Toronto International Film Festival 2011: The Globe and Mail's full coverage of the movies, the parties and the stars
From Sept. 8 to Sept. 15, our crack team of arts journalists covered every angle of TIFF as it happened via YouTube video, photos and old-fashioned text - plus tweets and tips from readers at large. Get the full recap below.
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Editor's Note: Welcome to The Globe and Mail's 2011 TIFF liveblog, bringing you every air kiss and fashion faux-pas along with the latest film buzz.
No better way to kick things off than with esteemed Globe and Mail film critic Liam Lacey. Here are his thoughts on what's predicted to be one of TIFF's hottest films, The Descendants.
Steve Pond at The Wrap goes out way early in predicting The Descendants will win this year's Best Picture Oscar. See his reasoning at http://www.thewrap.com (link)
The Descendants was very well reviewed out of Telluride and press at advance TIFF screening are also high on this Hawaiian-set drama starring George Clooney, as a husband who discovers his comatose wife was having an affair.
First TIFF screening is Saturday at 6 at the Visa Screening Room (Elgin) followed by Sunday, Sept. 11 at Winter Garden Theatre (12:30) and Saturday, Sept. 17 (11 a.m.) back at the Visa Screening Room.
Some are saying it's Alexander Payne's best film. He's been kind of quiet since Sideways, way back in 2004. -
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Celebs will be showered with swag while their in Toronto for TIFF. They always are.
This year they can look forward to Kobo e-readers, ConScent scented t-shirts, Baker Street baked goods, and everything from jewellery, cosmetics and jackets from brands such as Fila, Stila and RW&CO at the NKPR’s IT Lounge. The New York and Toronto-based public relations firm will be offering these treats in support of two charities: Artists for Peace and Justice and Camp Oochigeas.
Another public relations firm has set up a “TIFF-ting” lounge that also boasts plenty of treats, including organic mattresses, pillows and custom pet beds by Soma.
But why even make stars get out of bed to get free stuff?
Jsquared Public Relations’ Bask-It-Style Lounge actually delivers it right to their hotel rooms: books from Random House, Foxy Originals jewellery, Yummy Skin skincare products and Mereadesso, a Canadian skincare line.
Meanwhile, over at the Ritz-Carlton, guests checking in will be treated to miniature desserts, including tiny film reels made from sugar.
It’s hardly the sweetest free thing celebs will get this week, but it’s definitely a taste of what’s to come. -
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Adrian Grenier at the Hoxton for the screening of Teenage Paparazzo. It's not one of the films on the official TIFF schedule, but gosh is it topical with all the shutterbugs who have followed the celebs into town. Grenier is looking chilled and relaxed in jeans and a purple checked shirt. When answering what he would bring to a TIFF potluck, he said pot, to the rather surprised look of reporters on the carpet. He then cheekily drew a pot in the air - confusion avoided!
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The Globe's Brad Wheeler interviews From the Sky Down director Davis Guggenheim, "a heat-seeking missile for drama": tgam.ca -
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Bumped into Charlie Carrick waiting in line for a sandwich at Canteen restaurant in the TIFF Bell Lightbox building. The actor, who has appeared in TV shows The L Word, Tower Prep and V, is trying to see 40 films during this year's festival - which means at least four a day. So far, Like Crazy gets a thumbs up, Restless gets a thumbs down. Ides of March is next up this afternoon. -
Time has run out for The Clock. National Gallery of Canada associate curator Jonathan Shaughnessy and Christy Thompson, acting director of Toronto contemporary art space The Power Plant, confirmed today that the instantly legendary video installation by Christian Marclay won't be shown as part of TIFF 2011. The Power Plant has been working since early summer to borrow the edition of the 24-hour video that the NGC announced in May it was purchasing in partnership with Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Had it happened, it would have been a huge TIFF hit; the Power Plant was planning to allow about 400 viewers at any one time. -
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One for the techies: What's one of the biggest, most important innovations in filmmaking these days? Restoration. It's where a lot of the money is, and it's obvious of huge importance to studios and places like the National Film Board of Canada with their massive back catalogues. At a presentation sponsored by Dolby, sound engineers and post-production experts talked about the balance they have to strick between digital restoration and yet maintaining the look and feel of the original analog film.
