TIFF unveils VARDA Lounge at TIFF Bell Lightbox

With the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival just weeks away TIFF just announced a brand new lounge, Varda, on the third floor of the festival’s headquarters at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Varda, named in honour of the celebrated French filmmaker Agnès Varda, takes the space of the Bell Blue room at Lightboox, and it was masterfully redone by the talented team at the Design Agency.

While this new cafe-bar is not open to the public just yet, I did get a chance to check out the space when I photographed it for the official TIFF press release, however, it seems for now all you’ll get to see is this one photo, so I suppose that means you’ll have no choice but to check out the beautifully redesigned and reimagined Bell Blue Room for yourself once it opens.

It will initially be open exclusively to Contributors Circle and Patrons Circle Members during the Festival (September 7-17, 9am to 4pm) and will open to the general public in the fall.

As for me, I’ll be back at TIFF this year for my 5th year as a photographer for the festival, and as always I’m looking forward to the 10 days of films, fans, and photos! If you want to get a peek of behind the scenes at the festival, and what a day looks like for a TIFF photographer, follow me on Instagram and check out my stories from Sept 7th to the 17th!