O Canada! Today, It's Personal.
During a day before the festival begins and a couple of days before any production happens, I had a chance to go for a solo walk through some of the hippest sections of Toronto. We had beautiful weather making for a relaxing day. I walked up and down Yonge and Bloor Streets and wound up at the By the Way Cafe for lunch and a local pint.
We should start production for ReelerTV on Thursday or Friday and have the first episode posted Friday or Saturday morning. It all depends on interviewee availability. We have some great interviews lined up with some legendary filmmakers.
Tomorrow I hope to be able to see some press screenings. I have to wait until 5 minutes before the projector rolls due to the pass I have, but after the miscommunication(s) with the press office, I'm happy to have a pass at all.
I am going to try and see:
Michael Moore's new one "Captain Mike Across America"
Anton Corbijn's Ian Curtis biopic, "Control"
and end with a personal hero of mine, Guy Maddin's latest, "My Winnepeg"
I'll post my thoughts tomorrow as to how it all went. There's a chance I won't be able to get into any of the screenings, so keep your fingers crossed for me. Unlike Sundance, where I only found the time to see one film, Toronto is looking like it might be more of a "festival" for me.
If I have the time and can get in, a major highlight will be watching the latest David Cronenberg film, "Eastern Promises!"
I thoroughly enjoyed "A History of Violence" and "Existenz" remains on my top 10 list and on my shelf in its old school VHS format.
A few Toronto observations:
There are little aggressive bees everywhere. They are quite pesky, but don't seem to mean any harm. I was told by a waiter that there's no need to be afraid. I have a pure hatred for flying bugs, flies first and bees a close second.
Torontoians (I made that up) don't blow their horns nearly as much as New Yorkers (but who does), but they seem to drive rather haphazardly. I saw one driver nearly run another car off the freeway right before a semi almost ran us off the same road. All of this happened without horn blowing.
Obviously, I'm thrilled to be here and look forward to all the films I'll get to see and all the fun I'm sure to have, but like everything, I have a few complaints:
The BIGGEST of all: Sponsored by Starbucks! So now I have to wear a Starbucks branded lanyard. At least it ain't Sanka.
There are a LOT of films. Here's a couple fest-goers trying to decipher the slate at one of the three box offices:
Their is NO signage to look for if you need to know where anything is. The lack of billboards and ads everywhere is a little refreshing, but annoying when you're looking for a locale hidden in a mall.
I ended my day with dinner at Spring Roll, one of the many Thai restaurants in the area. It was amazing. Stu and I were joined by Scott Tobias and Noel Murray, film critics for The Onion's A.V. Club.