Paul Laverty, Ken Loach, and Michael Moore have a discussion at this year's TIFF. (Submitted by Jonathan Doyle).

By Jonathan Doyle, citizen contributor

When all was said and done, I made it to 37 screenings at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. It turned out to be an incredibly rewarding 11 days of filmgoing -- and little else. In trying to put together a list of highlights, all that really comes to mind are the endless series of subway rides, lines, programmer introductions and terrific movies. However, there were a few moments that stood out.

1. TIFF Gets Political

As part of the Mavericks program at TIFF, Michael Moore sat down for a lengthy discussion with British director Ken Loach and his regular screenwriter Paul Laverty. At one point in this illuminating conversation, Laverty and Loach invited a representative of an organization called Justice For Janitors on stage and the event briefly transformed into something not far from a Ken Loach film. The audience of politically engaged filmgoers was instantly sympathetic, but the real bombshell came when this guest assigned some of the blame to TIFF. Moore is a longtime supporter of the festival, but these revelations caused him to joke that he might be through with TIFF. "I'm working on a really cool film for next year, but now I don't know," he said. "May have to take it to Vancouver instead."

2. Meeting Roger Ebert

I don't generally get excited about celebrity encounters, but given everything that Roger Ebert's been through, I'll make an exception.  During a rare break between movies on Wednesday afternoon, I stopped by Theatre Books for an Ebert book-signing and had the chance to interact will the legendary film critic and his wife, Chazz. When Chazz and I started discussing our shared enthusiasm for Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, she explained that someone she spoke to complained that it was too slow. I responded, "What do they expect from a movie called Poetry?" Ebert looked up from the book he was signing and offered an emphatic gesture of agreement. It wasn't quite "thumbs up," but it was pretty close.

3. Day 11

For all the years I've been attending TIFF, it's always frustrated me that they didn't use the Sunday at the end of the festival to screen films. This year, they decided to tack this on as an extra day, offering viewers one last chance to catch up on dozens of films that screened earlier in the festival.  I managed to see five films on this extra day and, while there's a good chance I would have seen some of these films earlier if they weren't showing on Sept. 19, this turned out to be my single best day at TIFF 2010. If you see a few genuinely great films over the course of the festival, you feel lucky, but I saw three (Tabloid, Meek's Cutoff, Beginners) in one day! Even without this day, it was an amazing year at TIFF, but this last burst of inspired cinema confirmed its place as the single best filmgoing experience I've ever had at the festival.