There's no way I can do a daily update of this year's festival. Because I was in the UK for a couple of weeks, I missed out on about 5 orientation sessions, which meant that I was behind a thousand people in terms of shift sign-ups. I managed to get shifts that worked with my schedule, but between that and the films I wanted to see, it turned out that I would be downtown every day from the 7th until the 15th. So, here we go:
Friday September 7
Hurried downtown after work to get in the rush line for Sarah Polley's documentary "Stories We Tell". Was able to get in but missed a little bit of the beginning. One word: fabulous. The most incredible thing about it is that it's a documentary about her own family. Mostly hilarious and features reenactments by actors who look incredibly similar to the real people they're portraying in a younger state.
Missed out on the food truck scene at Bloor Hot Docs to get to the Elgin to rush for "Ginger and Rosa". A lot of American actors were used to depict Brits in the 1950s, but it was hard to tell since the accents were spot on. Elle Fanning was amazing in the film but still has an undeveloped fashion sense.
Saturday September 8
Only one major thing happened during my volunteer shift: had to hold back the hoards of rabid Johnny Depp fans at the premiere of "West of Memphis". He really needs to get out more.
Sunday September 9
Went to the box office at 7am to see if there were any new tickets released. Unfortunately, the answer was no. So I sat in rush line at the Isabel Bader for about 3 hours. Then karma decided to cut me a break. The volunteer captain, with whom I had worked a number of shifts in the past, came over and said, "You're in the wrong line". I slowly worked my way up to a standing position and followed him to the ticket holders line, where he discreetly slipped me a free ticket. As I left the rush line, one of the girls at the front said out loud, "How long has she been sitting here?" Yeah, because I'm an idiot.
"Much Ado About Nothing" was my favourite film of the fest. SO good. The best part was that Joss Whedon was there, along with most of the cast (plucked from the Buffyverse), for the Q&A session. Nathan Fillion wasn't there, but I knew that, since a good friend of mine had gotten a job as a driver for TIFF and tipped me off that he was driving him to the airport that morning. Meanwhile, found out that the whole film was shot at Joss's own house (REALLY nice house!), and was done sometime between the editing sessions for "The Avengers", much to the chagrin of the producers of said film.
This was one Q&A I couldn't leave, and as a result I didn't make it to the Cineplex at Yonge & Dundas in time to rush "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". I guess I'll have to catch it when it comes out commercially. However, it gave me time to nap in the backseat of my car (not comfy) before my 8pm shift at the Ryerson. Caught a glimpse of Saoirse Ronin and Gemma Arterton on the red carpet before their film "Byzantium".
Got home at around 1am.
Monday September 10
Called in sick. The cold I had been in denial about for the past week was becoming an actual issue. Also the lack of sleep from the past three days had finally taken its toll. I was still able to drag my butt out of bed around 11am to do the general household chores that I couldn't have done otherwise if I had stuck to my schedule (dishes, laundry, etc.).
Went to Scotiabank Theatre in the evening to see "London - The Modern Babylon". Cool archival footage and a great soundtrack, but essentially it could have been called "London - Rioting Through the Decades". There was pretty much at least one riot every 10 years for the past century. The funny thing was that every riot looked the same: people throwing rocks, bobbies clubbing people, things on fire or exploding, horses running through the crowds. And although the reasons were vaguely different, the source was the same. Civil unrest is civil unrest.
Tuesday September 11
Stood in the rush line at Roy Thomson to see "Great Expectations". Ended up trading someone a voucher for an orchestra level seat. All the main stars except for Helena Bonham Carter were there. Really liked that it was a proper British period piece (none of that Ethan Hawke/Gwyneth Paltrow nonsense), but I swear, South Park has completely ruined this for me. I kept waiting for the Genesis device.
Wednesday September 12
Took the day off for a day of festing and volunteering. Saw "Still", which was a cute film about an older couple where the wife was beginning to exhibit Alzheimer's symptoms and the husband decides to build her a new house despite not being able to meet the municipal building codes. Based on a true story from New Brunswick.
"Three Sisters" was a long (3 hour) documentary about three little girls living in the mountains in China, mostly on their own. There was no background story, no interviews, no overdubbing. It was okay at first but watching them eat noodles for 10 minutes started to get to me. It could have been worse. The director's first documentary was 10 hours long.
They were showing "The Suicide Shop" during my Ryerson shift, which sounds kind of like a film I'd want to see: a 3D animated film about a family that owns a shop that sells items you can use to kill yourself, but unfortunately one of their sons is abnormally cheerful, optimistic and life-loving. Midnight Madness was "The Bay", a Barry Levinson film about parasites.
Thursday September 13
Got to my box office shift but won the draw to go home right away. Best shift ever.
Friday September 14
Last Ryerson shift. Held the green room door open for Jared Leto, who currently looks like a hillbilly. Did the link up at the back door afterwards, where he came out and intelligently asked the waiting fans to vote for his film "Artifact" for the People's Choice award. Maybe that's why it won.
For "The ABCs of Death", the programmer wanted volunteers to come out on stage during the introduction to "creatively represent" the directors who didn't make it to the screening (out of the 26 directors, I think maybe 12 showed up). I stayed outside and held the fort.
Saturday September 15
Made my way downtown in the early morn to see "Middle of Nowhere". A good film about how a wife copes with her husband in prison. Rushed to see "Clandestine Childhood", a film recommended by another volunteer. Really great Argentinian film about a boy whose parents were resistance fighters in the '70s and how he had to adopt a different name and hide his background from the other kids at school.
Last volunteer shift at the box office was another shortened stint. Awesome.
That was it for me. The next day was my friend's wedding, so I skipped out on the last day of screenings. A non-stop, tiring fest this time, but as always full of close encounters and some good films.
"We don't even have to try, it's always a good time"
