TIFF already encountering issues as screenings cancelled on first day of festival

The 48th Toronto International Film Festival officially kicked off on Thursday, but filmgoers are already reporting major issues on day one of TIFF 2023, including cancelled screenings.

Festivalgoers hoping to catch Thursday morning's North American premiere screening of Jason Yu's feature horror film, Sleep, at Scotiabank Theatre were left in the dark after an issue with the theatre's IMAX software forced the cancellation of the planned 8:55 a.m. showtime.

Software update for IMAX for Sleep at Scotia this morning, screening now delayed for a bit #TIFF23 pic.twitter.com/V8VRZANxxq

— Rachel West @ #TIFF23 (@rachel_is_here) September 7, 2023

Frustrated fans took to X (formerly Twitter) to comment on the festival's rocky start.

Welp, off to a poor start at #TIFF as the IMAX screen for SLEEP had a technical issue causing the screening to be cancelled

— Matt Neglia @TIFF (@NextBestPicture) September 7, 2023

blogTO reporter Jason Gorber was on the scene as the chaos unfolded, and confirms that two separate screenings at Scotiabank Theatre's number 12 theatre were cancelled today due to technical issues.

A unique and specialized procedure to load film into the IMAX server reportedly failed, preventing the file from playing correctly.

This issue threatens to interrupt all planned screenings in Scotiabank's theatre 12 and create cascading scheduling issues for the festival

"TIFF has yet to formally announce makeup screenings, and international buyers, programmers, and journalists were notably frustrated at what's far more than first-day jitters," reports Gorber.

The technical issues come just weeks after the late August resignation of former TIFF COO Beth Janson, a role which would have overseen the technical aspects of the festival in the weeks and months leading up to today.

A similar issue occurred earlier this summer when a debut screening of the hotly-anticipated film Oppenheimer in one of the only two IMAX 70mm-equipped theatres in Canada suffered a hiccup that interrupted the show.

On TIFF opening day, Oppenheimer-style IMAX issues continue to plague theatres. Already one screening has been cancelled, and another delayed with possible cancellation at Scotiabank. These reels are tough to run — especially with vanishing of IMAX technicians and projectionists

— Jackson Weaver (@jacksonwweaver) September 7, 2023

Film buffs hoping to make a pit stop encountered even more day-one problems, with one of the women's washrooms out of order and being attended to by a plumber.

And the upstairs women’s bathroom at Scotia is out of order and a plumber is in there. Great start to #TIFF23

— Rachel West @ #TIFF23 (@rachel_is_here) September 7, 2023

blogTO has reached out to TIFF seeking comment on the first-day hiccups, though there has been no official statement from festival organizers.