By Chris Berube, citizen contributor

Since cancer surgery robbed legendary film critic Roger Ebert of his distinctive voice in 2007, he's used the internet to do much of the talking for him.

Ebert's blog has become hyperactive since his return to criticism four years ago, and his Twitter feed - now followed by over 236,000 people - is widely considered one of the most essential and vibrant on the web.

Which is why it was fitting for Ebert to organize the first ever TIFF Twitter Showdown. The event, held Saturday afternoon at the Filmmaker Lounge at 134 Peter St., would see five other championship Tweeters - The Office star Rainn Wilson, Canadian blogger Grace Wang, and film critics Scott Tobias, Eric Kohn, and David Poland - answering questions, rapid-fire style, posed by Ebert about films and the festival. After each round of responses, the audience was then asked to vote on who had the Best Tweet, "based on originality, wit, and spelling." After a couple of rounds, host and official scorekeeper Dan Levy from MTV Canada would declare a winner.



Which of these Twarriors (I'll stop now) would come out on top? My money was on Tobias, if only because he writes very smart reviews for satirical newspaper The Onion, and keeps up a steady stream of funny observations on his daily feed. How wrong I was.

Here are the highlights:

4:02 - Ebert and Wilson get into a quick pre-show spat after Wilson admits to having made funny faces behind Ebert's back during a live broadcast when Wilson was 7. Ebert calls Wilson an unprintable word.



4:06 - Things are off to a somewhat rocky start - already, the participants are making suggestions on how this whole thing should be improved. Wilson mocks famously bespectacled host Dan Levy (whose name he apparently hasn't learned yet).



4:10 - First question is about 3D - for some reason, Wilson takes this as an opportunity to trash-talk a celebrity completely unrelated to the contest.



4:14 - A question about why French cinema is so consistently high quality - everyone  responds fairly earnestly, except Wilson, who is awarded the point by the audience, and now holds a commanding lead.



4:18 - Ebert wonders if the internet has led to a "golden age" of film criticism; Poland gives a very eloquent 140 character response, scoring him his first point.

4:25 - A question about if actual American audiences were too dumb to understand The American starring George Clooney. The one Canadian on the panel gracefully refuses to rise to the bait.

4:32 - Ebert plays the oldest trick in the book when it comes to getting oneself Twitter attention - say something about Justin Bieber (in this case, specifically the proposed upcoming film about his life, starring him). Wilson plays to the wider Twitter audience in his response.

4:36 - Sensing the momentum swinging Wilson's way, Kohn takes a question about on-screen romance to attack Wilson's small-screen persona.

4:40 - Down to the wire here - Wilson has 3, Kohn and Poland 2 apiece. My man Scott Tobias is nowhere to be found.

4:43 - And like that, it's over, Wilson declared the winner. Kohn compares the experience to reality TV, while Tobias apologizes for his performance (presumably to me).

You can follow Chris throughout #TIFF10 on Twitter at @chrisberube