TIFF 2010 Street Level

TIFF 2010 Street Level tag:www.cbc.ca,2010-08-30:/news/tiff2010//445 2010-09-28T17:19:56Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.37 My top 3 TIFF moments: Eli Glasner tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74682 2010-09-22T19:21:18Z 2010-09-28T17:19:56Z

TIFF 2010 Team

The Chinese film Aftershocks was one of CBC's Eli Glasner's favourite TIFF highlights this year. (TIFF)

By Eli Glasner, CBC News

The Chinese film Aftershocks was one of CBC's Eli Glasner's favourite TIFF highlights this year. (TIFF)

By Eli Glasner, CBC News

1. Roger and Me

I skipped out on a delayed screening of Danny Boyle's 127 Hours to go meet an idol of mine, Roger Ebert.

Ebert has been silenced by his battle with thyroid cancer, but he's taken to Twitter in a massive way. Which made it fitting that Ebert hosted the first annual Tweet-Off at the TIFF filmmaker's lounge.

At the event, Ebert was the ringmaster while a host of Twitter wits including actor Rainn Wilson and critic David Poland tried to out-smarm each other.

It was fun, but the highlight was meeting and shaking the hand of Roger Ebert, a man whose honest approach to film criticism is a source of inspiration in the age of Rottentomatoes.com.

2. Intelligent 3D

It was the middle of the film festival. I had spent my days standing in front of red carpets, throwing to celebrity clips while trying to keep tabs on the big buzz films and the party circuit. Slightly exhausted, I limped into a screening of Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and I emerged recharged.

After years of whining about needless 3D, here is a film that is the perfect marriage of technology with subject matter.

Herzog's documentary transports us into the fabled Chauvet caves of France. With the 3D glasses, you can actually appreciate the way the charcoal sketches of lions and horses undulate across the rocky walls.

Fantastic. Whimsical. Inspiring.

3. One Movie, Two Views

On the basis of strong buzz I checked out a screening of Aftershocks, a film from China about the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and the effects of the disaster on the lives of the survivors. I found it to be an emotional and somewhat provocative film that posed some tough questions about the preferential treatment of males in Chinese society.

But during the screening I noticed an Asian woman sitting next to me was crying. As the credits rolled, I asked her what she thought about the film. To my surprise she said she was not impressed. Although she admitted to being overcome by emotion, she was frustrated by the portrayal of China's heroic rescue effort. She talked about how at the time of the quake, in which hundreds of thousands lost their lives, China refused international aid. This woman, who emigrated from China to Canada years ago, saw the movie as a thinly veiled piece of propaganda. It was an eye-opening experience that started with the simple question, "What did you think?"
]]> My top 3 TIFF moments: Anastasia Tubanos tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74289 2010-09-21T01:02:26Z 2010-09-21T01:10:10Z

One of citizen contributor Anastasia Tubanos's favourite TIFF highlights was chatting up celebs like Zach Braff. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)By Anastasia Tubanos, citizen contributorAnother year and another TIFF has gone by, but not without some behind-the-scenes adventures. Whether it was perusing...

TIFF 2010 Team

One of citizen contributor Anastasia Tubanos's favourite TIFF highlights was chatting up celebs like Zach Braff. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

By Anastasia Tubanos, citizen contributor

One of citizen contributor Anastasia Tubanos's favourite TIFF highlights was chatting up celebs like Zach Braff. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

By Anastasia Tubanos, citizen contributor

Another year and another TIFF has gone by, but not without some behind-the-scenes adventures. Whether it was perusing through a gifting suite like a celebrity, chatting to guests on the red carpet or getting the lowdown from industry professionals on how friendly TIFF is to emerging filmmakers, being a citizen blogger for the CBC has given me the opportunity to explore several different angles outside of watching and reviewing movies, which have all been eye-opening in their own ways.

That being said, there are some moments that ended up standing out more than others. Some of the stories I heard from TIFF-goers as I spontaneously chatted them up definitely deserve some mention. Like the one who told me about the time Sandra Oh walked by and pinched his butt (celebs do that?!).

