Events at Toronto's TIFF Lightbox in conjunction with Designing 007

The Domino Effect

Was just on the website for Designing 007: 50 Years of Bond Style for it's stop in Toronto starting October 26th and noticed a couple of events in conjunction with the exhibition (more details to follow):

Shaken, Not Stirred: Bond on Film. October 27 - January 20, 2013. As the highest-grossing and longest-standing franchise in film history, TIFF Bell Lightbox will feature the twenty-two official Bond films made by EON.

Bond vs Blofeld. October 26-27. The six films from the series in which Bond battles with his arch-nemesis, criminal mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld, will screen back-to-back from Friday October 26 at 7pm until Saturday October 27 at 1pm.

In Conversation With...John Glen. December 10, 7pm. One of the longest-serving members of the 007 production team, editor John Glen joins us on December 10 to discuss his more than 20 years of work on the James Bond franchise and share his behind-the-scenes insights about the legendary series.

http://tiff.net/bond

TheComplex

I've had the good fortune to twice visit the Designing 007 props, costumes, artwork, etc. exhibition at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, as well as take in ten (so far) Bond films on the big screen at the Lightbox theaters. I haven’t really heard any discussion on CBN about this exhibit since it’s been in Canada and was wondering if anyone else has had the chance to attend. It’s well worth it if you’re within a reasonable driving distance.

Has anyone been to any of the Bond film screenings at the Lightbox? To kick-off the exhibition in October, the theater held an over-night marathon called “Bond vs. Blofeld”, showing the six films in which Blofeld appears, back-to-back. FRWL began at 7pm on Friday and FYEO finished the event at 11am the following morning. Needless to say, it was a unique and memorable experience. Also tiring. My fiancée was a trooper and made it through the night with only a quick nap during OHMSS (though she should have put it off until DAF…).

We were then able to attend screenings of DN, which was introduced by costume designer Lindy Hemming (GE to CR, and also Nolan’s Batman Trilogy) and GF later on that same Saturday evening. I’ve subsequently seen TMWTGG and TWINE on a separate weekend, and will be making the trek back to Toronto next week to attend a discussion with John Glen, who will also view OP with the audience. Pretty cool opportunity.

Anyways, back to the film screenings and a question: though I’ve been a Bond fan since ’94 (age 10), the first film I saw in theaters was, unfortunately, DAD, so it has been quite the experience being able to see the Bond films on the big screen as they were meant to be seen, particularly all six of Connery’s and OHMSS. However, I was a bit puzzled when I realized that not all of the films were shown in restored prints with surround-sound. DN, FRWL, GF, TB, YOTL, OHMSS, & DAF were all pristine. I’m assuming these were all digital copies (possibly a Blu-Ray transfer? Forgive my lack of knowledge on theater projection…) Yet, old film-stock and audio was used for TMWTGG, FYEO, and TWINE. So my question is: has anyone else attended any films, and if so, what was the picture and sound quality of each film? I was surprised that whoever provided the film prints wouldn’t have provided restored copies of all 22 films, rather than just seven (or so) new prints. I inquired with the guy at the box office, but he had no idea. As expected.

Regardless, as I said before, it’s been a great experience seeing Bond on the big screen. I’m hoping I can make it over to Toronto once more (or twice?) after John Glen’s discussion next week. I'll only have 8 films left to see in the theater, so now I'm on a mission to get that done (in my lifetime….).