Wyclef Jean is among the many great performers expected to make an appearance at TIFF this year in support of a documentary. Jean composed music for Asger Leth?s stunning doc Ghosts of Cite Soleil (left), about gang leaders in Haiti during the overthrow of Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Continuing our series of TIFF anecdotes, George Hickenlooper recalls another memorable performance at TIFF. Hickenlooper served as a creative consultant on Ghosts of Cite Soleil. In 2003, he came to TIFF with his film Mayor of the Sunset Strip?

GEORGE HICKENLOOPER:
The most wonderful thing about TIFF is that with all the exuberance for movies, anything is possible for anyone...   In my film Mayor of the Sunset Strip, a homeless man by the name of Ronald Vaughan desperately seeks fame and  writes a song in tribute to his idol Jennifer Love Hewitt.   His hope is that Jennifer will be so taken with his ditty that she will swoop down, take him off the streets and bring him into her celebrated stratosphere.   Either that or he will get a record contract or will become famous even if Jennifer doesn't come calling. Well, after the film's first screening in Toronto, as people spilled out onto the sidewalk, I heard audience members humming the "Jennifer Love Hewitt" tune to themselves.   Later that evening at the William Morris party, actor Joshua Jackson led a chorus of inebriated merry-makers into an acappella rendition of the song.   My heart warmed as I thought of poor Ronald pushing his shopping cart on Sunset Blvd..   In some small way, Toronto had allowed him to have a taste of that fame he always desired so much... A week later Jimmy Kimmel called and invited him on his show.