All in all, these were my top three TIFF moments:

1. Getting to interview celebrities on the red carpet at the Spotlight Awards. I got to chat up Zach Braff, Faye Dunaway, Carlo Rota and Jason Priestley. But the most entertaining interview went to The Bachelorette's Justin Rego, not only because he drew the largest crowd of women taking photographs out of anyone on the red carpet, but because of his unapologetic ranting off-camera about the misleading and peace-disturbing nature of producers on reality shows. He seemed truly enraged with the lack of reality in reality shows. I just chuckled. And swooned, as professionally as possible of course, because he was "Cute" with a capital C.

2. Getting the VIP star treatment at the BMW Gifting Suite, specifically getting to sample Mayavii's Black Pearl Anti-Gravity mask. Not only is Ilan Halfon (the co-owner of Mayavii) one of the most generous conversationalists I have ever met, this product I got to try out looked like it could be a treatment out of a futuristic sci-fi movie. It was a deep sparkling midnight black that was refreshing to the touch, smelled like melon and cucumbers and, wait for it, was removed with a magnet so there was no friction on the skin. It was definitely a "wow" moment.

3. Getting free tickets to the premiere of Easy A (thanks to @karmacakedotca and BlackBerry) and getting to hear an in-depth Q&A with the cast and crew of the film. The funniest part may have been when an audience member asked Penn Badgley (leading man in the film, as well as crush-worthy dude on Gossip Girl) if she could give him a gift certificate to say she hooked up with him (mirroring the propositioning that happened to Emma Stone's character in the film.) It was a joke, of course. And he jokingly said no.

]]> My top 3 TIFF moments: Sachin Seth tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74288 2010-09-21T00:54:57Z 2010-09-28T17:21:21Z

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 contributor1. The Bell Lightbox opening. This was...

TIFF 2010 Team

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.
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Seeing Black Swan with an audience was one of citizen contributor Chris Berube's favourite TIFF moments. (TIFF)By Chris Berube, citizen contributor Following a week of intense TIFFing, I feel thoroughly exhausted, to say the least. Of course, I haven't been...

TIFF 2010 Team

Seeing Black Swan with an audience was one of citizen contributor Chris Berube's favourite TIFF moments. (TIFF)

By Chris Berube, citizen contributor

Chris Berube.jpg

Seeing Black Swan with an audience was one of citizen contributor Chris Berube's favourite TIFF moments. (TIFF)

By Chris Berube, citizen contributor

Chris Berube.jpg

Following a week of intense TIFFing, I feel thoroughly exhausted, to say the least. Of course, I haven't been working in a coal mine or manually plowing snow during this time. Being worn out from attending a film festival is, all in all, a pretty good problem to have.

That being said, hopefully my dispatches from the trenches of TIFF 2010 have given you the impression of the hectic pace this festival demands of anyone trying to "keep up."

I think the festival mood was somewhat dampened by the relative dearth of high profile quality films this year -- The AV Club's Scott Tobias called it "the worst crop at TIFF" in his 11 years of attendance -- but there was still plenty for those willing to look hard enough, running from the sublime (the very moving settler story Meek's Cutoff) to the ridiculous (Thai film Uncle Boonmee, which prominently features a man-sized ape with lasers for eyes -- don't ask).
Here are my personal highlights!

1. Finding out that, in fact, the Lightbox is real! It seems as though the festival had been talking about the Lightbox for so long that it couldn't possibly live up to the high expectations they had created. Now that it's open, I think most people are in agreement that the new TIFF headquarters and year-round film centre has beautiful facilities and the potential to become a fixture in Toronto's artistic landscape.

2. Seeing Tabloid and Black Swan with an audience. My personal favourite part of TIFF is seeing films for the first time with an audience. Since many of these movies are having world or North American premieres, the audience responses are completely genuine and not tainted by the film having been ruined by internet spoilers. As a result, seeing Errol Morris's new documentary about the too-good-to-be-true story of a beauty queen turned kidnapper and Darren Aronofsky's surreal retelling of Swan Lake were particular delights, if just for the audible gasps, winces and moments of surprised laughter from the packed house at each screening.

