While
Hollywood heavyweights like Tom Hanks and Renée Zellweger were out in force, some of the biggest treats were smaller titles
Every film festival has its own personality, its own unique selling point. And, for Toronto, one of the main selling points is its audience. Eagerly egalitarian in outlook, TIFF (to give the festival its jaunty nickname) is all about the punters. Not for nothing are we reminded at every screening that the most important prize at the festival is the People’s Choice, voted for by the audience.
Toronto screenings are famously warm and fuzzy. Unlike the fractious industry crowd at Cannes and Venice, the
Toronto audience would sooner drop kittens from the top of the CN Tower than boo at a movie premiere. All of which makes for a uniquely upbeat experience for film-makers who choose to premiere films there. But it can make it harder to gauge the real potential of a film, to sort the buzz from the noise. The concept of a crowd-pleaser is slightly devalued when the crowd is pleased by pretty much everything.