There's just no denying it.
Something happens to Toronto as TIFF week approaches. The air buzzes with news of big films and even bigger celebrities coming to town. Trendy boutiques start sprucing up for star shoppers. Journalists, especially those who cover TIFF, start shooting across town for pre-festival screenings.
For fans - and I mean diehard star-gawkers - the arrival of TIFF week is better than Christmas. It serves up more rubbernecking than even they can handle in Hollywood North. Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law ... They've all swooped through town in early September in previous years and landed smack-dab onto star-gazer's radar.
For journalists, the fun and games is work. Glamorous work to be sure, but you try interviewing bored celebs (there's always a pesky few every year), filing late-breaking news faster than Harry Potter can wield a spell or enduring the smell of popcorn for 10 days straight. It'll get to you. I promise.
At the end of the day the Toronto International Film Festival is a show and it's one of the best in the world. In 1998, Variety magazine called TIFF "second only to Cannes in terms of high-profile pics, stars and market activity." That's a lot to be said for a "little" event that started in 1976 at Toronto's Windsor Arms Hotel.
Known originally as "The Festival of Festivals," the prestigious international event began as nothing more than a collection of films from around the world. That's a sharp contrast to TIFF today. The 33rd Toronto International Film Festival will screen 312 movies from 64 countries in 2008, including 249 feature-length films. In fact, 76 per cent of this year's entries represent world, international and North American premieres.
Dramas, comedies, documentaries, fabulous shorts ... There's something for everyone and that unwavering fact continues to delight Toronto's movie-loving public - the ultimate star TIFF serves.
While movie hype might begin at Cannes, the real race to the Oscars starts in Toronto. Since its inception, North America's film festival juggernaut has morphed into a powerful launch pad for both Hollywood and independent films. "Chariots of Fire" (1981), "American Beauty" (1999), "Crash" (2004), and "Sideways" (2004) are just a few of the notable flicks that premiered at TIFF and went on to Academy Award glory.
I won't deny it. Watching Hollywood's �ber-fabulous stars strut their stuff on the red carpet is fun. This year's festival should be no less entertaining. Brad Pitt, Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Julianne Moore are among the 500 star guests who'll attend TIFF 2008.
More than celebrity star power, however, it's that elusive hunt for hidden film gems that continues to make the Toronto International Film Festival so special. Small or large, dark or funny, nosing out those special, exhilarating screen gems - the ones we'll all be talking about come the Oscars - is where the real magic lies at TIFF.