3. Seeing Roger Ebert around the city. While I didn't have a chance to meet the dean of film critics, it was inspiring to see Ebert back in town for the festival. After losing his distinctive voice to cancer a couple of years ago, Ebert has maintained a busy public schedule and shown that there is life after such a terrible illness. His omnipresence at TIFF this year was inspiring. ]]> My top 3 TIFF Moments: Roger Rousseau tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74285 2010-09-21T00:43:16Z 2010-09-21T00:47:19Z

Visiting the new Bell Lightbox was a major highlight of this year's festival for citizen contributor Roger Rousseau. (Submitted by Roger Rousseau)By Roger Rousseau, citizen contributor1. The opening of the Bell Lightbox. I had planned on spending about an hour...

TIFF 2010 Team

Visiting the new Bell Lightbox was a major highlight of this year's festival for citizen contributor Roger Rousseau. (Submitted by Roger Rousseau)

By Roger Rousseau, citizen contributor

1. The opening of the Bell Lightbox. I had planned on spending about an hour there on opening day, but I ended up being there for about three. It's not really that there was alot to see, but that there was such a joyful atmosphere -- I didn't want to leave. It's a great facility and I look forward to spending more time there.

2. The "TIFF for Free" screening of Outrageous!: I had never heard of this film until this year's TIFF. In addition to being a very good film, it was like a time capsule for late- 1970s Toronto. And, it offers a glimpse at the roots of gay pride in Toronto. The producer was also one of the founders of TIFF and was on hand to present the film. I don't know why they made this a free screening. Yes, it was made in 1977, but they still could have programmed it into the festival, made a big deal about it and people would have come to see it.

3. The Q&A after the second screening of Trigger. It was a very emotional moment and the focus of my final blog post. ]]>

Visiting the new Bell Lightbox was a major highlight of this year's festival for citizen contributor Roger Rousseau. (Submitted by Roger Rousseau)

By Roger Rousseau, citizen contributor

The flatbed-truck rock show promoting Fubar 2 was one of Sachin Hingoo's personal highlights at this year's festival. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept.19.By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributorAs TIFF winds down for another year, I find myself...

TIFF 2010 Team

The flatbed-truck rock show promoting Fubar 2 was one of Sachin Hingoo's personal highlights at this year's festival. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)

NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept.19.

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

As TIFF winds down for another year, I find myself a little sad. I saw some truly phenomenal films this year, among them: Miral, Trigger, Rare Exports, I Saw the Devil, 127 Hours, Super, Stake Land and The Illusionist. I was able to experience some of the craziest events (the flatbed-truck rock band for Fubar 2 comes to mind), and going back to my daily routine on Monday seems tough. I never got to see Black Swan, Confessions, or Cold Fish, but just being able to hear about them in advance of their wide release is almost enough. I'll definitely be looking out for them this year.

This year was also the launch of Bell Lightbox, which I don't feel like a shill describing as an amazing love letter to the moving picture. From the exhibits (HAL from 2001! Props from Videodrome!) to seeing my first screening there (the incredible 3D film from Werner Herzog, Cave of Forgotten Dreams), I can honestly say that almost everything I love about TIFF is housed in that building. Do check it out if you get a chance.

So tonight everything wraps up with the volunteer/staff party, held yearly at a non-publicized location and open to, as the name suggests, staff and volunteers of the film fest. It's always a good time, and provides an opportunity to catch up with volunteers who you met way back on that first Thursday of TIFF and maybe only worked with once or twice. It's the perfect way to cap off another awesome 10 days of total immersion in film.

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The flatbed-truck rock show promoting Fubar 2 was one of Sachin Hingoo's personal highlights at this year's festival. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)

NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept.19.

