After being a coming attraction for seven years, Bell Lightbox will finally open on the first weekend of the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, the Star has learned.
TIFF’s long-awaited new home at King St. W. and John St., which has endured some difficult birth pangs, gives the organization a year-round presence in the city’s entertainment district.
Following the opening of the festival on Thursday, Sept. 9, TIFF will put the spotlight on the Lightbox, with a public opening set for Sunday, Sept. 12.
Detailed plans for the opening celebrations will be announced Friday in Cannes, France, with the aim of maximizing publicity throughout the international film world.
Designed by architect Bruce Kuwabara, the Lightbox has five screening auditoriums, gallerys for exhibitions, an enhanced film reference library and educational facilities as well as restaurants and bars suitable for social events.
In 2003, TIFF announced a partnership with filmmaker Ivan Reitman and his two sisters, whose family had for years owned the site (a former parking lot and onetime car wash) and the Daniels Group, a developer specializing in condos.
TIFF’s five-level podium is part of a complex that also includes a 46-storey residential tower.
Reaching its fundraising target of almost $200 million (including $129 million for the building itself plus money for operating costs and endowment) proved to be much more problematic than anticipated. As much as $40 million of that money may have to be raised after the building opens.
Nevertheless, the opening is sure to be one of Toronto’s hottest cultural/social events of the year.
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment...-open-for-tiff
Still 40 million dollars short of the goal....
