A woman browses the 'Essential Cinema' exhibit at the Bell Lightbox, one of the new TIFF venues. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

Word travels fast among the volunteers. Something bad is going down at the screening of Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialism. I'm flyering the line with material about Bell Lightbox for my marketing volunteer shift when I hear that the film's been delayed for half an hour by "technical difficulties." As my shift wears on, the technical issue becomes clearer -- some in the audience think the subtitles are missing and are starting to walk out and complain. After the AV staff check out the film and inform the audience that it's actually just kind of experimental and is meant to be that way, it starts again. Oh Godard, you're incorrigible!

Despite this, angry people are leaving the screening early. We count about 40 when all is said and done, which is unprecedented for a film this size. I've seen people walk out of films before, certainly -- Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers and Lars Von Trier's Antichrist come to mind from last year -- but never this many. One audience member accosts me, angrily chastising me because "there was no warning in the film schedule," in a way that suggests that I either wrote the schedule or Film Socialism itself (I didn't).   

But by this time, a new rumour is going around the volunteers. Something huge is going for the Fubar 2 screening at midnight. Something involving a flatbed truck, strippers, and the two leads fronting a rock band and generally causing a ruckus.

The Fubar 2 screening got the party started. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)