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

As TIFF winds down for another year, I find myself a little sad. I saw some truly phenomenal films this year, among them: Miral, Trigger, Rare Exports, I Saw the Devil, 127 Hours, Super, Stake Land and The Illusionist. I was able to experience some of the craziest events (the flatbed-truck rock band for Fubar 2 comes to mind), and going back to my daily routine on Monday seems tough. I never got to see Black Swan, Confessions, or Cold Fish, but just being able to hear about them in advance of their wide release is almost enough. I'll definitely be looking out for them this year.

This year was also the launch of Bell Lightbox, which I don't feel like a shill describing as an amazing love letter to the moving picture. From the exhibits (HAL from 2001! Props from Videodrome!) to seeing my first screening there (the incredible 3D film from Werner Herzog, Cave of Forgotten Dreams), I can honestly say that almost everything I love about TIFF is housed in that building. Do check it out if you get a chance.

So tonight everything wraps up with the volunteer/staff party, held yearly at a non-publicized location and open to, as the name suggests, staff and volunteers of the film fest. It's always a good time, and provides an opportunity to catch up with volunteers who you met way back on that first Thursday of TIFF and maybe only worked with once or twice. It's the perfect way to cap off another awesome 10 days of total immersion in film.

]]> My top 3 TIFF moments: Stephenson Price tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74283 2010-09-21T00:38:20Z 2010-10-04T18:05:58Z

Citizen contributor Stephenson Price takes a photo of Daydream Nation actress Katie Boland as she gets her hair done. (Submitted by Stephenson Price)By Stephenson Price, citizen contributorThanks to a head-first immersion in cinematic fury, this TIFF newbie's first festival experience...

TIFF 2010 Team

Citizen contributor Stephenson Price takes a photo of Daydream Nation actress Katie Boland as she gets her hair done. (Submitted by Stephenson Price)

By Stephenson Price, citizen contributor

Stephenson Price.jpg

Thanks to a head-first immersion in cinematic fury, this TIFF newbie's first festival experience went off without a hitch (it went off without much sleep too, but after consulting with my fellow CBC TIFF contributors, that was apparently to be expected.)

From seeing the inner workings of the festival programming, chatting up fans and volunteers, and following along with celebs -- meeting a few notable ones along the way
-- I'd say my first TIFF was a fairly good overview of what I can expect in my future exploits as a filmgoing festival aficionado: though maybe next year I'll get around to seeing at least one film.

1. The sudden realization that TIFF had encompassed my life: learning that Pink Floyd's Roger Waters was in town for The Wall after a streeter interview told me I'd have better luck getting people on camera outside the Air Canada Centre. My train of thought went something like this:
.
First: If I went down there, no one would talk to me about TIFF on camera.
Second: Maybe I should go up to Yorkville to see if I can track down some people up there.
Third: Wait!?! Roger Waters?!?

2. Being a huge fan of Bruce McDonald's Hard Core Logo, meeting the man in person
-- along with Logo actor John Pyper-Ferguson -- didn't hurt at all. Seeing them both again the following day at separate locations definitely lent itself to the notion that though the festival may seem immense and difficult to wade through, it really isn't so intimidatingly large after all.

3. Much to my surprise, Natalie Portman really wasn't that intimidating in person. Terrence Howard, on the other hand, comes off as one slick dude. Meeting that guy in a celebrity gifting lounge was definitely a highlight of my TIFF experience as he entered the room in a neatly pressed and groomed suit and hat with an awe-inspiring swagger that I may or may not have been grinning stupidly about when I met him. I distinctly remember thinking something to the effect of: "Man ... even off screen this guy oozes cool."

]]> My top 3 TIFF moments: Sachin Hingoo tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74281 2010-09-21T00:33:56Z 2010-09-21T12:59:44Z

The screening of comedy Fubar 2 was one of Sachin Hingoo's favourite TIFF moments. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor1. The Fubar 2 screening at Midnight Madness. One of the most raucous, amazing screenings I've ever seen at...

