Image Courtesy / TIFF

If you’re planning on catching a flick or two this year at TIFF — and we insist you do —here’s a trusty guide for what might be just right for you!

Indie, art house lovers are always in luck. You’ve just got to do your research beforehand. This year’s top pick is Like Crazy. A modern but classic love story, it spans borders (literally), as an American and Brit imagine how to stay together when one’s visa runs out.
Other notables: Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene, Restless, Melancholia, Take Shelter, Twixt, The Lady, The Artist.

If you’re in the mood for a foreign film, check out Pedro Almodovar’s latest, The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas as a plastic surgeon who creates a new synthetic skin.
Other notables: A Better Life, Elles, Gypsy, Chicken With Plums, Mausam, Café de flore, From Up On Poppy Hill, Union Square, Footnote.

Cancer comedy 50/50 starring Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, along with Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends with Kids, starring Jon Hamm, Megan Fox and Adam Scott are top picks. And of course, there’s Your Sister’s Sister, starring Emily Blunt and the underrated Rosemarie DeWitt.

As far as drama is concerned, this just may be the year of Ryan Gosling and George Clooney (again), who team up for political thriller The Ides of March, and each star in Drive and The Descendants, respectively. Other notables: Shame, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Moneyball, Albert Nobbs, W.E., Salmon Fishing In The Yemen.

Don’t forget the Canadians! Probably the talk of the festival—aside from Clooney—is David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, starring Michael Fassbender, Viggo Mortensen and Keira Knightley. Sarah Polley also returns with Take This Waltz, oddly pairing Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen for the dark comedy.

And if there’s one documentary you have time to catch, make it Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam Twenty, commemorating Pearl Jam’s twentieth anniversary. Other notables: Crazy Horse, From the Sky Down, I’m Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful.

Your best TIFF tips:

By Aly Kassam

Getting tickets

Didn’t buy a ticket package in time? Don’t sweat it. Single ticket sales begin on Sept. 3 online, in person and on the phone. Students can purchase single tickets to regular screenings for $15.04 and premium screenings for $25.00 (regular $38.27). Premium tickets guarantee that the screening is a world or North American premiere and a red carpet event.

In person: 225 King St. W.

Phone: 416-599-TIFF

Online: http://tiff.net/thefestival

Last minute TIFF

Tickets are available throughout the Festival. If a screening is sold out, you can “rush” it, which involves lining up outside the theatre before a screening. If there are extra seats, staff will let you buy a ticket. Use common sense based on a film’s popularity to decide how early to line up.

Star spotting

For many people, TIFF is less about the films and more about celebrity stalking. If you’re willing to take chances, try hanging around upscale restaurants in Yorkville or popular hotels like the Fairmont Royal York. Your best bet for photographs and autographs is to join other fans outside red carpet screenings.