Vanguard Mascot Battle Contender #3

Pew! Pew! Pew! Splosions! Wonder!

It's that time again. The time when the most coveted award in all of TIFF is up for the taking.

We are talking about, of course, Vanguard Mascot Battle, in which several people, insects, animals and even inanimate objects compete for the coveted title of Official Vanguard Blog Mascot.

Our final contender is going to have some rough competition with the chicken and Once and Future Vanguard Mascot Joe Swanberg.

The chicken has all the powers of a chicken and a pedigree traceable to the age of the dinosaurs. Joe Swanberg has all the powers of being a good sport and probably deserving better than being drawn into our Mascot Battle, but he probably doesn't know since he's directing/acting in/producing fifty movies simultaneously right this moment. But that doesn't detract from the might of our next contender...

Name: Iconic Director Bruce McDonald's Iconic Cowboy Hat.

Also Known As: Bruce McDonald's Cowboy Hat; "Man, what a sweet hat."

Description: Straw cowboy hat, well-worn, with a lot of character.

Strengths: Protecting from the sun's glare and other bright lights; Preventing sunburn on the scalp; Looking pretty sweet; Biding.

Weaknesses: Strong winds; Possibly moths or carpet beetles; Definitely goats; Being inanimate.

See how happy the cowboy hat makes Bruce McDonald? We could all be this happy.

Signature Moves: Setting; Being cocked; Reblocking; Going really well with a men's shirt with a floral design, especially if it's embroidered by one's pa.

Why Bruce McDonald's Cowboy Hat would make a good replacement Vanguard Blog mascot for the Giant Novelty Pencil from the Keswick Pencil Museum in Ben Wheatley's Sightseers:

Bruce McDonald's Cowboy hat is equally inanimate and yet has far greater stature than the Giant Novelty Pencil from the Keswikc Pencil Museum. It has a quiet dignity that we can all admire. It could easily contain the Midnight Madness blog's isopod and at least distract the chicken. The only real challenge to the hat is Joe Swanberg. Will Swanberg's acting skills allow him to successfully wear the hat--or will the cowboy hat seem to wear him?

The hat isn't in Bruce McDonald's Hellions, but you can feel its presence... 

The 2015 Vanguard Mascot Battle: Contender #1

Boom! Sparkles! Sparkles! Sparkles!

It's that time again. The time when the most coveted award in all of TIFF is up for the taking.

We are talking about, of course, Vanguard Mascot Battle, in which several people, insects, animals and even inanimate objects compete for the coveted title of Official Vanguard Blog Mascot.

Sure, the Midnight Madness blog makes do with an unofficial mascot, the giant isopod. But here at Vanguard, we like to do things right--with a no holds barred battle.

And this year, there is an obvious choice for Vanguard Mascot, one candidate who has won our hearts...

That's right, this chicken from Men & Chicken.

Name: Chicken

Also known as: Gallus gallus domesticus; "Red Junglefowl"; "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner"

Description: Chicken.

 Strengths: Scratching; Pecking; Terrifying Werner Herzog.

Weaknesses: Flightless; Foxes; Hypnotism; Coyotes; Being Delicious; Curry.

 Signature moves: Scratching; Roosting; Pecking; Rooster Fist

 

Rooster Mo'fo'ing Fist

Finishing moves: Fostering Existential Dread; "The Enormity of their Flat Brain." (Seriously, have you seen, The Chickening?)

Why the Chicken would make a good replacement Vanguard Blog mascot for the Giant Novelty Pencil from the Keswick Pencil Museum in Ben Wheatley's Sightseers:

Chickens, like Vanguard films,  are pretty. Though he hasn't officially entered, word on the street is that Joe Swanberg is this year's Comeback Kid. He obviously produced and took a role in Lace Crater to be eligible for the title again. Well, you might be on top of the evolutionary chain now, Joe Swanberg, and this chicken might only be in one movie, but chickens remember a time when things were different, a time when chickens--or at least a common ancestor shared by chickens and dinosaurs--ruled the earth. At least this chicken would, if chickens had very good memories.  And this chicken is the contender most likely to be able to defeat the Midnight Madness Isopod mascot, if it came to a thrown down because, 1) DINOSAURS, Jabronis; and, 2) The Terrifying Power of Existential Dread.

MEN & CHICKEN Final Screening:
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

LACE CRATER Screening Times:
Thu. Sept 17, 9:30PM SCOTIABANK 14
Sun. Sept 20, 3:15PM SCOTIABANK 9

MEN & CHICKEN Premieres Tonight!

Fans of Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen and Mads Mikkelsen and chickens rejoice! Men & Chicken premieres tonight!

You've seen Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter cooking and eating people on Hannibal, and you might have even seen a poultrygeist version of Jack Nicholson doing strange things in a theme park in The Chickening, but Men & Chicken is a wholly other animal. Possibly a chicken. We can't be sure.

Knowing the unique personas that Mikkelsen has created for Jensen on film, there will be dark, twisted comedy. There will also be at least one giant block of cheese, there will be moustaches, there will be tennis whites, and there will be chickens.

MEN & CHICKEN Screening Times:
Mon. Sept 14, 9:00 PM SCOTIABANK 1
Wed. Sept 16, 10:00 PM BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA
Sun. Sept 20, 3:30 PM SCOTIABANK 1

Single Tickets Are On Sale!

"I was going to take my chicken to see Evolution. She is a huge Lucile Hadžihalilović fan."

You don't have to be like Sad Mads here, a little gloomy that all the program ticket packages are off-sale now--because single tickets are now on sale! All your movie dreams can come true in single ticket form!

"Jazz hands, everyone! Our movie dreams are coming true!"

Just got to TIFF.net or call: 416.599.TIFF / 1.888.599.8433 (toll-free)
Before September 9, call between: 9am and 7pm
From September 10 till September 20 call to order tickets between 7am and 7pm

You can also buy tickets in person at a Festival Box Office:

Festival Box Office & TIFF Members Box Office
August 25 – September 9: 9am – 7pm
September 10–20: 7am – 7pm
225 King Street West
Metro Centre
(Entrance off of Duncan Street)

The TIFF Members Box Office is located on the lower level.

Festival Patrons Circle Box Office
August 27 – September 9: 9am – 7pm
September 10–20: 7am – 7pm

TIFF Bell Lightbox
Steve & Rashmi Gupta Box Office
Reitman Square, 350 King Street West

Or at a venue box office:
Venue box offices open 1 hour before the first screening of the day. Box offices close 30 minutes after the start of the final screening of the day.

For more info, click through to TIFF!