Every year, thousands of fans around the world gather in Toronto for what may be the most prestigious film event in the city: the Toronto International Film Festival. Held annually every September, TIFF offers screenings, lectures, discussions, workshops. Tiff is especially known for the celebrity buzz, including exclusive photos and interviews with the stars.
This year, the TIFF went on from September 10th to the 20th with appearances by stars such as Julianne Moore, Ryan Reynolds, Rachel McAdams and Johnny Depp.
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the TIFF, I decided to interview Iroquois Ridge’s own Ms. Morton, who shared her experience at the festival with me.
When did you visit TIFF?
I went down on the first Friday night, and I stayed down there for the weekend. And then I took a day off on the Monday, and went back down on the Tuesday and Wednesday. And then I went back down again on the last Saturday, the closing night, for the Midnight Madness film.
Have you been to TIFF before?
Yep! This is my fifth year going down.
What’s something you go to see there every year?
My favorite part about TIFF is all of the hype and the excitement over seeing celebrities, and learning more about the film that you’d never get to know about it, if you didn’t hear from the actors and directors. And sometimes they also have the writers there. It’s interesting to learn why they decided to write that particular story, and it’s always interesting to hear behind the scenes jokes, and all that kind of stuff that you don’t quite see if you just go to the movie theatre and watch a movie.
What was a notable movie from TIFF, and why did you like it?
This year’s movie was Room. It was a movie with Brie Larson, and a young boy named Jacob Tromblay. It was my favorite movie, it was the one I was looking the most forward to because it’s based on the book by Emma Donoghue, who is an Irish-Canadian author. And [I thought] it was a phenomenal book, when I read it a few years ago, so I was really excited about the adaptation right away. And it actually ended up winning the choice award for best movie of the year. Now there’s a lot of Oscar-rumblings [about the film]. It’s just amazing. It’s a little boy, who is only, in the story I think he’s four, turning five, and then, when they were filming I think he was six or seven, and it’s, you know, a very serious topic, about a young girl who’s kidnapped and held hostage for seven years, having a child in that hostage situation, so it’s a very serious topic and so for a young kid to, you know, show that much emotion was just crazy awesome.
Who was your favorite celebrity that you saw there?
We went to see George Clooney and Sandra Bullock at their photo call for their movie called Our Brand is Crisis. And then when we were having coffee at a hotel nearby, after the photocall, George Clooney just walked right by us. So that was a pretty big celeb sighting, for sure. I also liked seeing Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette for their movie, but I didn’t get to see [it] so it wasn’t quite as exciting as seeing George Clooney.
Why would you recommend TIFF to others?
I think everyone should go down to TIFF! You get to see a lot of interesting films that you might not go to see otherwise, maybe someone you think is a cool celebrity is in it, because not all the films make it to theatres, so it’s sort of an opportunity to see different things. And honestly, it’s just got a great vibe. Every year, now they shut down King Street and call it Festival Street, so there’s all sort of vendors, and you get a lot of places that hand out swag, like free coffee from Mcdonalds, and free ice tea, and free pizza while you’re waiting in line. It’s a really cool vibe with lots of people excited, and lots of screaming, celebrities and glitz and glamour.
Any funny or interesting experiences?
Oh man. This year for me was a tough one because we had a lot of physical injuries happening. My camera broke while I was on my trip to France over the summer. So I was borrowing my sister’s digital camera, and the whole weekend was super rainy. This one night, we were coming out [of] a presentation called the Live Read, where they take a script of a really famous movie, and they read it out loud, and this year’s was the Princess Bride. And as we were coming out of it, it was pouring rain. This girl stepped in a puddle and then she tried to step out of it...and as a result, pushed me. And so I fell down, wearing white pants-who wears white pants? I don’t even know- and so I was absolutely soaked, I fell on my purse, I broke a water bottle in my purse, and absolutely everything in my purse was soaked as a result, including my sister’s digital camera that I borrowed.
On a final note, TIFF would be a great opportunity to see some great films, unite with other fans and critics, or maybe even catch a glimpse of your favorite celebrity. If you didn’t catch the festival this year, don’t worry. There’s always next year, and the one after!
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