"See the light!"

"Join the herd!"

Things I saw around town this evening:

The TIFF begins!

When I moved to this city, I swore I would attend the Film Festival each year. Things started out with promise, but soon I turned old and cranky, and wanted nothing more than a nine-to-five job and evenings in.

What's more, I suddenly regarded the TIFF process as "a hassle". Getting your festival shit together is like going back to university: swarms of people sitting on the linoleum floor outside the box office as if the area was some sort of Commons, armed with highlighters and the equivalent of a curriculum prospectus, the TIFF Programme Book. Like any good student, you have to make sure your schedule doesn't have any conflicts and choose a set of backup films just in case your first selections fill up before you get to them. Filmgoers hurrying around the downtown core, from screening to screening, remind me of college kids racing to get to class on time. IT IS SERIOUS! But there's also a sense of community, a small thrill that I miss now that I'm no longer a student or a festival-goer.

God, I'll have to look into going next year, won't I?

TRACK LISTING: Felix da Housecat, "Silver Screen"

[NOTE: The image above is a page detail from one of my university textbooks, The Oxford History of World Cinema.]