CHECK OUR UPDATE - TIFF 2013 Hottest Parties List of venues to hit :)
Going to recommended celeb-spotting, Hermes-wearing, pinot-swigging night spots incognito, we're bringing you the low down via photos from an intrepid party animal with shifting identities. Keep your wits and cover your bits. We'll update as the week progresses from the point of view of the many people that make up a TIFF posse.
For the time being, check out the parties below and wing it. You may just get in.
Review : Young Filmmakers Party
Identity : Legit Media Correspondent
The one and only night our correspondent went as herself, Audio Blood Media threw a pretty nifty Brant House soiree as TIFF’s annual Young Filmmakers Party. Featuring live acoustic music sets, it was a rare time where you'd spot Toronto's trendiest indie kids in suits. A big part of the night actually started at the door, with a mandatory $5 cover that goes straight to the Riverton School in Jamaica. As all parties go, it started slow but revved up with the arrival of the band, Hill & The Sky Heroes. With delicious canapés of shrimp and bacon floating around the room, guests at the party seemed to have a nice, chilled out time, some opting to make it their main venue for the night.
Identity : Foreign Producer
The luxury beach club brand Nikki Beach tweaked the Spoke Club into a rich uncle's cabin, with trimmings from the South of France. This pop-up party is a posh respite, but slightly over-hyped. For those who have been to The Spoke before, it's patio feels the way it usually does - a smoke filled casbah with awkwardly comfortable seating and packed with far too many people, some rich, some beautiful, mostly all smart enough to be where the party goes to chill out at the end of the night.
Review : TIFF 2012 at Toronto’s Trump Hotel
Identity : Canadian Celebrity
Heralded as a "TIFF VIP" treatment, it's 31st floor Stock Restaurant featured a great selection of whisky and gin, much needed when there were less than 120 people around. It's panoramic view of the city, though awesome in many ways, seemed to fall short due to it being a little slip of a balcony, again with more chairs than standing room. Featuring “Old Glam Hollywood” pin-up girls and tastings of the Stock Chocolate Lab’s pastry creations by David Chow, we crammed little gift baggies full of sweets before heading into the night.
Review : The Shining at secret location by Young Lions Music Club
Identity : Canadian Celebrity
Heralded as a "TIFF VIP" treatment, it's 31st floor Stock Restaurant featured a great selection of whisky and gin, much needed when there were less than 120 people around. It's panoramic view of the city, though awesome in many ways, seemed to fall short due to it being a little slip of a balcony, again with more chairs than standing room. Featuring “Old Glam Hollywood” pin-up girls and tastings of the Stock Chocolate Lab’s pastry creations by David Chow, we crammed little gift baggies full of sweets before heading into the night.
Identity : Torontonian
This secret non-TIFF sanctioned TIFF party had the longest line we've seen at the festival.... which is saying something. A party themed along Kubrick's classic, The Shining, it was held at pop-up venue, The Overlook Hotel. "Guests" checked in via a skeezy back alley of Sneaky Dee's in room 237, which made it perfect. We blasted an entire night there, mixing art, live music and labatts blue. AL X, a beautiful duo dressed as the twins did make it a lil creepy at first. Already surrounded by mirrors with REDRUM scrawled out.... you couldn't help but look over your shoulder. Being within a group of young hip 20-somethings at the back of an alley is just a siren call for trouble. It was a great place to hang out with your new best buds as you toasted the fact that you weren't still standing in the line outside.
Review: Peaches does The Drake
Identity : Random person with big camera
The last in our series of party crashing shenanigans, we opted for the most obnoxious identity ever; that's right, the social photographer. Equipped with a massive 300-LED display, monopod, external mic and the requisite bigger-than-yours DSLR, our snoop essentially got in everyone's way as Peaches hit the stage. It was a madhouse within a circus, but it seemed fitting that our crazy camera set-up actually added to the night. People love having their photos taken at gigs like these, so we obliged with plenty of blown out shots, blurry exposures and dangling 50 lbs of gear above a packed house. Peaches was everything we expected her to be; brash, tight spandex, the embodiment of fetish meets lasers, accompanied by a mob of glittery dance people. We loved it so much, we shed sequins. For a show like that, you don't expect a perfect sound-system, it's not the point. The entire night was one fracking big party, sprinkled with bouncers, being shoved by gorgeous people, and by gum, shoving back with your own gorgeous self.
This secret non-TIFF sanctioned TIFF party had the longest line we've seen at the festival.... which is saying something. A party themed along Kubrick's classic, The Shining, it was held at pop-up venue, The Overlook Hotel. "Guests" checked in via a skeezy back alley of Sneaky Dee's in room 237, which made it perfect. We blasted an entire night there, mixing art, live music and labatts blue. AL X, a beautiful duo dressed as the twins did make it a lil creepy at first. Already surrounded by mirrors with REDRUM scrawled out.... you couldn't help but look over your shoulder. Being within a group of young hip 20-somethings at the back of an alley is just a siren call for trouble. It was a great place to hang out with your new best buds as you toasted the fact that you weren't still standing in the line outside.
Identity : Random person with big camera
The last in our series of party crashing shenanigans, we opted for the most obnoxious identity ever; that's right, the social photographer. Equipped with a massive 300-LED display, monopod, external mic and the requisite bigger-than-yours DSLR, our snoop essentially got in everyone's way as Peaches hit the stage. It was a madhouse within a circus, but it seemed fitting that our crazy camera set-up actually added to the night. People love having their photos taken at gigs like these, so we obliged with plenty of blown out shots, blurry exposures and dangling 50 lbs of gear above a packed house. Peaches was everything we expected her to be; brash, tight spandex, the embodiment of fetish meets lasers, accompanied by a mob of glittery dance people. We loved it so much, we shed sequins. For a show like that, you don't expect a perfect sound-system, it's not the point. The entire night was one fracking big party, sprinkled with bouncers, being shoved by gorgeous people, and by gum, shoving back with your own gorgeous self.