This year marks the 25th anniversary of my first trip to the Toronto International Film Festival as an accredited journalist — not that big a deal, really, since other journalists have been covering it far longer — but the TFCA asked me to write something about my years covering the festival and how it’s changed, for better or worse.
Fun fact: The original title of the piece was “This Stupid Thing I Do: A Quarter-Century of Talking to Famous People”. But I thought that was maybe a bit much.
Great TFCA piece, Norm. You’ve effectively confirmed everything that is wrong with the festival in this age of social media. It’s up to those of us unwilling to endure the loud groups of selfies-obsessed groupies and overpriced tickets, to wait until each film’s normal theatrical release, rather than lose out on this “prestigious experience.”
I’m not against meeting celebrities, but how long before TIFF becomes the MTV Movie Awards?
Thanks for a great read, a must-see for those of us more interested in intelligent film discourse with filmmakers than photo-ops.
D.M.