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Photo By Sophie Baker
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Elaine Cassidy (right) and Bob Hoskins in Felicia's
Journey
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DATELINE: TORONTO, CANADA -- She is the lone photographer. A one-woman paparazzi snapping away at the small circle of friends, family and core supporters who have gathered inside Toronto's Bloor Rep Cinema. It is Sept. 9, the opening night of Planet Indie, a renegade festival running concurrent with the Toronto International Film Festival. Its debut entry is This Movie Sucks, a showbiz farce about the indie movie business.
The premiere is anything but gala. The University of Toronto neighborhood crowd lingers along the sidewalk outside the theater. There is no red carpet. No TV crews or spotlights. Just a black stretch hearse parked outside the theater. Emblazoned on the hearse's side doors is the film's Web address: www.thismoviesucks.com. These days, everything -- especially a no-budget indie film -- needs a Web site.
Projector problems delay the premiere. It gives director Marvin Baker, his fleshy knees on display beneath a Scottish kilt, more time to talk to friends. Watching from the balcony, it's easy to count the people in attendance: 30 or so moviegoers waiting for the show to get underway.
Meanwhile, across town, massive crowds converge on Toronto's glass-wrapped performing arts center, Roy Thomson Hall. Stretch limos line the front entrance. It is swell-elegant pandemonium. The excitement builds until the audience -- 2,500 strong -- explodes after Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan is brought onstage to open the 24th Toronto International Film Festival with his latest movie, the dramatic thriller Felicia's Journey.
Size matters at the Toronto fest, a cinematic behemoth that swallows the city with one celebrity-obsessed gulp. They are worlds apart -- Toronto's Festival of Festivals and its grassroots, renegade competitor, Planet Indie. Strip away the packed press conferences, celebrity sightings, VIP parties, hotel interviews and you'll find the essence of any film festival: the movies themselves. The glamorous surroundings are only a pleasant distraction. Once the lights dim and the screen bursts to life with the latest festival offering, it's just you, the movie and the surrounding darkness. It no longer matters if you're one face in 2,500 at an arts center or the lone moviegoer in the balcony of a neighborhood art house. One's experience with the movies -- even in the whirlwind environment of a major film festival -- is always personal.
It's amazing how the Toronto fest, now in its 24th year, keeps getting bigger. The numbers are impressive. A record 319 films (171 world and North American premieres) will screen before closing night on Sept. 18. The menu is an eclectic mix of Hollywood studio film, world cinema and American indie. Studio releases include director Scott Hicks' Snow Falling on Cedars, director Sam Mendes' American Beauty and Lasse Hallstrom's The Cider House Rules starring Michael Caine and Tobey Maguire.
Woody Allen's Sweet and Lowdown will be shown here, along with Bill Forsyth's Scottish comedy, Gregory's Two Girls; the Australian comedy, Me Myself I, which stars Rachel Griffiths; Kevin Smith's controversial religious comedy, Dogma; and Ang Lee's Civil War epic, Ride with the Devil.
Alan Rudolph's adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel Breakfast of Champions, starring Bruce Willis, will be screened here. Director Norman Jewison's work-in-progress, The Hurricane with Denzel Washington, will also make its festival premiere. French director Benoit Jacquot returns to Toronto with his latest film, Pas de Scandale. Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, a long-time favorite with Toronto audiences, will bring Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Toronto-based rockers the Barenaked Ladies even get a shot of the festival spotlight courtesy of actor-turned-filmmaker Jason Priestley's tour documentary Barenaked in America.
There's a large selection of world cinema: Tim Roth's directorial debut The War Zone; Lynne Ramsay's Cannes-prized Ratcatcher; Spanish director Carlos Saura's Goya in Bordeaux; Zhang Yang's Shower, about Beijing steam baths; Les Amants Criminels, from French director François Ozon; Chen Kaige's The Emperor and the Assassin; and the Brit rave film, Human Traffic. The cinematic tidal wave ends with Martha Fiennes directing brother Ralph in an adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's Onegin.
The Toronto fest is a well-run behemoth. A state-of-the-art multiplex provides the main screening rooms. Festival business spills over between two upscale hotels. It's evident Toronto is the largest fest in North America. What's even more important is how it has surpassed all U.S. festivals -- except Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival -- in prestige. The Toronto fest lacks a formal business market like Cannes, but its program of debut movies has made it a must stop. On the media side, Toronto has become the most significant launching pad for year-end releases from the Hollywood studios.
"Toronto is where my last film Shine was introduced to the public," says Scott Hicks speaking at local hotel. "The positive reception here, I know, was key to its success. I personally understand just how important this festival is."
