stage and we had a cocktail with Toronto rapper Kardinal Offishall.
Next was the Courthouse for an eOne party. The packed venue was by far the most amped TIFF party we had been to. The dance floor was packed, the booze was flowing and all guests were definitely in fine Saturday night form. Pieces of gift bag content and discarded bags could be found throughout, and we are going to guess that quite a few bartenders left armed with goodies of their own.
Sunday, September 9
No sleep for us as we hit up a few can’t be discussed parties with A-listers (sorry, sworn to secrecy).
Next was The Sapphires private event. The girls from the film gave an intimate performance for the 50 or so guests. Then they opened up the stage and out came the karaoke to the guests. Imagine singing your favourite song and having The Sapphires as your background vocals! It was truly unforgettable. Even our Founder & Publisher, Julian Brass got on stage to test out his vocals.
Although we didn’t attend, many of our peers could be found at the Fashion Cares event at the Sony Centre, sadly the last year for the event. Guests were treated by a special performance by Elton John in a concert we were told was “amazing” and included Toronto’s own breakout star Jesse Labelle, who was recently featured in our Grey Goose Notables series.
We finished off the night at the SOHO House with some of the industry heavyweights.
Second photo courtesy Artists for Peace and Justice