Toronto International Film Festival
The beginning of the school year also brings an annual buzz to T-Dot: For two and a half weeks, the cinematic world gets to focus on our fair city for the Toronto International Film Festival.
I remember when I was studying in France, my friend and I were excited about going to Cannes. We’re in France, we thought, and we’d hate to miss out on one of the biggest cinematic events of the year, we said, so let’s go! And we searched online, and of course, we discovered that we couldn’t. Too plebeian, presumably, for a festival that only provides screenings to those invited.
But the TIFF is different. Anyone can watch movies, and there are a lot. Anyone can go to the screenings. And anyone can ask questions of the moviemakers. Last time I was at the TIFF, I saw an Uzbekistani film named Tulpan, which features a goat-herder and an arranged marriage, as well as Il y a longtemps que je t’aime (I’ve Loved You So Long) with Kristin Scott Thomas. My friend and I saw it in the Pantages theatre (which for ten years housed The Phantom of the Opera), and it was a fabulous movie – I cannot believe she wasn’t nominated for an Oscar – where or where is the justice? Equally fantastic was having the filmmakers and KST herself come out for questions at the end, and man, I adore that woman.
I’m bummed that I won’t be in Toronto for the TIFF this year, but there will be other years. Unless something drastic happens, there is no possibility that this vibrant, exciting, egalitarian film festival will disappear from the horizon any time soon.
Have any of you attended film festivals? Which ones stick out?
– Jean AAR
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I actually got to this blog by looking for movies to see Online. Can you make an article on the top movies to view online thanks
I’ve never been to one either, but have a couple friends who have been going to the TIFF since the late 1990s, and they say very good things about it.
Seattle does have one but I’ve never been. And I did visit Cannes a couple of weeks after their festival and was able to buy a t-shirt advertising it. ;)
I’ve never been to a film festival, even though I love movies. There’s an annual documentary festival here called Silver Docs because it takes place at the American Film Institute (AFI) theater in Silver Spring, Maryland (a DC suburb). There is also a DC film festival. Not sure why I’ve never gone.
OTOH, there is a non-profit theater a 15-minute walk from my house, the Avalon, that has monthly films from the Czech Republic that it calls its Czech Lions festival, a monthly French film, and it recently began a monthly Greek film festival. The theater alternates foreign and indie films with blockbusters, so I do get to some of what first appeared on the festival circuit — and no bouncers or red ropes to get by. I saw “Il y a longtemps que je t’aime” at the Avalon and thought it was marvelously acted. You’re right that KST was robbed — but then, I’ve still never forgiven Tom Hanks for winning the best actor Oscar for “Philadelphia” over Liam Neeson for “Schindler’s List”, and this past year I liked Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” but adored Colin Firth in “A Single Man”.