There was no better proof of the festival's Godzilla status than the surreal atmosphere of its opening party. Inside the Skydome, Toronto's downtown sports stadium, amusement park attractions were scattered across the field. It made for some strange celebrity photo-ops. Hey! Isn't that Alec Baldwin atop the Ferris wheel? For a fest that at times even seems too large for Toronto to handle, the Skydome might be the only spot in the city large enough to handle the opening party crowd.
In one of Canada's national newspapers, Chicago film critic Roger Ebert explained his spin on Toronto's festival success. Its timing is perfect, he wrote, arriving just when Hollywood needs to launch prestigious year-end entries. So the Toronto fest unveils films such as The Cider House Rules, Snow Falling on Cedars and American Beauty. Anybody who has sloshed the snow and ice in Park City, Utah, for Sundance can appreciate the easy access to screenings in Toronto. The big city creates fest-friendly logistics. The sheer number of cinemas allows room for all types of movie. Variety has become a hallmark of Toronto's festival. Crowds line up for every screening. Toronto has a winning formula.
It was a standing-room only crowd filling two auditoriums for the premiere of the dark comic drama American Beauty. Many members of the press found themselves sitting in the aisles. A dark tale about the suburban American family, American Beauty arrived with high expectations, already an Oscar contender by word of mouth. And from the opening narration by actor Kevin Spacey, the father-in-crisis who serves as the film's dramatic center, it became clear American Beauty was the critics' favorite of the opening weekend.
Inside a high-school gymnasium, Lester Burnham (Spacey) and his shrewish wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening), watch their teen-age daughter Jane (Throa Birch) perform a Broadway-inspired half-time number with the cheerleading squad. But Lester's eyes soon stray from his daughter, becoming fixed on Jane's Lolita-ish friend, Angela (Mena Suvari). His obsession grows. In fact, he can't stop thinking about Angela. So Lester starts running to get fit. He lifts weights. He re-evaluates his job and marriage. And when his wife catches him in bed sexually gratifying himself, well, then the dramatic fireworks really start. American Beauty turned into one of those rare movie moments: A film that surpassed expectations. For a festival that thrives on discoveries and cinematic moments, American Beauty jolted the Toronto fest to life.
"I've been to this festival as an actor and as a director, and I've come to appreciate the film-loving audiences that are here at Toronto," says Spacey. "My only regret is that I haven't had the time to watch any movies."
The festival is a blatant success. So it's surprising Canada continues to have a chip on its shoulder. In a mega bookstore adjacent to the festival's cinema complex, an expansive red sign spells out in large, white letters: "The World Needs More Canada." An array of names are offered as cultural proof: Celine Dion, Mike Meyers and Dan Aykroyd.
Although I wasn't entirely convinced, after five trips to Toronto's festival, I've learned how much this town has to offer. There is a wide swath of friendly, eclectic, ethnic neighborhoods. Toronto is an emerging capital of film production. But Toronto is seldom Toronto onscreen. It's New York City or Los Angeles. It's even passed as Cincinnati in two recent movies (In Too Deep and The Mighty), although you wouldn't guess that from the films themselves. It's as if the idea of a story set in Toronto is not worthy of a feature film. Of all the festival's sections, Perspective Canada -- the best from the Canadian film community -- received the least media interest.
"I believe in the idea of a Canadian national cinema," says Jeremy Podeswa, director of The Five Senses, the film which opened Perspective Canada. "Just as I believe there are elements that are unique about British films and French films. It's important that we retain those things in our storytelling to distinguish ourselves from our neighbors to the south."
Ironically, south of the border, labor issues have put new stress on Hollywood's love affair with Canada and, most specifically, Canadian-based film productions. A July Teamsters protest in Sacramento raised the stakes in the fight against runaway production to Canada. Hollywood-based film crews want California tax incentives to keep film production from shifting to the Great White North. Now, as the Toronto fest moves into its closing weekend stretch, the anti-Canada sentiment is growing in Hollywood.
In the meantime, Toronto thrives on local heroes. Cairo-born Atom Egoyan has called Toronto home for a long time. He walks the city sidewalks, a recognized figure with his wife, Arsinee Khanjian, and family. Two years ago the festival opened with The Sweet Hereafter. So it's appropriate that his adaptation of William Trevor's haunting novel, Felicia's Journey, puts him again in the initial spotlight.
The film is a bold step for the veteran Canadian filmmaker, an assured trip into the realm of suspense. Young Felicia (Elaine Cassidy) is pregnant. She has left Ireland to search for the baby's father in England. There she meets Hilditch (Bob Hoskins), a kindly catering supervisor for a factory kitchen who offers a kindly hand. The problem, at least for Felicia, is that she's unaware of Hilditch's true motives.
