A Film Freak's Experience of the 29th Toronto International Film Festival
By Aaron Licht

The 29th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival was another great success.  It hosted more sold out shows than ever before (despite the increase in ticket prices).  Festival reports, especially of celebrity happenings, filled the Toronto papers.  This piece will attempt to share some of my experiences surviving the festival madness.

I get so much out of Toronto’s film festival that I almost hesitate to write about it.  These words seem like a futile attempt to express the surreal intensity of social and mental stimulation (see?).  My entire waking life for ten days is saturated with what 2004 world cinema has to offer Toronto, which includes the accompanying filmmakers, industry professionals and movie-going public.  For those ten days in September, I get a maniacal amount of energy and this magical anything-is-possible feeling (Are you sure you want to read this? I warned you...)

Working at the festival changes the movie-watching experience into a physical process.  It is a tangible feeling; helping to deliver the freshest cinematic goodness to thousands of hungry cinema lovers.  There’s an endless amount of opportunity.  The only limits are how insane a cinephile you are for making cinema such an important part of your life.  Like I mentioned back in August: volunteer.  There’s a reason that there are thousands of volunteers for Canada’s largest non-profit cultural organization.  More reason than just the kick-ass closing night party.

This year I had my first full-time contract with the festival.  For seven weeks, I was an Industry Programming Intern, on site to assist with the programming of industry sessions at the festival.  Simply put, we make use of the vast amounts of film industry talent in town.  Panel discussions on key topics (the digital revolution, world wide distribution, piracy, saving money through shooting in Asia, etc.), filmmaker interviews (Glover, Gilliam, Pollack, Martinelli, etc.), assisting in the networking process, and the like.  Officially, Industry programming is for Industry delegates, but festival volunteers and hardcore cinephiles usually find a way to take advantage, and many of the sessions are broadcast on local public television during the festival.

Having a new vantage point of the session programming process, I see it akin to a Buddhist philosophy: "I do nothing but nothing remains undone." An industry programmer uses their knowledge and enthusiasm to make things possible without being involved in anything directly. We do our research, search out ideal speakers, shape the framework with the moderator and then sit back and let them at it.

From September 9^th to 18^th, I was on shift for about 70 hours, attended at least ten industry sessions, five parties and fifteen film screenings.  I tried to get sleep at home whenever I could manage.  I spoke to countless film industry folk and took great advantage of my staff pass.  For example, on Wednesday the 15th, I was wandering around the city at night, waiting for the midnight madness screening.  Passing the Elgin theatre, I noticed a huge flashing light red carpet event.  Just to pass the time, I picked up a ticket to the North American premiere of Alejandro Amenábar's The Sea Inside.  Inside, sipping on my ginger ale in the lounge, Gael Bernal of The Motorcycle Diaries and his entourage sat down for some tea.  In the theatre, I realized that the film was a love story in Spanish, and accompanied by the gentle sounds of the sea, the perfect scene was set for a relaxing little nap in the back row.

Working at the festival is walking a fine line between parties, films and uh, work.  I will share one of my ‘average’ festival days when I’m utterly lost in the adrenaline-pumping overdrive of cinematic mania.

Tuesday, Sept 14th was a busy day at Industry Programming.  I got to the Sutton Place Hotel at 8:30 AM and spent the first hour at my desk, preparing for the day and fielding questions.  At 9:30 AM, I was back-up programmer for My Next Project: "A select group of directors from around the globe are given the opportunity to pitch their next project at the Festival to key development, talent management, distribution and production executives."  After setting up, we had to facilitate the environment for the ‘pitching’ process: answer questions, direct participants, and most importantly, keep an eye on the coffee.  Each of the ten directors had about five minutes at each table of Industry professionals.  It was a lot like speed-dating.  My major responsibility was to guard the door from uninvited would-be participants.  I failed right at the start when two would-be filmmakers took over one of the tables.  Fine, OK, they got in one lousy pitch.  The event was a slow ease into the day and it was useful to oversee the all-important pitching process.

Next at 11:30, I helped my fellow programmer prepare for her News and Views session on Piracy: "Hear how piracy is affecting the business and how the industry is fighting back against its growing number of methods and higher prevalence."  Dullness abounds. I ducked out soon after the panel was introduced because I knew I would be more useful elsewhere.

At 12:30, I was on the door for director Gregg Araki’s Maverick session.  I had been watching his films, reading interviews and preparing myself for his interview.  I recruited Industry folk milling about the centre to help fill up the seventy seats for the camera.  Araki was very articulate and a joy to learn from (see The Doom Generation!).  During the interview, one of the main duties of back-up programmer is to sit in the audience and ask mind-blowingly excellent questions, especially when the cameras are rolling and nobody has anything to ask.  I managed to ask three questions, and a few more before Araki vanished after the interview (for any Araki fans out there, drop me a line and we can gush).  After the show, I received compliments for my ‘inspired’ questions and later throughout the week, friends commented on the broadcast.  A welcome ego boost, especially when all I wanted to do was get a few questions answered.

By 3 PM  I needed a break.  I had a ticket for Lukas Moodysson’s An H in the Heart, but my fellow programmer had a better lead.  The Independent Film Channel was throwing a kegger.  I gave her my ticket and ran up to Bloor Street.  On my way, I ran into Colin Geddes, programmer of Midnight Madness.  We discussed the Negative Pleasure: Horror Redux panel I had programmed for the following afternoon.  As moderator, he had contacted his fellow panelists and gave me a few names to put on the guest list. He also gave me four extra tickets to The Ordeal, a fucked up Belgian horror film screening that night at Midnight Madness.

