TIFF to Celebrate 50 Years of Trek

The Toronto International Film Festival's fall slate will kick off with a cinematic exploration of 50 Years of Star Trek, set to run from September 8 to December 30 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The programming, presented with CBS Consumer Products, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise with screenings and episode marathons, as well as Trek Talks, an inventive series of conversations that will explore Star Trek's influence on our culture.

50 Years of Star Trek — September 8 to December 30

Beginning with a screening of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Man Trap" on Festival Street (September 8), 50 years to the day the episode debuted on television, TIFF will show another 15+ screenings of Trek films and television episodes, as well as additional screenings of sci-fi films influenced by the series. Working with CBS Consumer Products and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), TIFF will present Trek Talks, roundtable discussions and keynote presentations that consider Trek's cultural impact in the areas of television, film, space, technology, education, social justice and politics.

Fans will have the opportunity to (re)discover all of the franchise's major motion pictures, including the original six features, Star Trek: The Next Generation tetralogy and the latest J.J. Abrams-produced additions to the canon. Introductions by two special guests are also in the works: Star Trek: The Motion Picture will be introduced by Douglas Trumbull, the special effects producer for the film; and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, will be introduced by the director of the film, Nicholas Meyer. From October 12 to November 16, Trek Talks will consider the values and ideals at the core of Star Trek — those of progress, tolerance, technological innovation and social equity — to once again inspire contemporary audiences to seek hope in a world that can, at times, seem dark and chaotic.

Trek Talks will include a keynote presentation on Star Trek and space from Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on October 12; a presentation from theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss on the ways in which Star Trek has anticipated, influenced and inspired new technologies on November 2.

Also, The Fifth Quadrant: Sci-Fi Cinema After Star Trek program will set its sights on exploring the franchise’s influences across the history of science-fiction cinema, as the films included in this retrospective program are greatly indebted to Star Trek’s technological and cultural achievements. Screenings in this series will include: Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris (2002); Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979); and Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982).

TIFF’s annual fundraiser, BOOMBOX, will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series. On October 27, BOOMBOX: Warp Speed will take guests through a building-wide, multi-sensory adventure at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as TIFF sends guests on a mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and civilizations and to boldly go where no one has gone before, Tickets for BOOMBOX: Warp Speed are on sale now at tiff.net/events/boombox.

Full details on special guests, events, screenings and ticket prices will be available at tiff.net/startrek.