TIFF 2010 Team

The screening of comedy Fubar 2 was one of Sachin Hingoo's favourite TIFF moments. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

1. The Fubar 2 screening at Midnight Madness. One of the most raucous, amazing screenings I've ever seen at Midnight Madness or the festival in general, starting with the outrageous rock display on the red carpet, to half the audience dressed up as hosers (and shot-gunning tall cans in line), to the most exciting Q&A in Midnight Madness history, this was one of the highlights of the festival for me.

2. The Bell Lightbox. Like a wonderful love letter to film, the Lightbox opened its doors (of course, not without a few hiccups) to the public and, I hope, will introduce more of Toronto to the world of TIFF and film in general. Awesome exhibits like HAL from 2001 and the upcoming Tim Burton show look to provide some of the most fascinating experiences to film fans and cement Toronto's place as a city for world-class cinema.

3. A fitting farewell to a Toronto legend, Tracy Wright. The two films starring the late Tracy Wright were some of the very best and saddest moments of TIFF 2010 for me. Both films present the incredible presence and range of this amazing actress, and barely a dry eye could be found during the Q&As for both. Don McKellar's tearful postscript to Trigger and Daniel Cockburn's equally moving talk after You Are Here were the most memorable moments one could ask for, and are something that any Toronto film fan will remember for a long time. RIP, Ms. Wright. ]]>

The screening of comedy Fubar 2 was one of Sachin Hingoo's favourite TIFF moments. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

Paul Laverty, Ken Loach, and Michael Moore have a discussion at this year's TIFF. (Submitted by Jonathan Doyle).By Jonathan Doyle, citizen contributorWhen all was said and done, I made it to 37 screenings at this year's Toronto International Film Festival....

TIFF 2010 Team

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

By Jonathan Doyle, citizen contributor

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. ]]> My top 3 TIFF moments: Christine Estima tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74279 2010-09-21T00:22:07Z 2010-09-28T17:24:18Z

Actor Colin Firth arrives for the TIFF premiere of The King's Speech. The film was one of Christine Estima's favourite festival highlights. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)By Christine Estima, citizen contributor1. Attending the gala presentation screening for Route Irish at the Elgin...

TIFF 2010 Team

Actor Colin Firth arrives for the TIFF premiere of The King's Speech. The film was one of Christine Estima's favourite festival highlights. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

By Christine Estima, citizen contributor

1. Attending the gala presentation screening for Route Irish at the Elgin theatre. As the lights dimmed and the anti-piracy message came across the silver screen, the audience of approximately 1,200 people growled, "Arrrrrrrr!" (Pirates, get it?)

2. Attending the press and industry screening of The King's Speech, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter. The packed cinema of 500+ national and international media, floored by the near-flawless feature, erupted into a vociferous applause at the end. This is media, people. We're never impressed by anything!

3. The Tweets! Twitter was buzzing and bouncing every day with celeb photos, party invites, exclusive videos and news updates that were posted faster than the actual news sources could jump on them. #TIFF10 was a trending topic in Canada everyday. I got to exchange stories, converse with and meet so many amazing people because of that simple social media device. 140 characters FTW! (P.S., you can follow me on Twitter at @ChristineEstima)
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By Stephenson Price, citizen contributorCBC TIFF 2010 Street Level blog contributor Stephenson Price asked festival-goers for some film reviews....

TIFF 2010 Team

By Stephenson Price, citizen contributor

Stephenson Price.jpg CBC TIFF 2010 Street Level blog contributor Stephenson Price asked festival-goers for some film reviews.

]]> CBC TIFF 2010 Street Level blog contributor Stephenson Price asked festival-goers for some film reviews.

Download Flash Player to view this content.

Click here to see a review of Balada Triste (The Last Circus).

Click here to see a review of The Solitude of Prime Numbers.

