This year's TIFF experience can only be described as a mixed bag. Given that it was the busiest one to date (I was downtown every day for 2 weeks straight), the odds are pretty good that it would have been interesting, if not eventful.
So, in between working, volunteering, and sometimes sleeping, I was able to see 12 films this year:
Out of Nature
My Old Lady
Cart
Do I Sound Gay?
Jauja
The Cobbler
Preggoland
This Is Where I Leave You
Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
Adult Beginners
What We Do In The Shadows*
The Imitation Game*
(* MUST SEE FILMS!)
As a result, there are just too many moments to mention, so I'll try to condense it all into decently sized soundbites (in no particular order):
The Close Encounters
The unavoidable celebrity sightings this year included one that was not my own (my friend, on returning home from San Francisco, saw Jake Gyllenhall waiting at the luggage carousel like a normal person), some that were super close (Robert Pattinson, Patricia Clarkson, and Adam Sandler), and some that were just out of reach (John Cusack!). For the record, Patricia Clarkson is the loveliest person. In the span of 2 days, I twice witnessed as she rolled down the tinted window of the car, leaned out and either expressed her hope that we would be successful getting rush tickets to her film or thanked the people waiting after the screening to get her photo or autograph. For the first instance, I just waved and didn't mention that we were waiting for a different film.
The most ironic scenario occurred as my fellow volunteers and I formed the human barricade to let Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd fame) move from his limo short bus to the waiting throngs of middle aged guys asking him to sign their vinyl albums before heading in through the back door of the theatre. When he was clear of the sidewalk, the head rep told us to let the pedestrians pass but to close ranks in front of the entrance to make sure nobody rushed in. As soon as we did it, we all looked at each other and someone said what I think we were all thinking: "I am a brick in the wall. Literally."
The Q&A's
The best Q&A was the one with Viggo Mortensen. After watching an "interesting" film called Jauja, we were treated to a rambling story about filmmaking and a mini debate about certain scenes in the film (as for me, I'm still processing it).
The most surreal Q&A had to be the one for My Old Lady, where the TIFF moderator brought the whole thing to an abrupt halt when he fainted on stage. Kevin Kline was a hero and rushed over to him immediately, and while they waited for medical assistance, the audience quietly exited the theatre.
The funniest Q&A was for What We Do In The Shadows, where the filmmaker and star maintained a complete deadpan and serious discussion about what it was like to make a documentary about vampires living together in a flat in the suburbs of New Zealand. That is, until someone in the audience asked an actual question about the movie, disappointing him greatly ("You broke it"). However, the moderator salvaged it by spinning the question into something relating to the vampires.
The Power of Persuasion
I found myself extremely susceptible to suggestion this year. Whilst waiting in the rush line for The Cobbler, the couple ahead of me got take-out from Salad King. I had already eaten, so it didn't make me hungry. But the idea got stuck in my head and, lo and behold, the next day I went to Salad King for dinner.
A friend of mine asked for tickets to see Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet. Since it was showing around 4:00 on a Friday, there were ample tickets available and I was able to get 4 tickets for 1 voucher. She only needed 3, so at first I thought she could just invite another friend or give the spare ticket away to someone on the street. But then I read the synopsis and thought about it a bit. I had taken the day off work to see films and volunteer, and although I would have to run out of one theatre and back in to see it, and it would have been my third film of the day, I was persuaded to hustle my butt over there and see it. I'm glad I did.
The Karma
Speaking of The Cobbler, it was the only premium screening I chose to rush this year. It also was the first day of cooler weather during the festival. I had not chosen my wardrobe wisely, and I had about 3 hours of standing to look forward to. The Salad King couple were actually the first 2 people in line, and when someone came around asking if there was a single person looking for a ticket, they jumped on it first despite not being alone. They eventually scored another free ticket so they left the line, propelling me to the front.
As most of the feeling left my feet, one of the front of house staff came up and asked if I was waiting for the film. When I said yes, she pulled a ticket out and gave it to me. I willed my feet to start moving and followed her towards the theatre. Before I reached the ticket holders' line, she told me she could put me in the lobby if I so desired. I couldn't believe my luck. Not only was I able to sit down somewhere moderately warm, but she told me that when she started to bring the line inside, I could just casually join it.
The unmentioned perk was that the red carpet was still going on. Once I was able to feel my lower limbs again, I went up to the velvet rope and got a pretty good look at Adam Sandler as he walked past me. I felt awkward asking for a selfie, so I just tried to snap photos as he went and consciously took a good look at him in real life. I'm sad to say that, not only did he dress like a hobo to his own film premiere, but he's also really starting to age a bit. Gravity is doing a number to his face. Where did Happy Gilmore go?
The Lowrider
Volunteering at Ryerson all these years has proven that you will always see something unexpected (although it's been years since the Borat episode). This year, the best had to be the lowrider. During a break in the torrential downpour, a guy pulled up to the apartment building across the street and proceeded to gas all of us with diesel fumes while he idled the car and waited for his passenger. He completely fit the image of a guy with that kind of car...until we saw the little fluffy white dog sitting on his lap.
After quite some time, he leaned on the horn. A woman eventually emerged and got into the car. A rare pantomime occurred, because we were guessing an argument was happening but we couldn't hear anything. The woman then got out of the car, slammed the door, and walked back into the building. The lowrider then took off down the street.
The Odd Sightings
As I said, something weird always happens at the Ryerson. During one mostly uneventful weekend afternoon, a guy came up to one of the other volunteers and told her he thought he was having a heart attack. Naturally, she was a bit taken aback, and she asked him if he wanted someone to call 911, but he just walked away. She was a newbie and didn't know what to do, but I reassured her that if he's able to walk down the street, he's probably not having a heart attack. This was confirmed when we saw him walking back up the street minutes later.
My favourite volunteer shift was for the premiere for the documentary Do I Sound Gay? First of all, it was impossible to help anyone without them making a bad joke about it ("No, you don't"). Secondly, there were dozens and dozens of people connected with the film (in addition to the filmmaker having many friends, the film was apparently financed by Kickstarter or some other crowd funding scheme). But luckily, everyone associated with the film was wearing a t-shirt or a button with the logo of a mouth with a rainbow tongue sticking out, so it was incredibly easy to tell who should be let into the red carpet area. I wish every production company would do that! And finally, not to feed into the stereotypes that the film touches on, but there were a lot of people attending the film who exhibited their own unique style, so to speak. Including the woman with the moustache, who basically confused me for several minutes before I gave up trying to figure it out.
"We don't need no education"
