I got a TIFF accreditation notice this year, which is nice and everything, but I am hearing that many freelancers -- including writers *in Canada*, whose readers could presumably see the geolocked digital premieres -- got rejected. This is stupid and maddening.

The TIFF press office has a widely-talked-about reputation among journalists for being inscrutable and difficult to deal with (I was rejected the first year I applied!), with arcane rules that don't seem to have much to do with how the business works ....

... but in this year of all years, when the fest will be lucky to get much coverage at all, it is impressively illogical.

Keep in mind US press can't even buy tickets to virtual screenings, as you might to regular screenings in a regular year if you were on the ground, because they are geolocked to Canada.

Like, seriously? https://twitter.com/bealoayza/status/1298739493269315584

I hope the filmmakers hoping for coverage for their film in a very rough year know this has happened, and understand that the festival is at fault when they get even fewer reviews than usual.