With my lovely staff pass hanging around my neck, complete with a headshot of me from my latest birthday, I was able to rush an unlimited amount of “Press & Industry” screenings, as well as get up to 10 advanced hard tickets to public screenings. Woot woot! Since all of my shifts were from the late afternoon to around 11:30pm and my freelancing schedule was pretty clear, I was able to squeeze in around two films a day. I did try one day with three-films-before-shift (9am, 12pm, 2pm) but getting up at 8am after going to bed at 1am doesn’t suit me like it did when I was in my 20′s. :) Neither does all the standing and walking and running and standing and sitting and…

So let’s see, I saw around 17 films in total, with the most notable standouts being:

• The Trip, an almost-entirely ad-libbed road trip comedy with Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon, complete with duelling Michael Caine impersonations. :)
• The Illusionist. Not to be confused with the 2006 movie starring Ed Norton and Jessica Biel, this lovely animated film features almost no distinguishable dialogue but rather a lilting score and memorable characters. Coming from the makers of The Triplets of Belleville, I expected nothing but delight.
• Jack Goes Boating, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s directorial debut, as he also stars with the always endearing Amy Ryan in a quiet, sweet story of two lonely souls finding comfort in each other.
• Everything Must Go, starring Will Ferrell. If you liked Stranger Than Fiction, you’ll really like this. As much as I love Will’s goofball antics, he’s almost better when he tones it down. He’s a great “everyman”.
• Bunraku with Josh Hartnett, Woody Harrelson, and Japanese star, Gackt. A highly stylized Samurai-Western, almost like a life-sized pop-up book. Fun, fun, fun!
• Henry’s Crime, an unexpectedly humourous take on a robbery caper, starring Keanu Reeves, James Caan and Vera Famiga.
• and of course, the People’s Choice Award winner, The King’s Speech, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter. Refreshingly full of quick witty banter (love it!), great casting and scriptwriting. An easy Oscar candidate.

I’m a bit surprised and disappointed that I didn’t get to catch a lot of foreign films this year. I know I saw more of them as a TIFF volunteer because sometimes you’d be asked to be an inside usher for some random film during your shift, making your odds of it having subtitles that much higher. But those odds also go for being asked to usher an awful, slow-moving artsy fartsy film. Or a surprisingly beautiful one.

This year was also quite different for me since I was no longer able to work at the Varsity Theatres, where I first volunteered, captained and eventually worked the festivals. They have now reduced the Varsity theatres to only two TIFF screens, therefore With the opening of the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a new year-round home for everything TIFF-related, many of the venues and even featured hotels were relocated to bring more focus to the lower downtown area. Sucks to be the chichi Yorkville retailers, haha. I think the new neighbourhood change is way, way better. Now, there are basically 4 or 5 modern venues all within walking distance of each other, with lots of restaurants and other city features filling the gaps. I’m sure visitors to the fest, both public patrons and press alike, appreciate the change in scenery. I, for one, loved that I could walk to my shifts at the busy AMC, near the ever-bustling Yonge & Dundas Square. It also made it much easier to catch the crazy Midnight Madness screenings at the massive theatre at Ryerson University, just around the corner. Martial arts masters and zombies unite!

It was quite a change this past season from any of my previous five years with TIFF. I was a bit apprehensive about the new environment and position on Day 1, but it grew on me, with the help of super-efficient yet laid-back staff of coworkers and enough public screenings to keep you on your toes. As always, my 11 days at TIFF 2010 introduced me to a new bunch of friends, a multitude of great flicks and reminded me of how invaluable good insoles are in making the most tiring 8-hr shift end in a run to Midnight Madness. :)

Can’t wait ’til next year!

As it turns out, the outage wasn’t just our building. When Bella and I got outside, you can see little clusters of people out on the sidewalks, obviously office workers from the nearby buildings. I looked up and down one of the major streets and at least 4 intersections were without functioning traffic lights, at least in the north-to-south direction. We walked a little further southeast and took an east-to-west glance and the outage went another 4 blocks. Being lunchtime, the sidewalks were slowly filling up with people, more so than usual. You could hear police and firetruck sirens, impatient car honking, and even helicopters! Probably just news crews, but all the noise, you’d think people were looting or something. If it weren’t so hot and humid outside, Bella and I would’ve just hung out in the shade somewhere. But, of course, all the good spots were already taken. We came home instead. Took a deep breath and marched back up to our 4th floor condo. We even ran into two guys moving out, carrying a mattress down the stairwell. “So, it’s just had to be today, huh?” I joked to one of them. As Bella and I squeezed passed them, I added, “At least you’re going down and not up.” “Yeah, thank God.”

It’s amazing how things come to a halt when the power goes out. Without lighting or access to computers, several businesses are forced to stop, although the restaurant patios filled up quickly. Once we got back inside, I got caught wondering what to do in the meantime. No power. No internet access. No TV. Can’t surf. Can’t play World of Warcraft. Can’t watch TV. I thought about playing a game on my iPod Touch, but the games I’m into right now all require wi-fi access. I’m really surprised at how bothered I am that I can’t tweet about what’s happening.

So before I forget this little moment in time, I opted to write my thoughts out offline and upload as soon as the power’s back. Now let’s see how far I can get on this laptop’s 79% battery power.