You can follow Stephenson on Twitter throughout #TIFF 10 at @pricemeister

]]> Celeb sightings at TIFF tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74273 2010-09-20T23:50:34Z 2010-09-28T17:52:22Z

By Anastasia Tubanos, citizen contributorIn this video, TIFF fans share their celebrity encounter stories. (Submitted by Anastasia Tubanos)You can follow Anastasia throughout #TIFF10 at @atubanos...

TIFF 2010 Team

By Anastasia Tubanos, citizen contributor

In this video, TIFF fans share their celebrity encounter stories. (Submitted by Anastasia Tubanos)

You can follow Anastasia throughout #TIFF10 at @atubanos

]]> By Anastasia Tubanos, citizen contributor

In this video, TIFF fans share their celebrity encounter stories. (Submitted by Anastasia Tubanos)

Download Flash Player to view this content.

You can follow Anastasia throughout #TIFF10 at @atubanos

]]> We, the dedicated tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74250 2010-09-20T23:30:35Z 2010-09-30T18:19:18Z

Canadian actor Don McKellar poses for a photograph. McKellar and his wife, Tracy Wright, who passed away in June, both appear in the film Trigger. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press)NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept.19.By Roger Rousseau, citizen contributorIt's Saturday afternoon, the...

TIFF 2010 Team

Canadian actor Don McKellar poses for a photograph. McKellar and his wife, Tracy Wright, who passed away in June, both appear in the film Trigger. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press)

NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept.19.

By Roger Rousseau, citizen contributor

It's Saturday afternoon, the penultimate day of TIFF, and I've just returned from a screening of Bruce McDonald's Trigger. Even though I have three films left to see, the festival is essentially done for me. It's not because anything in my life has derailed me from seeing any more films (I will be going to the screenings I have left).

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Canadian actor Don McKellar poses for a photograph. McKellar and his wife, Tracy Wright, who passed away in June, both appear in the film Trigger. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press)

NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept.19.

It's because Don McKellar made me cry.

First of all, if you're unfamiliar with Trigger's concept, it's about a former rock duo, played by Molly Parker and Tracy Wright, who reunite one night 10 years after the band's breakup. They go from a dinner to a benefit concert to an after-party, and a few other stops in between, drudging up past conflicts and current issues along the way. Leading up to TIFF, Trigger received a lot of attention because it features Wright's final cinematic performance. An accomplished and respected stage and screen actor, Wright died of pancreatic cancer in June at age 50.

This much I knew going in. But even with that kind of tragedy surrounding the film, I didn't want my opinion to be swayed by it. If anything, I was judging the film based on McDonald's previous work. Because I consider Hard Core Logo to be the greatest rock and roll movie of all time, the bar was set pretty high for Trigger. And although Trigger is a good film, it disappoints in comparison to HCL. At least, that's what I thought as the end credits rolled.

After the film, McDonald was joined onstage by Daniel MacIvor, McKellar, Jennifer Jonas and Leonard Farlinger for a Q&A. McDonald and MacIvor dominated the session, with Jonas and Farlinger jumping in whenever needed. McKellar, however, was silent. He had a small part in the film, so I assumed that small contribution didn't allow him much insight into the making of it. And then, and I can't remember whether it was McDonald or MacIvor who said it, but one of them made a comment about being at "Don and Tracy's wedding." And my heart sank: Don McKellar and Tracy Wright had been married. Honestly, I didn't know.

As the session was wrapping up, McKellar still hadn't spoken, and I thought that we would go without hearing from him. And then he reached for the microphone. By the time he started speaking, he was already choked with emotion. Unable to find the words, he then decided he wouldn't speak, but before he could hand the mic off to someone else, applause from the audience encouraged him to continue.

With great difficulty, he spoke. First, he thanked everyone onstage for pushing forward with the film, and then he thanked the audience for embracing the film and Tracy's final performance. Then, he told us about an appointment that he and Tracy had with her oncologist to set up a schedule for her chemotherapy sessions. One of the dates he proposed, she flat out refused. Why? Because she had to be on set that day. And at that moment, the screening, and McKellar's presence up there onstage, took on a whole different meaning.

