TIFF Bell Lightbox
363 King Street W,
Toronto,
ON
1K1
363 King Street W,
Toronto,
ON
1K1
1 person
favorited this theater
Related Websites
TIFF Bell Lightbox (Official)
Additional Info
Firms: KPMB Architects
Functions: Movies (Classic), Movies (Film Festivals), Movies (Foreign), Movies (Independent)
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
416.968.3456
Nearby Theaters
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Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
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Variety Theatre
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Toronto Underground Cinema
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State Theatre
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Four Seasons 1 & 2
News About This Theater
- Dec 29, 2010 — 'URGENT PUBLISH TODAY' 70mm LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
- Dec 14, 2010 — Exclusive one month engagement of "2001" in Toronto
- Nov 23, 2010 — 70mm classics coming to Bell Lightbox in Toronto
Purpose built for the Toronto International Film Festival, the TIFF Bell Lightbox will be open all year round. Designed by architectural firm KPMB Architects, it has 5 auditoriums, with a total seating exceeding 1,300. Also included are two galleries, three learning studios, a center for students & scholars, and a restaurant.
The TIFF Bell Lightbox opened on September 12, 2010.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
September 2, 2010 Canadian Jewish news article & photo of building’s exterior:
View link
16mm,35mm and digital
Seats,approximately, Cinema:
1 549 Both film projection and digital capabilities
2 350 Both film projection and digital capabilities
3 250 Both film projection and digital capabilities
4 150 Both film projection and digital capabilities
5 80 Strictly digital
WOW! Cinema 1 can show 70mm films!
What other theaters in Canada can show 70mm?
The main floor has the gift shop, an exhibition hall (currently Tim Burton, the last exhibition coordinated with TIFF’s Essential 100 Films), box office and Canteen (excellent place to grab a quick bite). The second floor has Luna (a sit down restaurant), Theaters 1, 2, and 3 (I’ve been in 1 and 3 – both screens seemed a bit higher than the could have been but otherwise flawless sound and design, I think 3 was a reel to reel house), and a snack bar. The third floor has theaters 4 and 5, classrooms and offices.
Upon opening 4 and 5 were used for exhibitions, including 8 ½ Screens, an instillation by Atom Egoyan in which the seating area was draped with white screens and the projector (placed on the stage) projected images from 8 ½ directly onto the screens.
I’m hoping at some point in my academic career to explore the resources they have for film scholars, it’s also worth noting this is in the same neighborhood as the National Film Board’s Toronto Mediateque.
Theatre 1 can not only show 70mm; it shall be doing so soon, including “2001, A Space Odyssey,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “Playtime.” I just posted a new item about it; it should appear in a few days.
This listing shows information about the 70mm status of theaters outside the U.S.: http://www.redballoon.net/current70mmforeign.html It was updated as of July of this year.
The companion list for the U.S. is here: http://www.redballoon.net/current70mmus.html
Chris, Beat me to it, I was going to add those 3 movies to Theater News.
The reason I asked about theaters in Canada that can show 70mm is because I THINK I saw something about TIFF Bell Lightbox being the only theater in Canada that can show 70mm???
I know that Museum of Civilization, in Gatineau, Quebec can run 70mm because they had a 70mm festival this past September (see here: http://www.in70mm.com/news/2010/canada/index.htm)) Te Cinesphere. I would also bet the Cinesphere on Toronto’s lakefront can (they used to run 70mm fairly regularly).
The theatre at the Ontario Science Centre was equipped with Philips 35/70mm projection equipment. Now whether or not this is still the case I don’t know. I remember seeing the 70mm Todd-AO production of Cleopatra there years ago when film critic Gerald Pratley ran the Ontario Film Theatre at that location. The only other 70mm film I saw at the Science Centre was a special print of the early 50’s 3-D thriller House of Wax. The left and right hand 1.37 images were printed side by side onto the wide 70mm frame. Gerald and I experimented with the special projection lenses and aperture plates and finally managed to get a perfect stereoscopic image on the screen. Gerald, a normally reserved man, was elated when he saw what well projected 3-D could look like. The realistic looking images we saw on the screen that day sure beat the pants off some of the recent flat films that have been converted to 3-D such as Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans.
This webpage has several pictures of the interior spaces of the TIFF Bell Lightbox; one is of Cinema 1, which is the largest and the one which is 70mm capable: View link
This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-published article “70mm Presentations in Toronto: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1956-Present”.