The success of The Sweet Hereafter was a surprise. But Felicia's Journey arrives already stamped with the approval of audiences from the Cannes Film Festival. But Egoyan takes seriously his status as the leading Canadian filmmaker. He is proud to be in the spotlight.
At a Sept. 11 press conference, Egoyan confirms his pride. "The reaction at Cannes was important to me," Egoyan says. "But it is special for me to be home and open the Toronto Festival. I've had many films here, and it will always have special meaning to me."
Toronto is a good film town. Well, maybe that isn't completely accurate: Toronto is a great film town. Here is an abundance of informed and enthusiastic audiences. Walk down the sidewalk outside the Cumberland theater, where the large boisterous crowds are young and old, male and female, ethnically diverse. All walks of life. They flip through fest schedules, staring at the large calendar boards that help navigate through the maze of too-many-to-see movies.
It makes for a sweaty pace. You run for the cinema, grabbing the last seat in the front row. The moviegoing experience begins with a visceral jolt, a blast of Hip Hop music and a giant fluttering eye, the icon of this year's fest. You become a moviegoer with a capital "M." Here is a city where you can watch a Mandarin Chinese drama at a neighborhood rep house, then walk across the street to a Polish diner for grilled sausage on a bun. Moviegoing becomes an international adventure.
In a set of VIP screening rooms, a separate lounge area offers a brief, quiet haven. You catch your breath before settling into reclining seats resembling first class air travel to watch Ghost Dog, the latest feature from American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. The luxury is other-worldly. There are seatside tables and servers to shuttle popcorn and soda. It's the type of pampered treatment that spoils you. Imagine if all press screenings were handled this way.
Late into the evening, after the last screening has sent audiences scurrying into Toronto's early morning hours, the celebrity spotting has an urgent priority. It is 4 a.m. at the prime festival watering hole, Bistro 990, and the crowd has little room to breathe. The various parties have ended, and everyone has gathered for a last early-morning cocktail. British actor Rufus Sewell holds his drink with surprising balance. Ethan Hawke arrives, entourage-free. David Schwimmer -- away from his sitcom Friends -- keeps close to actress Minnie Driver. Not that anything scandalous is occurring. Driver's boyfriend, actor Josh Brolin, joins the conversation.
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Photo By Steve Ramos
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Om Puri star of East is East
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Celebrity sighting has a financial benefit here at the Toronto fest. A local tabloid has published a map of the popular hangouts, a guide to the stars, so everyone has the opportunity to play paparazzi. During these hours before daylight, the locals shimmy into their tightest black leather and try to rub elbows at the "hot" bars, a wasted enterprise in stargazing. VIP rooms and burly bodyguards keep the talent hassle-free in the crowded bars and clubs with special extended hours.
Corporate sponsorship requires that some banker has at least the perception of a chance at meeting someone famous. Public support requires seeing photographs of the stars on the covers of the daily newspapers. Toronto, much like Cannes and Sundance, feeds off its essential star power. But there is a balanced mix of celebs and new faces. Festivals are supposed to be the place of discovery.
In the sweaty confines of an after-hours disco, director Justin Kerrigan celebrates the audience response to his club-culture comedy, Human Traffic. He's comfortable here, joining in the revelry of the Hip Hop audience for his Trainspotting-like film. In the background, the thumping music provides the perfect backdrop. Finally, after another long festival day, Kerrigan is home.
It is midnight at the cavernous Uptown Cinema and aspiring filmmaker Mark Borchardt has realized his life-long dream. He is the subject of director Chris Smith's documentary, American Movie, about Borchardt's struggle to finish his 16mm horror short, Coven. Borchardt sits back with the audience to watch his zombie horror film. He has been to Toronto before, seeking funding for his next picture with little success. Now, he's back as the star of Smith's documentary.
"This is the best," Borchardt tells an enthusiastic audience. "Being here with all you dudes tonight."
After the film ends, Borchardt joins members of his Milwaukee family at a lobby table to sell Coven videotapes and audio cassettes of the film's soundtrack. He poses for photos and signs autographs. Borchardt has become an accidental role model for aspiring filmmakers, proof an Ed Wood can exist (if not entirely successfully) in 1999.
Borchardt's electric bill is stuffed inside his pant's pocket. He says his aim is to sell enough videotapes so he can finally pay his bill. It's a simple dream at a place where most goals are decidedly more complex. Tapes sell quickly. Business is brisk. Borchardt grows confident as he watches the cash box fill. His electricity looks to be saved. It's the least a film festival can do. ©
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