Every September, Toronto changes.

The sidewalks feel busier. Restaurants get harder to book. Hotel lobbies suddenly become interesting. King Street has a different energy. People dress like they might accidentally end up in the background of a red-carpet photo.

And for about ten days, the city feels like it is paying a little more attention to itself.

The Toronto International Film Festival returns September 10–20, bringing Canadian and international cinema, filmmakers, media, industry professionals and movie lovers into Toronto.

But here is the thing.

In fact, some of the best parts of festival season happen outside the theatre.

If you like discovering the city, trying something different, people-watching, eating somewhere new or simply being around the energy of a major cultural event, TIFF can become an excuse to experience Toronto differently.

And that sounds exactly like our kind of thing.

01 · Walk Walk Through the Festival Instead of Just Attending It

There is something different about downtown Toronto during TIFF.

You may not know exactly what is happening behind every barricade or outside every hotel, but you can feel that something is happening.

So walk.

Start around the TIFF Bell Lightbox on King Street West and wander.

Don’t make the goal getting somewhere quickly. Make the walk itself part of the night.

Take in the crowds. Watch the photographers. Notice the patios. See which restaurants suddenly have lineups. Listen to the conversations around you.

For once, allow yourself to experience downtown Toronto like someone visiting it for the first time.

02 · Eat Build a Night Around Dinner, Not a Screening

Everybody talks about the movies.

But TIFF is also one of the best excuses of the year to say:

Choose the restaurant first.

Maybe somewhere you normally save for an occasion. Maybe a tiny place you’ve walked past twenty times. Maybe somewhere known for cocktails. Maybe a cuisine you’ve never tried.

Then build the rest of the evening around it.

Dinner. Walk. Drinks. People-watching. Maybe live music afterwards.

No movie ticket required.

Sometimes the best night out starts when you stop trying to make one activity carry the whole evening.

03 · Watch Sit Somewhere and People-Watch

This may be one of the cheapest TIFF activities.

Find a patio, café, restaurant window, hotel bar or busy corner and sit down.

Toronto becomes an unusually interesting people-watching city during the festival.

There are film fans. People from the industry. Journalists. Visitors. Locals hoping to spot someone famous. People dressed like they’re attending a premiere.

And people who clearly had no idea TIFF was happening until they tried to drive through King Street.

The fun isn’t necessarily identifying anybody.

It’s watching the city change character for a few days.

04 · Listen Go Somewhere With Live Entertainment

A film festival doesn’t mean you need to spend every night watching films.

Quite the opposite.

TIFF brings people into the city who are already in the mood to experience something.

Look for live comedy. A jazz room. An R&B singer. Spoken word. A small theatre. A gallery opening. A DJ playing somewhere unexpected.

Toronto has plenty of entertainment that exists somewhere between a concert, a club and a movie theatre.

Festival week is a great time to look for it.

05 · Discover Explore a Gallery or Pop-Up

TIFF is ultimately a celebration of storytelling and creativity.

Why stop at film?

Toronto has galleries, installations, independent exhibitions, pop-ups and creative spaces that many of us walk past without entering.

This is one of those times when you should.

Even if contemporary art isn’t normally your thing.

Actually, especially if contemporary art isn’t normally your thing.

Walk into a room without knowing whether you’ll like what’s inside. Give something unfamiliar ten minutes.

Maybe you’ll hate it.

Maybe you’ll discover something.

Either outcome is more interesting than staying home.

06 · Wander Visit Yorkville and See a Different Side of TIFF

King Street gets much of the attention during festival season, but TIFF energy doesn’t stay on one street.

Yorkville has long been associated with festival hotels, restaurants, events and celebrity sightings.

You don’t need to stand outside a hotel waiting for somebody famous to emerge.

Just make Yorkville part of the night.

Walk around. Grab dessert. Have a drink. Explore the side streets.

Observe Toronto temporarily pretending to be just a little bit Hollywood.

There is something amusing about it.

07 · Spot Celebrity Spot — Without Becoming Weird

Let’s admit it.

A lot of people love TIFF because there is always the possibility of seeing someone famous standing fifteen feet away.

That’s part of the fun.

But there is a difference between casually spotting someone and spending four hours pressed against a hotel entrance.

Enjoy the possibility.

Don’t make it the entire mission.

Walk around the festival areas. Keep your eyes open. If you happen to see someone, great.

If you don’t, you still had a night in the city.

That is a much better deal.

08 · Date Turn TIFF Into a Date Night

TIFF might quietly be one of Toronto’s best date-night opportunities.

Not because of the movies themselves.

Because the festival gives you an excuse to create a night with multiple chapters.

Dinner.

Walk King Street.

Grab a drink.

Find a screening if something interests you.

Or skip the movie and find live entertainment.

Get dessert.

Walk somewhere else.

Suddenly you’ve spent four or five hours together without sitting across a table trying to manufacture conversation.

That’s one reason we think the future of going out is becoming less about a single destination and more about the entire evening.

09 · Explore Leave the TIFF Bubble

Here is where we become a little Out of the Ordinary.

TIFF happens in Toronto.

Toronto does not happen only at TIFF.

One of the best things festival season can do is put you in the mood to explore the rest of the city.

Go east.

Go west.

Find something in Scarborough.

Find a restaurant in North York you’ve never visited.

Look for a cultural event.

Find an independent comedy show.

Explore a neighbourhood you normally only drive through.

The city does not suddenly become interesting because celebrities arrive.

They just remind us to look.

10 · Participate Let TIFF Remind You to Actually Use Your City

This might be the most important one.

Big events change our behaviour.

During TIFF, Nuit Blanche, major concerts or festivals, people suddenly decide they should go somewhere.

They make reservations.

They meet friends.

They stay downtown later.

They discover restaurants.

They walk through neighbourhoods.

They participate.

Then the event ends and many of us return to the same routine.

Work.

Home.

Streaming.

Repeat.

Maybe the real value of festival season is the reminder.

There are things happening around us all the time.

Some are huge.

Some have fifty people in a room.

Some involve famous actors.

Some involve a musician you’ve never heard of.

Some are five minutes from your house.

The interesting part is deciding to go.