Singer Taylor Swift poses for a selfie with fans as she arrives to speak at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto on Sept. 9, 2022.MARK BLINCH/Reuters
Taylor Swift fans knew all too well that snagging tickets to see her at TIFF was a longshot. Yet that didn’t stop the hordes of Swifties (the official fan moniker) from lining up for hours under the scorching sun in hopes of scoring an even hotter last-minute seat.
The In Conversation With... Taylor Swift event was first announced on Sept. 2, just days before the festival kicked off. It featured the inaugural 35-millimetre screening of All Too Well: The Short Film, following the project’s digital release last November. A conversation with Swift and TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey about the film and bringing the music to life followed.
The mania to witness the conversation began at midnight when the first fans parked their lawn chairs on the pavement outside of the Bell TIFF Lightbox. The crowed swelled as the day wore on, with placard- and letter-carrying fans lining King St. West to catch a glimpse of the 32-year-old.
The four-star streaming war, now playing at TIFF 2022
Online was just as chaotic, where any remaining tickets snatched up to $5,000 each. When the Globe checked StubHub midday Friday, the last remaining ticket was listed for $1,898. Minutes later it was gone.
Many press members were also unable to secure entrance to the 522-seat cinema, although some trade publications fetched tickets from Swift’s personal publicity team. It was such a hot ticket that many who attended other press screenings throughout the day wondered whether that was what caused the massive TIFF ticket-purchasing problem over the long weekend, when many press and industry attendees—as well as TIFF members—had trouble securing their events. A representative from TIFF declined to comment on the rumour.
Fans who waited it out in-person on Friday were rewarded with a glimpse of the Grammy-winning star, as well as Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, who starred in the short alongside Dylan O’Brien. The pair walked the TIFF red carpet together and Swift stopped to take selfies and chat briefly with fans before taking her place onstage.
“Hi. There are so many things you could be doing with your time. Thank you for being with us,” Swift opened the screening. “It’s really meaningful to get to present this short film on 35-millimetre, because that’s how it was originally shot. We did this specifically for TIFF, so it’s really special that we get to be here.”
Following the screening, Swift and Bailey dove deeper into the film, which Swift initially made in conjunction with the re-recording and release of her album Red (Taylor’s Version). At the time, many fans dissected varying details about the extended song, which traces the three-month relationship between Swift and actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
It didn’t take long for the subject of the now-famous scarf from the video, which Dionne Warwick once implored Gyllenhaal to return, to come up.
“The scarf is a metaphor and we turned it red because red is a very important colour in this album, which is called Red,” Swift explained. “When I say it’s a metaphor, I’m just going to stop and I’m going to say thanks for the incredible question to whoever asked it. You’ve really taken us for a ride with that one.“
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