Backposting

I've gone back and posted photos and a few words on my trip that I didn't have time for when I was actually in Toronto.  So, you can scroll down or use this handy list of links:

-September 8
-September 9
-September 10
-September 11
-September 12
-September 13

I still have two other days of backposting to do--those would be the days where I essentially came home and slept--but these posts should give you a taste of my time at the movies in Canada.

Bonus day

The original plan was to return home this morning, but neither of us really wanted to leave.  So, I ended up being able to stick around for four more films, including the one I most wanted to see at the festival.  That also meant leaving around 8:45 p.m. and arriving home at 4:00 a.m. on September 14th.  Was it worth it?  Absolutely.

Up top you see the TIFF Bell Lightbox and the two restaurants--the O&B Canteen on ground level, Luma on the second floor--attached to it.

 Here's a look at the swanky VISA Screening Room at the Elgin Theatre.

And here's Damsels in Distress director Whit Stillman and cast members Carrie MacLemore, Greta Gerwig, Adam Brody, and Analeigh Tipton.

With that, I bid Toronto adieu.  I had a wonderful time and hated to go.  Hopefully I'll be back no later than a year from now.

Eat and run

If there's only one time for one meal a day while I'm at the film festival, make it count, right?  Big Smoke Burger on King St. E. fit the bill today.

Business as usual

I'd like to be sampling Toronto's cuisine more than I've had time for.  Basically it's been a donut and one meal, but I was able to sit and enjoy my lunch today at the O&B Canteen, which is next to the festival's hub, the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

There's really no reason for posting another view of my lunch other than to give you a little bit better sense of the surroundings.

And then I saw the new film starring Val Kilmer and directed by that guy who made The Godfather.

If this all seems frivolous on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, well, that's how I spent the day.  I'll admit that it was kind of a relief not to be around what I imagine was inescapable reflecting on the tragedy.  The festival acknowledged it with a well-intended but ultimately misguided short that preceded each film.  September 11 falls during the festival every year and affected the tenor of it in 2001, not that I was at it then.  So bringing it up made sense, even if the piece about it was, umm, awkward.

Off the red carpet

The film festival up here has its share of glitz and glamour.  I've seen a few filmmakers on the streets but haven't walked by any stars in the normal course of attending films.  I happened to be near the Moneyball red carpet on Friday and tried to peek through the throng to see if I could see anyone I may have caught a glimpse of Brad Pitt, but I couldn't tell you for sure if it was him.  That was kind of a crazy scene.

I am getting to see directors, actors, and actresses on a pretty regular basis when they introduce films and talk about them after they've played.  Up above you see the director and star of Trishna.  I don't expect you to know who Michael Winterbottom is, but you may recognize Freida Pinto from Slumdog Millionaire, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, or L'Oreal ads.

The screening for Melancholia had a red carpet, although for those of us lined up to get inside, there wasn't much gawking we could do as we were ushered inside.  For us the star power was reserved for the stage.  Showing up for the premiere were Kirsten Dunst, Alexander Skarsgård, Kiefer Sutherland, and Udo Kier.

I'm not up here for the celebrity spotting, but it is kind of exciting to see these folks.  Coming out of Melancholia I was about ten feet from the red carpet for the next film and caught good looks of Ryan Gosling and Albert Brooks.  Yep, I guess I'm at a big, international event.

Say what?

I know a fair number of people who are up here at the festival, although some of them I've never met.  I have an iPhone to keep me connected with people, but while I'm in the city (or in this country, period) I'm at the mercy of those places pumping out free wi-fi to try and arrange meet-ups.

Crazily enough, I've attended six films so far and not sat by myself for any of them.  Today I had lunch with a local at C'est What, met someone else at another film by virtue of each of us describing our clothing on Twitter, and ran into someone I know from home at the last one.

On King Street W. on the walk back to the hotel I passed by a promotional trailer--literally!--that's pictured at the top of this post.  It was a bit strange to see someone in a hazmat suit attending to someone having a seizure on a gurney, but Contagion doesn't just promote itself.

Quite a start

I knew I'd have to wait in a line of some sort to pick up my tickets, and I calculated at least an hour when backtiming for my arrival in Toronto.  With my first film at 6:00 p.m. at a theater that is approximately a twenty to thirty minute walk from the festival box office and calculating that I want to be in line there by 5:15, then I figured I ought to get into town by 3:00 or 3:30.

The plan was to leave at 6:30 a.m.  I slept maybe four restless hours before finally giving up and getting up at 4:45.  It's not the way to start what would prove to be a long day--I was up about 22 straight hours--but the extra time gave me the comfort of knowing I had everything ready to go and not being in a hurry.


Because neither my friend nor I were hungry and we went through a stretch where there wasn't anywhere compelling to stop to eat, we made fantastic time with just one bathroom stop and another one for gas and its weird Canadian pricing.  Cents per liter?!

Arriving at the downtown hotel at 2:00 p.m. would then seem to give me time to breathe.  The room wasn't ready, so I figured the best bet was to get the tickets and then figure things out from there.  As it turned out, the extra time was essential.  After walking to the festival box office and picking up the ticket package with ease, I then found one of those quirks of the system.  Picking up the individual tickets I ordered meant getting into a different line.  (I could also turn in my vouchers and do any exchanges in this line.)  That line only took, oh, about 90 minutes to get through.

Since I was not going to be heading back to the hotel--and would not be there until about 2:30 a.m.--I began heading to the first theater.  At this point I realized I had no Canadian currency.  I popped into a Hilton on the way and got money changed at an absurd rate.  (Nice little racket there with the fee everyone charges.  It was the same changing money at a bank.)

And then I saw three movies.

Did I mention all I'd had to eat all day was a cinnamon roll and a decaf coffee?  After the third movie I did get a slice of pizza at 2:00 a.m. and ate it while walking the twenty minutes or so to the hotel...where the room was not in my name and I did not have a key.

Luckily I didn't have any problems at the hotel and finally collapsed into bed by 2:45.  Quite a start to the festival.