Ben Affleck signs autographs at the TIFF screening of The Town. Citizen contributor Sachin Seth says that watching the red carpet action was an amazing experience. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

By Sachin Seth, citizen contributor

1. The Bell Lightbox opening. This was fantastic. There were dozens of people dressed up as movie characters, a great lineup of music, free cupcakes, restaurants were dolling out their food at discounts street-side and I even saw a whole pig roasting in one of the tents.

Kids got their faces pained, got pictures with Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz and got to play inside a bouncing castle.

Everyone looked like they were having a fantastic time, and the opening of the Lightbox further cemented this film festival as world-class.

2. The Town red carpet. Waiting with the scores of people who had come out to see Jon Hamm, Ben Affleck, Blake Lively, Rebecca Hall and Jennifer Garner before the The Town premiere was an amazing experience.

I've never seen that many people screaming, yelling and climbing lightposts and garbage cans just to catch of glimpse of someone.

The people at the back of the line got shunned, until Garner came all the way to the end of the line and signed autographs and reminded everyone that the stars of her husband's (Affleck's) film, even though they couldn't sign for everyone, were appreciative that so many had come.

That made a lot of people's night.

3. Meeting Joe Ring. If you read my piece on celebrity look-alikes and "essential cinema," you would have seen a picture of Joe Ring. The man is the quintessential Canadian cowboy.

He looks like Sean Connery, does a killer impression of his doppelganger and his list of "essential cinema" included a pretty smart array of action and comedy.

Plus, his name is Joe Ring.