okay lets kick this off way back at the beginning, the 10th of September, almost a month ago now but still, we wont let my ineptitude to get something like this up while its still relevent get in the way of a decent opportunity to have a slew of posts about a cracking time in my life!
Sept 10th; its the first day of the festival and I wake up on this Thursday morning with a jolt at 5am, I then snoozed the alarm a few times (why is a snooze 9 minutes?) and dragged myself out of bed and into the shower for about twenty past. Left soon after as I really had no idea where I was going or how long it would take. A forward thinking version of me would have possibly done a dry run at some point in the days leading up but no, guess work at how long it would take on early morning public transport and vague ideas of how to get there would need to see me alright.
Having no idea what i would be doing in my volunteer role at the festival i spent the day before doing a little study on the internet, basically i picked out the films I recognised from the first few days, it wasnt indepth or anything but it did mean that i was secure enough in my post to completely zombie it the whole journey in on the street car (tram service to non Torontonians) till i had to shake it to take my first trip on the citys underground, on the whole its not bad, more akin to Glasgows Clockwork Orange than Londons underground service, but hey this isnt a travelogue, its supposed to be an account of an (almost) insider view of a major film festival, the second biggest behind Cannes, and so i will continue.
So i got to Sutton Place pretty early, this was the idea actually as the Wednesday was an induction day of sorts and I didnt attend (watching Scotlands World Cup dreams die with Splices co-author Big Red was more important) so in am email i received it was advised i arrived early to get myself accustomed to the library. But then i was the first person i think to arrive so no press office no library, no nothing was open. Finally, (it was actually dead on time, if not a bit early) staffers arrived and to the library i went, shift started at 7.30am and were in!
This is what my role was in the communications department. At the hub of the Festival is Sutton Place, in this hotel (Sutton Place is an old hotel in the city, its very nice actaully) a room is set aside and acts as a library and is called the press and industry screening library. In this library some of the films featured in the Festival are available as screeners and in a adjacent room there is a bunch of TV's and DVD players set up for them to be watched on. I worked in this room. Basically, arranging time slots for viewings, handing over the discs, and trouble shooting any such problems with TV's or DVD players that arise. I was not alone though i had another two fellow volunteers doing the same job with me.
Can I just say it was pretty cool, lots of interesting people mill around this area, guys and girls in acquisitions for big production companys, representatives of other film festivals around the world and members of the world press all using this library to catch films that their schedules (their heaving schedules no doubt) couldnt. It was a pretty decent first shift, the folks i worked with seemed like good folks even though their seeming knowledge of films and in particualr the films at the festival seem to be way way way above me, i did kind of keep myslef to myslef however, lack of sleep usually means my words are pretty basic and long sentences can sometimes be beyond me in these situations so i decided to just to sit back and soak in everything and hope that in next few days i could catch some zeds and perk up.. Ho hum, day one and shift one over and I eased myself through it.
After the shift finished at half two i moseyed down to yonge and Dundas Sq to experience my first film of the festival. I kicked off with Steamboat Bill Jr and it was pretty good, i had never seen it before, actually the reason I went to see it is becuase Red told me it was good and he would meet me there to watch it, he didnt mind you he saw the last ten minutes or so after staying at the baseball till the final out. It was still a decent shout by him though Buster Keaton though is the man, some of the stunts are amazing. I did however have a bit of the "am i sleeping with my eyes open here?" moments though as the early rise began to get the better of me. I met up with Red afterwards and he took me and my good lady for dinner, what a gent. I suppose with all the films kicking off the first day of the fest it was an inauspicious beginning for me but hey, thats how it goes sometimes.
I suppose i should give some context to what i did with what else went on in the city in places i wasnt. The Festival officially kicked off with a film called Creation starring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly who is his wife in real life, now i am not a Ok! or Hello fiend but i was surprised i didnt actually know that. Anyway, i am led to believe that it is the first time ever (if not ever then definitely in a while) that a Canadian film hasnt opened the festival. The photos of Connelly at the premiere are smoking i have to say, the film I hear is ok, Bettanny is Oscar material by all accounts, however one chap who say it said the monkey was was the best thing in it! scathing! I should note to those who have no idea what Creation is, its a film about Charles Darwin with Mr Jennifer Connelly as Darwin. Also having its premeire was Jennifers Body which is Diablo Cody's (Juno) new thing she wrote, its a horror or something. Anyways, Megan Fox was there and this caused all sorts of media attention, and why not. Antichrist and the new Almodovar film also got opeing night screenings but for this guy the day was all about Steamboat Bill Jr and being tired.
Mostly about being tired.
Live Stuff
13 years ago
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