The Toronto Experience - Part One

Greetings from the Toronto Film Festival.  I touched down on Thursday afternoon and since that moment this has been a serious whirlwind.  Since it is my second year I understand is the key is pace and endurance.  You have to sprint through the first weekend when everyone in the industry is in town for the big premieres and there are many parties and events to attend.  I have gone non-stop for over three days and haven't had a moment to write anything. 

Last night I was able to finally hear from other folks about movies they saw and liked.  I heard some big thumbs up for Jennifer Lawrence in The Silver Linings Playbook which wasn't even on my radar.  People love Ben Affleck's Argo.  And at the party hosted by the European folks (which I get invited to thanks to my friend Claudia Landsberger at the EYE Institute in the Netherlands) two completely separate women who I respect immensely told me to see The Patient Stone.  That one is now on my list.  That's one of the best parts of being here. Listening to the experts about what to see. 

Here are the movies I have seen:

Rust and Bone; Midnight's Children - directed by Deepa Mehta; The Sessions; Stories We Tell (doc) - directed by Sarah Polley; Ginger and Rosa - directed by Sally Potter; Love is All You Need - directed by Susanne Bier; Hannah Arendt - directed by Margarethe von Trotta; The Reluctant Fundamentalist - directed by Mira Nair; Free Angela and All Political Prisoners (doc) - directed by Shola Lynch and The Sapphires.

I have also interviewed: Judi Levine - producer of The Sessions; Sally Potter; Shola Lynch; Deepa Mehta and Susanne Bier.

Today on the schedule is Cate Shortland, director of Lore (which I saw before I got here) and Margarethe von Trotta.

So it's been busy. 

We will be rolling out the interviews as soon as we can get them transcribed and I will post thoughts about the films and events as soon as I can.  Follow my tweets @melsil for ongoing updates and reactions.