For 35 years, the Toronto International Film Festival has enjoyed a reputation as the only movie festival that a major city -- and its people -- can really enjoy.

Sundance is up in the mountains, Cannes is on the Riviera, and like most other big festivals they're far from urban centres. Toronto is different: Anyone can buy tickets for the films, gaze at the Hollywood stars strolling into Roy Thomson Hall each evening, or just wander around Yorkville hoping to make celebrity sightings.

This year could have been different, as the Festival shows off its first permanent venue, the Bell Lightbox, and moves much of its action down to the Entertainment District, near King and John streets.

But big-name directors are already buzzing about the complex, which houses movie theatres, gallery space and a restaurant that are -- most importantly -- all open to the public.

"I've already shown the building off to some friends from Europe and they're all just totally stunned by what we built here," Toronto director Atom Egoyan said.

It seems that TIFF just keeps getting better -- more accessible with bigger theatres and now venues all over the downtown core.

And while the Festival often prominently features the latest fare from a number of Hollywood heavyweights, Canadian films get their due, especially this year. The festival's opening gala was for "Score: A Hockey Musical," a night that director Norman Jewison called "a kick in the ass."

"It's rare that Canadians get together and say, ‘Hey, we're over here, look at us!'"

The Sunday afternoon block party for the official opening of the Lightbox ensures that even people who can't get tickets will be in on some of the fun. There's always something to do for free, such as joining the afternoon lineups to have etalk take your photo with the stars of Degrassi and other shows. The festival is also running past hits in a  "" series.

Perhaps this is a gloomy year for independent filmmakers at the festival, who are looking to make handshakes with studios over the weekend, but it's a great time for filmgoers who are getting sneak peaks of movies that might not get those wide-release deals.

And filmgoers who take a chance on a small, independent film may actually end up watching a future blockbuster, such as the 2008 festival favourite "Slumdog Millionaire," which went on to win eight Academy Awards.

"(Slumdog Millionaire) comes out, there's nobody in it, nobody knows anything about it, it gets a six-minute standing ovation at the Toronto Film Festival and goes on and wins an Academy Award," Jewison said. "You see, these are the things that excite me about this whole process of showing films constantly."

On Twitter you can see plenty of festival enthusiasm and not much complaining:

  • jackyhood Spent the morning touring #TIFF bell lightbox. Phenomenal space!!!! Now in line for Redfords CONSPIRATOR
  • eleishaWC: Went to TIFF yesterday and saw a film called 'The Way' Martin Sheen and Emilio Estivez were at the Q&A !!!
  • miscELENEous: TIFF is a such a beautiful thing.
  • cinemablogrpher: Off to another day of festivalling! On today: The Conspirator, Trigger, The Housemaid, and hopefully a stop at the CFC bbq!!!
  • dluneau Lots of TIFF drama in Yorkville this morning, Torontonians handle it well.
  • michaeloliveira If you're wondering which TIFF hashtag to tweet, #TIFF or #TIFF10, #TIFF is winning out

More ways to enjoy TIFF, even if you aren't in Toronto for the fun:

 

For the news junkie

Did you know that all the press conferences are streamed live at TIFF? This Sunday morning, James Franco was wide awake at 9 a.m., talking about his new movie. Most of the news conferences are later archived on this page.

Roger Ebert


The esteemed Chicago Sun-times critic has embraced TIFF from the beginning, and now has embraced social media. Check out his blog and Twitter feed for the fun. This morning he Tweeted a picture of the elevator at the ScotiaBank Theatre, calling it "TIFF's Escalator of Terror. They should sell ride tickets."

Deadline Hollywood Daily
Here's a good look at what the industry is thinking about TIFF. Check out Mike Fleming's first blog post, His entry is even more interesting for the comments section, where TIFF-goers who've actually seen some of the voices vying for deals.

Vanity Fair
VF has sent a blogger to Toronto, to cover the from "the largest city of our semi-socialist neighbor to the north."

Hollywood Reporter 
Covering the festival from the business and social angle, with the headline "."

L.A. Times
Another industry favourite, this "" blog is covering the festival. Over the weekend the blog has covered some Midnight Madness screenings and the controversy over the possible hoax film "I'm Not Here."

Full Coverage on CTV.ca
And of course, our own coverage at ... where you can find video, notebooks from three columnists at the festival, and photo galleries of etalk's celebrity sightings.