Listening to my inner cravings, I stopped by the Cumberland to rush the press screening for Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin. It was completely overflowing (good news for Araki, bad for me).  Across the street, about 100 protesters were yelling about Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat, premiering at that very time at the same cinema.  The film brought the biggest controversy of the festival.  I noticed Allen Tong, a reporter with the Festival Daily, taking photos.  Together we approached the frenzied crowd.  With our TIFF staff passes blaring, it was obvious our only option was to support the festival’s choice to show the film (the official statement: "The Toronto International Film Festival Group emphatically condemns the abuse and torture of animals. The rights of Toronto audiences to engage in meaningful discussion about the issues of the day are inviolable.  Film festivals exist, in part, to generate intelligent, reasoned discussion, not to stifle it.”).

As three elderly women shouted “SHAME!” at us, I struggled to listen as calmly as I could. They explained how the cat ‘Kensington’ wasn’t only killed, but skinned alive, stabbed and hung.  I asked if they’d actually seen the film.  They knew people who had and said they didn’t personally need to see the film to know that nobody should investigate and propagate such horror. The women were rather articulate and I got the impression that they were happy we listened to their point of view.

As Allen and I walked away, we both agreed that their protesting would only give the film more publicity and sell more tickets (I later found out that the festival screening was poorly attended, and the film wasn’t a very satisfying investigation).  I told Allen about the party, and headed off.

The party was held on on the rooftop of the Hotel Intercontinental.  I was greeted by the IFC folk.  Apparently the party was for press only, but my TIFF pass was flipped over, and I think they just assumed I was press.  No matter, they had plenty to spare; there were only about twenty dreary looking folks standing in the sun.  It sucked, except for the keg of Hoegaarden and buckets of Sleeman’s.  I ate pizza and filled my belly with beer.  I made a few calls from the rooftop (including one to my Editor, busy in his own festival world), ridiculed the party with some press guy, and talked up the bartender.  Dull, but I highly recommend crashing festival parties just to fill up on booze.  I then realized that I’d have more fun at the office.

On my way back, I ran into Colin again.  A standard discussion starter, we hashed about our current festival favourites.  I had already found homes for the four tickets he gave me so he handed me a huge pile more, and a few for the next night’s film, Kontroll (the Ryerson seats up to 1200!).  He invited me to the premiere party for the horror film Saw (I felt semi-justified for attending - after all, it was my meager responsibility to introduce the press screening the next day).  The director of last year’s midnight madness feature, Spun, came up to Colin so I returned to my desk.  I worked at the office until it was 7 PM and time to party: sickening horror style.

The party was at the Rue Morgue Magazine offices on Queen Street East, next to a strip club.  The decor was closer to a morgue than any offices I’d ever seen (or more like my bedroom movie shrine back in high school).  Great food and open bar on the rooftop patio.  The brilliant Saw trailer was on a loop in their screening room.  I met the editor of Rue Morgue, the film editor of PASTE magazine, and talked for a long time with the Raimi brother entourage.  I discussed festival favourites with Lions Gate rep Peter Block, one of the panelists for my horror panel the following afternoon.  After Colin left, I tired of meeting Saw’s people so I called my buddy Jonah and planned to meet him for a beer at the Horseshoe on Queen Street West. 

On my long walk over, the city was celebrating Canada’s 2004 World Cup Hockey victory.  Hundreds of screaming cars, a girl throwing up, a guy in a suitcase.  Jonah and I even talked a little hockey during lulls in our cinema discussions.

The festival doesn’t ‘take over’ the city as much as it exploits it and fits in to its normal rhythms. Everything just seems to move a little faster.  And for ten days, it’s possible to create an experience that is entirely rooted around the festival.

Jonah and I met up with a festival co-worker, my ex-girlfriend and her roommate at The Ordeal screening. I loved it!  Twisted cinema at its most disturbing.  After the screening, Colin led the director, Fabrice Du Welz, on an informative Q&A.  A taxi later and I’ve crashed on a friend’s couch at 3 AM, setting my alarm for 7.

Since the festival, I have developed a healthy obsession with Industry Programming. My favourite session was the Masterclass with Terry Gilliam, interviewed by Mark McKinney.  McKinney did a great job absorbing some of the better interview questions I had prepared.  But really it was a comic show more than anything. The audience could see the two comedy troupe vets becoming friends.

The DALSA panel was one of the main highlights. ("A close-up look not only at DALSA’s marvel ORIGIN - the world’s highest resolution digital motion image camera, but the world premiere of high definition (4K) digital imaging. THE GLOVE was shot on 35 mm and in 4k simultaneously, and you will be able to compare the image capture for yourself." ) In the opposite camp, the Stock exchange panel discussed the "the practical and artistic opportunities only film can afford and the techniques they use to achieve them."

The three sessions I programmed were a mini success: The Power of the Still Photo, Filmmakers Sharing Stories and Negative Pleasure: Horror Redux.  I’d need a separate feature to discuss the many industry sessions.  If you’d like to know more, e-mail me.  If this programming appeals to you, then volunteer.  You’ll help out at the door, check passes, guest lists, move sponsor signs around, do desk work, answer the phone, research, etc. I worked with many of the same excellent volunteers throughout the week and they were able to attend many sessions during their shifts.

Next year is Toronto’s 30th International Film Festival.  I’m already starting to prepare myself.  My advice, as always, remains the same: all cinephiles must experience festival fever.

Visit http://industry.tiffg.ca/2004/index.asp for more details.

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