1 Naked Man l 0 Bed Bugs

On the eve of my departure, I've been ruminating about this year's total experience, as well as the film high and low lights. Overall I feel that the festival was different this year - not better or worse but a different experience. First of all, they moved all the P&I screenings downtown - and the financial district of Toronto is not that much fun to wander. Most of the screenings were at a huge multiplex. On one hand, I could see every movie I wanted to because there were loads of seats. On the other hand, I was running to catch films and having to weave though the Dipping Dots dispensers and arcade games. Music was blaring and there were many projection and communication issues I'd not experienced in the past. It's tough to move so many people through a building all day and night and change films every two hours. I think it will be better and smoother next year. There were a couple extreme cock-ups - and I was glad I wasn't in charge. They also added the Bell Lightbox - and for those that have been attending TIFF for a few years, we've all sat through the promo trailers (over and over again). This is TIFF's permanent home, not only to be used during the fest, but for year round programming. My pals at Dolby did an extremely nice job on the presentation, and the Dolby 7.1 is excellent. The public spaces are light and welcoming.

How were the films this year?
Umm, pretty good. I can certainly see our Fall and early winter getting added to - but that's if these films get picked up for distribution. At this writing, it's been a slow market. In the last couple days probably the best film in terms of quality and playability was The Debt, with Helen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds (TV's Rome) and Tom Wilkinson. I also loved rocking out to the new Bruce Springsteen doc about the making of Darkness at the Edge of Town. Ken Loach's Route Irish takes on the world of contract soldiers for hire in Iraq.
TIFF Gifty Bag - I bought the gifts today at the cool swag store at the Bell Lightbox. Don't forget to click here to join our email 'blast' list, so that you can receive interesting info and showtimes each week. One new member from each market will win - deadline September 30th.
Today, my last day, was a bit of a disappointment - I'll never forget seeing A Single Man last year literally on my way out of town and being so thrilled. I know I missed a lot of great film, and we'll be proud to play the great ones we saw in the coming year. Oh - and the bed bugs? None in my room or the theatres. And the naked man? He wasn't naked - just pantless - and he liked our hotel lobby. Next year a few changes will be in order.