The Circuit

The border agent at the Toronto airport held me at the desk, studying my business card.  He was trying to think up the title of a film he'd seen long ago.  He'd scoured the internet for it and come up empty.  As the line grew behind me, he described it as a story of a man abused by his wife.  It involved drinking, a child, poverty, and more drinking.  He leaned forward, pointing his pen, saying - "Abuse happens to men, too, you know." 

I sensed some experience there and quickly agreed, pushed back the business card, and told him to email me his research and I'd see what I could do.  He waved me through, saying, "I know it played at the festival one year.  It must have, you know?"

Festivals take over cities differently.  CineVegas so blends into the fabric of the Palms casino that it's difficult to find the screens.  Telluride and Sundance literally change the shape of their towns.  Many others simply try to extend their tourist season with a fest.  But Toronto feels like a company town.  The not-for-profit Toronto International Film Festival Group had revenues of $17.7 million last year (compare that to $3.7 million in 1990), and they spent $17.7 million.  The Group feels like the city's year-round film resource. 

So when the festival engine starts, it’s as if everyone brings their fest attire down from the attic.  Restaurants show off their poster collection, department stores become awkwardly film-themed, people on the subway wear their lanyards. The festival is a way of life here, not a nuisance.  And with the new Festival Centre now under construction (pictured), an ambitious building that will serve as the group's base (with condos), it's certain the TIFFG and its city won't be separated.  No telling yet if the Centre's five additional screens mean more movies or less reliance on other venues.  I bet the former.  And I'm already tired thinking about it.

Exhaustion is always a part of this fest.  But this year it was deeper.  At the halfway point, I felt it was centered on too many unfocused war films.  After the hump, though, the festival lightened.  The critics and industry had separated the favorites.  "Redacted" and "Rendition" gave way to "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Juno," which might benefit the most from its successful, multi-fest run despite it coming in second to Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises." (Incidentally, director Jason Reitman's family is one of the co-developers of the Film Centre.) 

By the festival's end "Caramel," "Mister Lonely," "Before The Devil Knows You're Dead," and Todd Haynes' incredibly effective "I'm Not There" had changed the tone so completely that, while still tired, fest goers stumbling through the last few parties were glad to have some gems to take home.  And if there was no headline purchases, the fest made up for it with a bunch of small buys.  Overture got "The Visitor," "Battle in Seattle" to THINKFilm, "Nothing is Private" to Warner Independent, "Before I Forget" went to Strand.  By Friday there were two more: "My Winnipeg" to IFC and "Bill" to First Look. 

And at the very end, a little bit of sweet synergy.  Many had been yelling for the Weinsteins, who have the Joy Division biopic "Control," to grab Grant Gee's "full measured" doc "Joy Division." What an incredible double DVD that would make, many dreamed.

The announcement of that purchase was like a happy ending.