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| Toronto International Film Festival 2012 TIFF |
Aug 25 2012 – For several years now I have been volunteering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), considered one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world, screening more than 300 films from 60+ countries, and with total attendance last year nearing 300,000. To make TIFF possible, it relies on government funding, a long list of sponsors, and most importantly, the time and energy of 1000s of volunteers. To be exact, almost 2,300 volunteers are needed to put on the 2012 event. Mind boggling if you think of the logistics that must occur to place that many people in so many roles, across 10 theatre venues and 11 departments.
TIFF has been running since 1976, so when I started volunteering in 2009, I thankfully found the process to be seamless. The TIFF Volunteer Office does a stellar job. After filling in an online application, and getting your acceptance email, you are ready to log on to the Volunteer Hub, set up a profile and wait for instructions. The first requirement is to attend a volunteer session. For me, this is probably the least enjoyable, especially if you are a returning volunteer. You wait for them to explain what’s new, go over the rules, and the rewards. The last thing is to fill out your form (with paper and pencil) to select your top 2 volunteer positions. I would be much happier watching a video, and filling my form online. Would save a bunch of poor volunteers from mindless data entry too… Then you wait for them to tell you whether you got your picks.
The rules are quite straight-forward – You must abide by the TIFF code of conduct, sign up for a minimum of 4 shifts, no talking to the press, movie stars, or industry, and you must wear the you-can’t-get-any-brighter orange volunteer t-shirt.
But there are payoffs, many in fact.
1) For every 8 hours worked, you get one (two if you are a captain) reward voucher, redeemable for a movie screening or towards a discount on TIFF membership or merchandise. Works out to a $20 ticket value or $2.50/hour for a volunteer’s time. Pretty good when you think volunteers generally make nothing, and the reward is totally in line with what volunteers love – movies. Then again nobody is doing this for the financial rewards ;-)
2) Once you have signed up for 4 shifts, you get your loot bag. This is a TIFF branded collector bag that includes your you-can’t-get-any-brighter orange volunteer t-shirt and other goodies. This year it included a bottle of diet coke, condoms, Audi sponsored breath mints, and a freezer friendly lunch tupper – along with a large assortment of coupons, a magazine, etc. The Timberland-sponsored Festival walking map was a nice addition created by Toronto artist Jillian Ditner. It’s cute and all, but could have been more practical by including more than just the TIFF venues – how about hotels, TTC, or Tim Horton’s restaurants? Out of towners (and there are plenty of them) will appreciate it.
2) Post-TIFF, and after completing your minimum 4 shifts, you can attend the Volunteer party. I assume this is probably enjoyed more by younger TIFF volunteers who don’t have to wake up early the next morning to work. It’s held on the last day of the festival and the location is kept secret till you get your tickets. I have never gone, if you have, tell me about it!
4) To top it off, returning volunteers are invited to a free movie 3 weeks before the festival starts. It’s first-come first-serve, and the movie is kept secret till it screens. This year’s movie was On the Road, last year’s was Starbuck– both excellent and highly recommended!
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| TIFF 2012 Volunteer Loot Bag |
My next TIFF duty is pre-festival training on September 2nd. Again, not the most enjoyable of requirements but necessary for TIFF to work as well as it does. Most theatre jobs can be learned on site when you arrive – it’s pretty basic stuff. The key is landing the job you want. I personally like to get inside theatre, so you can catch parts of the movie after everyone is seated.
All in all, if you love movies and want to give back, I highly recommend volunteering at TIFF. You meet some nice people, are contributing to a fabulous international festival, and have some fun too.
If you are looking to volunteer, all the placements are full for 2012, however you can sign up for next year.
Are you going to TIFF? If so, what are you planning on seeing?
Stay tuned this September for some awesome T-Mak World coverage of Midnight Madness films as we usually do.
Hi there,
Stumbled across your blog through google — just curious as this was my first year applying to volunteer at tiff — when are volunteers generally notified? It’s been a while now and I’m starting to get my hopes up!
Cheers,
O
Hi I’m thinking on volunteering in this TIFF 2014 but I was wondering if you have to show an ID so they know you are 18