Suddenly, it wasn't just a film screening, but a memorial for a talented actor and exceptional human being whose life was cut short. It didn't just happen to be Tracy Wright's last film, it was made with the knowledge that it would be her last. Everyone scrambled and put their time and money into the project (it was made over a period of four weekends, and entirely funded out of the producers' own pockets) to ensure that the film could be completed while Tracy was still able to do it. And so, considering the motives behind making the film, as well as the time and budgetary constraints faced by those making it, what was just an average film became an extraordinary achievement, a testament to the dedication that these filmmakers, and this actress, brought to their craft. McKellar's words had that strange effect of being both sad and uplifting; and as my emotions swelled, I knew that I had reached the apex of the festival.

It was that convergence of real life and cinema that we all wish would happen more often. We don't just spend 11 days at TIFF rushing from screening to screening because we want to be entertained by films, but because we want to find some element within them that will tell us something about ourselves, and the world around us. And the extra advantage of seeing films at a festival like this is that even if we don't find that element within the film, by interacting with other filmmakers and festival-goers, we have the opportunity to have a continued dialogue with these films, even after the projector has stopped running. It's not something that we can experience year-round.

Feeling inspired and emotionally spent, I wasn't quite sure how to face the three films I had left. That's the danger with TIFF: You see so many movies in such a small amount of time that it's very easy to go into overload. So, as I write this, it feels as though TIFF is over. But it has been a remarkable festival, if only for the scene that I witnessed today. Had I seen this film in regular release, I would not have had this experience. And this is why I keep coming back to TIFF, year after year after year.

You can follow Roger throughout #TIFF10 at @roger_writes

]]> Midnight Madness for the masses tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74266 2010-09-20T23:21:35Z 2010-09-21T13:59:12Z

TIFF 2010 Team

The cast of Super appear at the film screening's Q&A. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)

NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept. 19.

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

The cast of Super appear at the film screening's Q&A. (Submitted by Sachin Hingoo)

NOTE: This entry was submitted Sept. 19.

By Sachin Hingoo, citizen contributor

Writing for the Midnight Madness blog is one of the many volunteer hats I wear at TIFF and it's certainly my favourite. As Roger Rousseau intimates in his post, the midnight screenings are a very different animal than the usual picture of the festival. We have a red carpet, of course, and this year it's been more star-studded than most with the likes of Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, Ron Perlman, Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, Liv Tyler and Ellen Page.

But Midnight Madness isn't -- and shouldn't be -- about the big celebs. The best films I've seen in this programme have had no "famous" actors at all. In a lot of ways, the brainchild of Noah Cowan (now programmer for the Bell Lightbox) and his successor Colin Geddes is more about the directors and writers that are creating some of the most interesting projects out there right now. Past films that have graced the screen at the old Uptown Theatre (now, sadly, a condo) and, since 2004, the Ryerson Theatre have been Saw, The Grudge, Haute Tension, Borat, and Ichi the Killer, all of which went on to define and redefine genre cinema.

Writing for the blog has given me an outstanding opportunity to see these films grow organically and find distribution, like James Gunn's phenomenal Super, which was one of the first films at TIFF to be picked up. It's moments like these that really make TIFF special to me, and the Midnight program in particular. It's always nice to see the underdog make good.

]]> Photo gallery: Eyes on the street tag:www.cbc.ca,2010:/news/tiff2010//445.74253 2010-09-20T21:23:31Z 2010-09-20T21:26:47Z

The gallery below is a sample of photos submitted to the CBC Your Voice TIFF 2010 Flickr pool. To share your favourite TIFF pictures, visit here....

TIFF 2010 Team The gallery below is a sample of photos submitted to the CBC Your Voice TIFF 2010 Flickr pool. To share your favourite TIFF pictures, visit here.

]]> The gallery below is a sample of photos submitted to the CBC Your Voice TIFF 2010 Flickr pool. To share your favourite TIFF pictures, visit here.

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