The Toronto International Film Festival

 
To continue my year of movie festivals, I’m at one of the last big ones of the year: the Toronto International Film Festival. I’m excited to be in Canada for the first time, and to get to know how this particular festival, in the heart of Toronto, operates.

There are approximately 300 new films here – from Ben Affleck’s Argo to David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook to Rian Johnson’s Looper. From what I’ve read about the festival in the past, Toronto has helped create more buzz for films like The Artist and The King’s Speech, ahead of the Oscars, and as it’s been reported, films like The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men were all seen here too. So the movies screening here this year are the movies we’ll more than likely see be carried into the Oscars next year.

Other films certain to gain attention that I’m also looking forward to see include Cloud Atlas, made by three directors (Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski + Lana Wachowski) and The Master, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

There are a whole lot of documentaries that have piqued my interest too – like Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson one called Bad 25, Snoop Dogg’s transformation to Snoop Lion in Reincarnation, and Artifact about 30 Seconds to Mars’ “struggle with big questions over art, money and integrity.”

In between the movie-watching, actor-interviewing, I will, of course, be tweeting and Instagramming along the way!