TAKING A LOOK BACK AT TIFF 2010
Another year of The Toronto International Film Festival has wrapped up and gone are the extended 4 am last calls, celebrities galore and the unique energy that is bestowed upon the city for 10 days, which Steve Martin once referred to on 30 Rock as being “just like New York but without all the stuff.” The descent of Hollywood happens so quickly that Carey Mulligan, who launched her career with An Education at last year’s festival, and returned as an A-lister, stated, “there’s like a million really famous people here and I’m probably the least of them, so I’m not the most interesting person in the room.”
The buzz pre-festival this year was how the new TIFF headquarters, the Bell Lightbox, located in the entertainment district on a strip of King Street West, which usually attracts theatre goers and tourists, was going to steal the thunder from the usual chicer hub further uptown in Yorkville. As the festival kicked off, everyone quickly learned of more parties happening downtown closer to the King West strip but this didn’t stop fans from stalking out hotels such as The Four Seasons, The Hazelton and Park Hyatt (James Franco was spotted drinking at the latter).
Just north of the main Yorkville strip, a condo showroom for PEARS on the Avenue was taken over for five days to serve as TORO After Dark, a late-night lounge for VIP and celebrities to hang out. The space hosted a number of events including a preview exhibition of RED: The New York Times Canadian photo archive as curated by Caitlin Cronenberg. “I was trying to pick images that are what Canadians are all about, interesting stories, cool artistic vision, that’s sort of our thing and people don’t necessarily think of that immediately when they think of Canada. I wanted to make sure the pictures were really interesting and that they had a story behind them and our country is more than they think we are,” said Cronenberg, on how she selected 12 photos from thousands.
The same space hosted the Artists for Peace and Justice Fundraiser hosted by Paul Haggis, Maria Bello, James Franco and AnnaLynne McCord to assist children through education in Haiti. One of the moving moments of the evening was when McCord made her appeal to potential donors in the room by recalling her trip to Haiti and choked up as she described when she “saw a girl licking a puddle for water.”
On a night which had no particular scheduled programming at TORO After Dark, Paul Haggis and Josh Brolin stopped by for a low key drink, to be joined shortly after their arrival by Javier Bardem.
At the swanky Hazelton Hotel, the CBC held a bash for their late show host, George Stoumboulopoulos, where Chromeo and Rory Them Finest DJ-ed for dancing party goers the whole night.
Down on the King West strip, Brassaii was transformed to the YouTube Lounge and hosted private parties for Zach Galifianakis’ It’s Kind of a Funny Story which also featured an amazing ice cream sundae bar. Emma Roberts was spotted on the Brassaii steps wearing a furry white jacket, and Vanishing on Seventh Street with Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo, Uma Thurman’s Ceremony, and Henry’s Crime with Keanu Reeves, Vera Farminga and James Caan, all hosted parties there. Uma was also spotted over at the Thompson Hotel post party.
As fun as parties are, many stars make the obligatory stop over for only a few minutes. More pre and post film dinners with casts, crews and super VIPs in intimate settings have emerged. Giorgio Armani Cosmetics hosted an exclusive 10th anniversary dinner with Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes during the film festival at the Nikki Beach pop-up at C Lounge where Reza Zaimeche, international face designer for Giorgio Armani Cosmetics unveiled their latest ad campaign featuring Megan Fox. In between courses, Mendes spotted jewelry designer Shay Lowe wearing one of her creations and was seen exiting the dinner carrying the statement necklace dripping from her hands fresh off Lowe’s neck.
Mendes isn’t the only one who made off with a sparkly gift. While TIFF has not quite reached the same level of swag as Sundance, celebrities and talent alike are able to get dressed from head to toe, handled by hair and make-up pros and accessorized with jewelry.
The CBC hosted a Made In Canada Lounge where celebrities including Will Farrell, Ryan Phillippe and Zach Galifianakis stopped by to check out items from Canadian brands including the Hudson’s Bay Company, Roots, Canada Goose and Red Canoe before taping a segment for George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight. Scattered throughout the lounge were snacks that can’t be found outside of Canada, such as Lay’s Ketchup Chips, Caesars (like a Bloody Mary, but with Clamato juice) and red velvet whoopie pies by Bobbette & Belle.
Spotted at the IT Lounge was Paul Haggis picking up a Kobo eReader, Martin Sheen picking up a few Baker Street Pecan Pie Cheesecakes, and Catherine Deneuve checked out Goody hair accessories.
Over at the Fresh Goods Tastemakers Lounge Charlotte Rampling picked up a leather coin purse from Jessica Jensen, while Abigail Breslin picked up a pair of foldable flats from Damn Heels for post red carpet walking and checked out the Joe Fresh Beauty cosmetics area. Breslin, Colin Firth, Ed Norton, Freida Pinto and Jay Baruchel all autographed Mattel board games to be auctioned off until October 1st in support of the SickKids Foundation HYPERLINK “http://www.vonality.com/mattel” www.vonality.com/mattel
RealTVfilms Social Media Lounge presented by The Cutting Room felt more like a hangout spot with an Espresso Bar sponsored by Grazie Restaurant and people playing with You Rock Guitars. Bask-It-Style brought the gifts such as Cargo Cosmetics 7 in 7 Mini Kit, EmergenC’s Kombucha Cleanser and Mind, Call & Soul workout DVD in Me + You bags to Megan Fox, Mickey Rourke, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