(UPDATE: Power came back on at 1:03pm.)

Of the films I watched, I would have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by “Perrier’s Bounty” and “The Last Days of Emma Blank“. In fact, I like the latter film so much that I felt compelled to get my ticket stub autographed by actress Annet Malherbe, who was present for a Q&A, alongside the film’s producer. The biggest surprise for me, however, was a sweet little film from Mexico, “Alamar” (To the Sea), about a little boy and his father sharing a few days together, fishing and snorkelling, before the boy is to fly off to Italy with his mother. Listed as a drama, it was shot more like a documentary, but without narration or intrusiveness. Away from city life, it’s clear that their relationship is so honest and simple. It’s a beautifully shot film that I recommend to anyone that could use a reminder as to why we should make time to get away sometimes.

Having said that, returning to my retail job tomorrow morning won’t be the same again after these last two weeks.

Day 1: Worked a big 10.5hrs shift at the fest. Spending all that time doing a not-so-interesting job this year made me miss the bustling days back when I was a Volunteer Captain. I really do miss the headset. I feel out of the loop. Didn’t see much in the way of celebs, other than local repeats like Jian Ghomeshi and George Stroumboulopoulos. Wasn’t able to watch any movies, but slept like a baby when I got home.

Day 2: Got a ticket to catch a 9:15am screening of “Like You Know It All”, a Korean flick, before working a much shorter festival shift. The movie was alright, but it’s clear that I should’ve gotten a coffee beforehand. Apparently, staying alert for two hours in a dark room, barely an hour after waking up, is a bit of a chore for me. I didn’t fall asleep, but damn, I got pretty close. My actual shift went by pretty quickly. Just five “Press & Industry” movies to worry about. As for celebs, not a single one.

So here we are, about a half-hour after getting home from my shift at Day 3. I spent the morning watching an Irish movie, “Perrier’s Bounty“, which I had to “rush”. It wasn’t a packed house by any means, so getting a seat was easy. The movie was great! For lack of a better description, it’s like an Irish version of a Guy Ritchie caper. Actors Jim Broadbent and Cillian Murphy were perfectly cast as the estranged father/son pair. On my way to meet my boyfriend for some all-day breakfast afterward, I passed actor Alexander Siddig on the sidewalk outside one of the hotels near the theatre. He’s in town promoting his movie “Cairo Time“. But of course, when I saw him, my first thought was “Hey, that was Dr. Julian Bashir!” (from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). He’s much shorter than I expected, maybe just a couple inches taller than me.

After I scarfed down some delicious Eggs Benedict, off I went to my third festival shift. It started off pretty slowly, but later in the afternoon/evening there were a couple of Public screenings that called for some red carpet action. Being stationed where we are at the Varsity, we are right next to the makeshift “green room” and paparazzi area where any of the movie talent wait it out before making an appearance and Q&A before a public screening. First, to promote their flick “Defendor“, Woody Harrelson, Elias Koteas and Kat Dennings hung out with the press for a bit, about 10 feet to our left. A couple hours later, in support of his screening of “Solitary Man“, Michael Douglas zipped through 20 mins after the scheduled showtime, so he promised the press that he would be back to answer questions and have photos taken. He’s another actor that’s a lot shorter in person. Although he isn’t in the movie, Matt Damon, hand-in-hand with his wife, also came to the screening. He was pretty much just as I expected.

I’ll admit that I do get starstruck by stars, major or minor, so it does irk me a bit that my little cell phone doesn’t have a camera on it. Grr.

The short version of my problem with them is that they wouldn’t let me bring my dog in the store or even let me carry her because they are now considered a “cafe”. Wow. Apparently, a coffee maker you bought in Wal-Mart, tucked in the corner of your shop makes you a cafe. My beef with them is that not only did no one stop me when I first walked into the store and peruse for a good 3-4 minutes (it’s not a big shop, by any means), there was also no indication anywhere on their door or front window that pets are not allowed, you know, like how other REAL businesses have them up. Also, there’s no indication on their web site either, which would’ve been nice, but granted, that’s not something you’d normally see on a website anyway.

Living in the downtown core now, finding yarn places is a bit of a bitch and without a car, it’s even more of a hassle. And without a Metropass, wasting round-trip cash (and time!) when you’re already low on funds just adds more fuel to the fire. I purposely didn’t go to The Knit Cafe (which is technically a shorter streetcar ride) because I know pets are not allowed in any store that has food. Had I known pets weren’t allowed in The Purple Purl, I would’ve left Bella at home, no hesitation, no big whoop. I only brought her because I thought she’d enjoy an outing. I could’ve left her outside for a few minutes, but it had also rained during the day and it was fairly gross and chilly to leave her there. And frankly, I would’ve done it, regardless of Bella’s whimpering, but I chose not to, just to spite them.

I was planning to spend a good chunk of money on pricier wool yarns because I got a customer request for a specific kind of doggie sweater, but I’m taking my business elsewhere.

I still have a couple more movies to catch this week and even more to try and “rush”, not to mention a couple more volunteer shifts. By the end of it all, I’m going to have to soak my sore feet and look into getting my worn-down sneakers replaced.