Jen Yamato on 9/16/06 at 11:22 PM

A very astute filmmaker in a shiny gold blazer commented tonight that my Toronto blogs have reflected, throughout our eleven-day stand at the film festival, my waning excitement and deteriorating energy levels as the days progressed. That man was absolutely correct, all the way down to his sparkly sequined high-tops.

That man is the fantastic, bi-coastal Malcolm Ingram, director of the 2006 Sundance entry "small town gay bar." He was hands down the most interesting, best company Senh and I found tonight at the festival's Closing Night Party, which we reluctantly dragged ourselves to on our last night in Toronto.




The party signaled what everyone already knew: that the festival really ended days ago, when most people (celebs and press alike) left town to go back to L.A. and New York. What remained, filling the massive outdoor tent on Closing Night, looked to be a crowd of dressed up locals -- seeking, perhaps, to catch a glimpse of a Brad, a Jude, or a J. Lo.

The delightful Malcolm disappeared into the crowd and we realized that the party was almost as lame as a high school prom, minus the adolescent drama that made that so interesting, with the added vulgarity of watching thirty-somethings flail wildly about on a sparsely inhabited Top 40s dance floor.

We hightailed it out of the snoozefest and headed back to the hotel, woke Tim out of his cold-induced stupor, and went for Stellas in the hotel bar.

Tomorrow we're on a plane back to where the accents are normal and the money isn't rainbow-colored. Toronto was good, it was great, but now it's time to go.

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Jen Yamato on 9/12/06 at 8:51 PM

Wheeeee! A whirlwind of belated blog entries from over the action-packed weekend here at the Toronto International Film Festival, with pics from the red carpet (Zach Braff! Kate Winslet! Lance Bass!), the insane "Shortbus" party-concert, and of course, movies!


Sook-Yin Lee, John Cameron Mitchell & Bitch, and Kids on TV play the "Shortbus" par-tay (Click for MORE pics from the Toronto Film Festival!)

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Jen Yamato on 9/8/06 at 5:34 AM

Yesterday was Day One of the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Tomatoes had an early day. We all started strong for the 9am screenings of "This Filthy World" (Jen), "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" (Tim), and "The Banquet" (Senh).^^BREAK^^


A welcome sight after a hard day's night.

Crazy, no? Add to that about a billion dollars worth of catered food , DJs, free-flowing drinks, and about half of LA imported up North, and you've got a night to remember.

Of course, not being the VIP types we sat and talked all night with Toronto vet Michael Dwyer, film critic at the Irish Times and programmer for the Dublin Film Festival. Tim got Irish with him and we hailed a taxi home at 1 o'clock in the morning, with the party still hopping behind us.

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