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Hello Alliance Films? It's the PMO's office calling. Apparently, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a huge hockey fan so his office placed a call to the Toronto-based distributor behind the hockey-themed, rom-com Breakaway, asking that he be added to the guest list at a dinner Friday night celebrating the film. Harper will be hobnobbing at an undisclosed Toronto hotel restaurant with the cast of Bollywood-influenced Breakaway (yes, there are exuberant musical numbers on ice) which includes Rob Lowe, Brampton-born funny guy Russell Peters, and the relatively unknown actor Vinay Virmani (who also penned the script). -
Just saw Brad Pitt in Moneyball. I would say it hits a homerun, but that would be a basebally cliche - something the film thankfully avoids. A human film, not given to sappy melodrama like a few sports movies I won't mention. Full of funny understated quips from Jonah Hill, who's great as the nerdy assistant to Brad Pitt's economical playing of the interesting Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane. -
A few TIFF volunteers say they had their first celeb sighting this afternoon. Geoffrey Rush chatted with a few workers at the Filmmakers' Lounge at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at about 2 p.m. before heading to the Scotiabank Theatre. He was photographed there and locals took to Twitter to say he even posed for a few fan photos.
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Did he really say that? Spoke to Davis Guggenheim about his film, the U2 doc From the Sky Down. He thinks U2's creative longevity is an ultra rare thing. What about the Rolling Stones, I asked? "The Stones have made arrangements to stay together," he said, "but I don't think the spirit of the band is still alive."
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(L-R) Associate Director of Canadian Programming Steve Gravestock, screenwriter Noel S. Baker, author Paul McEwan and actor Julian Richings speak during Bruce Mcdonald's Hard Core Logo II Launch at The Garrison during on Thursday. (Photo by Sonia Recchia/Getty Images)
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Montreal director André Rouleau has won of the annual $10,000 Canadian Media Production Association Producer’s Award. Rouleau is known for Funkytown, Die, Polytechnique, Mesrine: L’instinct de mort (Mesrine: Death Instinct), Battle in Seattle, An American Haunting, and Head in the Clouds. -
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There are fewer press screenings available this year, reports Globe film critic Liam Lacey. The reason? More directors are working in digital so don't have to ship their work to post-production. They can tinker with their film right to the last minute and are ending up missing the deadlines.
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"My work is not worthless if I save someone from wasting two hours of life" - Roger Ebert.
Click here to read Johanna Schneller's profile of the film critic, who has already been spotted in Toronto. -
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Just got back from a press screening of Coriolanus, where actor/director Ralph Fiennes, at least for the first half hour, manages something unique in the annals of Shakespeare adaptation - almost no dialogue, just action and plenty of it. Yep, he's replaced that tricky Elizabethan lingo with a far more universal grammar - blood and guts. -
Adrian Grenier says he feels "empowered, and no longer a victim" of the paparazzi-crazed world after working on the doc Teenage Paparazzo.
He even had to chase down paparazzi and sign media release forms to use their clips in his doc. "Do you know humiliating that is?" Grenier says to the audience post-screening.
The Entourage star says he wants people not just to view the film passively, but to interact with the film by posting comments on the film's website, or even making their own films. -
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Our photogs are using their talents to shoot portraits of the stars and filmmakers at TIFF, portraits that we will be showcasing throughout the festival. These shots from red carpets and outside hotels, etc., are meant to be candids for the purpose of this live blog. But you'll see some of our top shooters here too.
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Okay. Any minute now someone famous is going to walk down this red carpet.... www.theglobeandmail.com
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Any. Minute. Now. Click here for live feed
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