What a great way to begin and end my TIFF experience this year. Even as TIFF celebrates its 50th year, so does my favourite movie of all time, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.

I’ve told the story countless times of how it was my first ever film experience. I’ve seen this movie more times than any others in my collection. It’s the first film I watch every year, and any time it’s screened here in the city, I try to make it out for it.

I know this film. It was my go to tape when I was working in a video store, I know the dialogue, the music cues, my favourite shots, and I love seeing them on the big screen. Even though I, like a lot of fans, own it on DVD, Blu-Ray, 4K and 4K 50th Anniversary release.

So before the festival started I was delighted to be able to see Jaws in a format I had never seen before, in IMAX. It was the 4K restoration so the picture was sharp and detailed, and with a screen like that, filled my vision. It was an amazing experience, and I also picked out a number of little production and continuity things I had never noticed before.

I love the resolution 4K gives films. I love being able to see details of wardrobe, books, signs, the texture of things. It just makes it more engaging experience for me.

Seeing Brody (Roy Scheider), Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and Quint (Robert Shaw) on an IMAX screen was a moment I’ll treasure. And it was the perfect one to jump into TIFF!

And then, after the films I took in at TIFF, it was the perfect way to close it out. They had programmed three screenings of a 35mm print to be shown in Lightbox 1. I grabbed myself a front row seat and settled in. And I noticed a couple more things I had never caught before. I find myself watching more things going on in the background, and smile when I catch something.

As much as I love the details, and the clarity of a 4K image, there is something warm and inviting about watching projected film. Much like listening to vinyl (by the way the 50th Anniversary score album is stunning!), there’s a life to it that seems removed from the restored and upgraded imagery.

I wouldn’t be able to choose between which experience I preferred, both of them were wonderful. I was surrounded by fans, as well as some who had never seen the film before. And everyone gets caught up, laughs in the right places, thrills to John Williams’ score, Verna Fields’ editing, and the masterful way Spielberg makes the film work.

Jaws is the film that showed me the magic of the big screen. Sure there was a time in the 70s and 80s before we had a home entertainment system that prevented me from watching it to my heart’s content, but once that happened, I made up for lost time.

I adore this film. And to share it with TIFF film lovers, what a fantastic way to close out my festival this year.

I’ll head out on the Orca anytime…