Directors Head to Courthouse

With most of the business wrapped, Toronto is now mostly a movie buff town. Still, the invite-only parties manage to draw bug numbers at various locations throughout downtown. Last night, the directors from the "Preludes" section gathered at the courthouse for the party in their honor. The filmmakers - all Canadian - were comissioned by the Festival to create shorts in honor of the festival's 25th anniversary, which screened before the galas Guests included directors Atom Egoyan, actress Laura Linney (in town for The House of Mirth) and actor Eric Stolz (in Almost Famous) and festival director Piers Handling.

Before last night's gala screening of Sexy Beast, a cozy crowd gathered at the Cafe Nervosa for the Filmfestivals.com cocktail, which was co-sponsored by Bitcasters.com. The scene got a little crazy when two young actresses coaxed FilmFestivals.com CEO Malo Girod de l'Ain into dancing atop the tables. Actress Leni Parker (Stardom, Eisenstein) stopped by en route to the Rotterdam Film Festival party, held blocks away at Bistro 990. Today Toronto is excited for the visit of screen legend Robert De Niro, in Toronto for Men in Honor, which is followed by La Veuve de Saint Pierre.

Bags Packed and onto the Next Market

Although the Toronto Film Festival officially continues through Saturday, with the weekend screenings expected to be the most crowded of the Festival, most professionals are en route to the airport back to their home offices after what has been described as a Festival light on major deals.

It perhaps is inevitable for an event that attempts to juggle the needs of a public festival and a professional market, that what is successful in one area does not necessarily mean success in another. For the Toronto public, no doubt the Festival is an embarrassment of riches, featuring some of the best films produced around the world from many new talents. Toronto filmgoers are seen by many as the most responsive film audience in the world (these Canucks certainly love the movies, as witnessed by the capacity crowds at 9am screenings on a work day....don't these people have a job to go to?).

But for many of the professionals who hop from festival to festival, market to market, Toronto is yet another bump in an increasingly crowded professional season. More than in any industry I can think of, conversations can begin in one location and continue, almost seamlessly, in another part of the world, without a skipped beat. A conversation begun on the Croisette in Cannes, continues over drinks on the Grand Piazza in Locarno, reaches its crescendo on the ferry to the Lido in Venice, and concludes in the posh atmosphere of the bar at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Toronto. It is in many ways rather remarkable, a kind of surrealistic chain of events that would make a great scene in a satire on the film industry.

Sandy Mandelberger