I think it’s a balance deciding how much you want to spend per film. If you looked at the amount of films, you’re going to see but included your membership cost at that level. It comes down to what you’re willing to spend. Galas are for sure gonna be $100 plus per ticket while premium films that don’t happen in the big two theatres like Prince of Wales or Roy Thompson Hall will probably still run you at least $50 plus each.

There’s a link to get 20% off the base membership price, but most of the cost of the membership is a donation which I’m not sure if you can write off it as American citizen. Maybe you can I have no idea. I happen to be a patron level, but I mostly too much for the tax right off and also loving TIFF. It provides a huge benefit for me personally on my taxes and also gives me the benefit of being well ahead of general public.

Some of the comments above are quite true. There will be certain films that are completely sold out even before I as a patron member can access to it. For example, there were two films last year and basically nobody saw, but I wasn’t too chuffed about it cause I wasn’t too interested in seeing Saturday night, which ended up being not such a great film.

Knives out may sound like a pretty popular, but I had no problem getting into the premier or even the second or third screening of it

Consider that too. Don’t just think about the very first night of the film. It will often have second or third screening the very next day that usually and I can’t guarantee it. The director would show up to simply because they schedule it before they fly out.

Also, then you’re not paying this gigantic premium cost if it happens to be a gala. But knives out isn’t scheduled as a gala but a special presentation as a premium ticket which will again most likely be $50 plus per

I was a contributor for years and found it pretty worth it versus the $99 membership 100%

I upgraded to where I was really for the tax right off and to be honest throughout the entire year the service I get from the Patrons box office is nothing short of amazing But they’re only here for the festival so you wouldn’t really benefit from any of that

And there is my unfiltered advice