Last night I took in my first
Open Roof Festival screening of the season. For those unfamiliar with Open Roof, now in its fourth year, the festival runs Thursday nights throughout the summer from June 20th to August 22nd. This is the first year the ORF has been screening from its new location "The Moonview Lot" at 175 Queens Quay East (its previous home, the Amsterdam Brewery at 21 Bathurst St. has since relocated and the building has been torn down). I was a fan of the old location and its lovely skyline backdrop, but was excited to check out the new location and its promise of an even
more scenic venue (located close to the lake and across the street from
Sherbourne Common).
The Moonview Lot did not disappoint. It's located within a pocket of the city that is only recently starting to be built-up so it has a remote, low-traffic quality, which gives screenings a private feel. It faces the city from the opposite side (east) of the old location, and gives audiences an even clearer, less obstructed view of the skyline behind the stage/screen. My only complaint about the new location is that the bathrooms are located further from the screening area than they were at the last location (which is not to say they were close, but you didn't have to leave the venue to get to them).
The really great thing about the Open Roof Festival is it's more than just an outdoor screening of a movie, it's an entire evening of entertainment in one location for one low ticket price ($15). The movie is the main event, but before the movie there is food and a performance by a band, with different food vendors and performers for each screening. On this particular occasion, the food vendors were
Hot Bunzz and
FeasTO, both of which I had the yummy pleasure of sampling before at various Toronto food events.
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| Hot Bunzz being prepped for the oven. |
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| Delicious Hot Bunzz for all! |
Hot Bunzz were serving two kinds of "bunzz": a mushroom, 3-cheese and spinach bun and a Brazilian BBQ beef bun. I chose the former and it was delicious. Sold by the pair for $6 they were a bargain. At the FeasTO station I opted to grab a chicken Bahn Mi-style sandwich for $6 and it was another winner. It's true what they say:
everything is better with cilantro. Okay,
they don't say that but I do and I stand by it.
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| The folks at FeasTO busily prep their offerings. |
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| Chicken Bahn Mi sandwich anyone? HECK YES. |
After we filled our bellies with delicious foods we found our seats and watched
Chris Bottomley and his band perform. Having no knowledge of Chris Bottomley before the screening, I was expecting something tailored a little more to the tone of the film (oh, I'm getting to that) but instead we were treated to some very nice upbeat, funky rock. It's a tough job being the band at ORF screenings since most people are milling about getting their food, beer (the event is most definitely licensed) and seats but Chris Bottomley & co. did a good job of getting everyone in the mood for a fun evening. In addition to the food vendors I mentioned, there was a stand selling popcorn (duh -- it's still a movie guys!) and the girls selling it were dressed in bikinis and balaclavas, which was a nice touch given the movie we were about to watch.
Ahhh yes... you may have noticed mentions of the movie being screened have been conspicuously absent up until this point. That was deliberate. This was meant to be a review of the Open Roof Festival itself, so I wanted to focus on the venue and event and not the film. But yes of course we were there to watch a movie too. The movie screened last night was
Spring Breakers, directed by Harmony Korine. I liked it, but I knew what I was in for. Korine's films are certainly not for everyone. Suffice it to say, if you like so-bad-it's-good movies with a cast of former Disney actresses acting bad (double entendre), plenty of boobs and a Skrillex-heavy soundtrack, you'll enjoy it. If you find James Franco attractive, you might want to give it a skip as it might devastate you to see him in cornrows and grills.
A great night was had and I'm excited to take in at least one more Open Roof Festival screening before summer's end. Check it out!
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| Not a bad spot to watch a movie outdoors, amirite? Toronto! Lovely! |
Last night I took in my first Open Roof Festival screening of the season. For those unfamiliar with Open Roof, now in its fourth year, the festival runs Thursday nights throughout the summer from June 20th to August 22nd. This is the first year the ORF has been screening from its new location "The Moonview Lot" at 175 Queens Quay East (its previous home, the Amsterdam Brewery at 21 Bathurst St. has since relocated and the building has been torn down). I was a fan of the old location and its lovely skyline backdrop, but was excited to check out the new location and its promise of an even more scenic venue (located close to the lake and across the street from Sherbourne Common).
After we filled our bellies with delicious foods we found our seats and watched Chris Bottomley and his band perform. Having no knowledge of Chris Bottomley before the screening, I was expecting something tailored a little more to the tone of the film (oh, I'm getting to that) but instead we were treated to some very nice upbeat, funky rock. It's a tough job being the band at ORF screenings since most people are milling about getting their food, beer (the event is most definitely licensed) and seats but Chris Bottomley & co. did a good job of getting everyone in the mood for a fun evening. In addition to the food vendors I mentioned, there was a stand selling popcorn (duh -- it's still a movie guys!) and the girls selling it were dressed in bikinis and balaclavas, which was a nice touch given the movie we were about to watch.
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