TIFF Bell Lightbox

363 King Street W,
Toronto, ON 1K1

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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

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News About This Theater

TIFF Bell Lightbox Theatre 1

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

Recent comments (view all 10 comments)

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on September 15, 2010 at 6:42 am

September 2, 2010 Canadian Jewish news article & photo of building’s exterior:
View link

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois
Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on November 20, 2010 at 7:15 am

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

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois
Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on November 21, 2010 at 8:48 pm

WOW! Cinema 1 can show 70mm films!

What other theaters in Canada can show 70mm?

John Fink
John Fink on November 21, 2010 at 9:16 pm

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.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on November 21, 2010 at 9:25 pm

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

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois
Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on November 23, 2010 at 7:44 am

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???

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on November 23, 2010 at 9:13 am

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).

Jon Lidolt
Jon Lidolt on November 23, 2010 at 11:17 am

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.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on December 14, 2010 at 7:12 pm

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

MSC77
MSC77 on August 26, 2023 at 4:15 pm

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”.

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