TIFF tickets are being resold for outrageous prices and Toronto fans are fed up

Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the city's biggest film event of the year, is almost here, but instead of celebrating world premieres and celebrity sightings — as well as the beloved concessions treats — many locals are once again fuming over how impossible it's becoming to get tickets at a reasonable price.

The 2025 edition of TIFF, running from September 4 to 14, is once again being hindered by scalpers, as tickets scooped up en masse by resellers are being sold for exponentially high prices online.

On Reddit, longtime festivalgoers say the scalping frenzy is ruining TIFF for regular people.

One frustrated commenter wrote, "Resale tickets add no value to the festival. Only making it more inaccessible." While another chimed in, "I've had to resell some of my tickets … only for face value. Anyone else who looks to make a profit is a douchebag."

But profit is exactly what resellers are after. Users reported spotting tickets to popular premieres listed for hundreds — and sometimes thousands — of dollars above their original cost. Apparently, scalpers are trying to rake in big bucks with director Tim Mielants' much-anticipated Steve. 

According to one Redditor, Steve, premiere tickets were listed at $1,200 on StubHub last week, $400 more than the highest resale price another TIFF-goer saw on the site last year.

Another astonishing example includes Matt Johnson's Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. Johnson's films will be part of TIFF's Midnight Madness series, and tickets on StubHub are already beyond the means of many — they're starting at $218.

The Sept. 4 11:59 p.m. screening of the film at the Royal Alexandra Theatre has tickets with an actual face value of $38 reselling for over ten times that price, starting at $395, with a week to go before the show.

StubHub

For context, most TIFF screenings aren't supposed to break the bank. This year, regular screenings start at $17 and premium screenings at $27; the latter seems to be the priciest face-value tickets on the official TIFF site.

These skyrocketing resale values are forcing movie-lovers to ask one question: how is this allowed?

One Reddit user vented, making a valid point and even looping the government into the mess: "I think all ticket resales for profit, whether it's TIFF or concerts, should be illegal. Or, at the very least, capped at something reasonable. So, for example, you can't recoup more than 10 per cent over the actual ticket price."

They continue, making a key point: "It's stupid that the Ontario government scrapped that law that would have limited scalping prices." 

Some longtime TIFF-goers also reminisce on the good old days when they could line up at the box office and walk away with hard tickets in hand. Wasn't it just so much easier when people could head to the ticket windows instead of battling bots and scalpers online? 

With TIFF celebrating its 50th edition this year, Toronto film lovers are finding it harder than ever to participate in a festival that once prided itself on accessibility.

Some suggested solutions include reinstating anti-scalping laws or having TIFF verify transfers to ensure tickets can only be sold at face value. For now, though, many Toronto residents are left watching from the sidelines as resale platforms rake in massive profits.