TIFF 08 is serious about business.  In it's 33rd year TIFF is asserting it's fortified power and maturity.  Moving into the future with a fresh face at the top, a new home on the horizon, and a clear sense of purpose. I came to this conclusion on Friday (Day 2 of the festival) at the Bravo!Fact brunch, hosted by Bravo!Fact Executive Director Judy Gladstone, at the decadent Wish restaurant.  Judy is all about connecting dots, her charming smile and appetite for collaboration make her the one to watch.  There's an intensity driving the festival like never before. The energy is contageous, everyone is enthusiastic about making films that speak clearly in an increasingly complicated world. It's becoming more apparent that TIFF is the International Film festival to watch. Some might say that Cannes is about film and TIFF is about people in film. 

While engaged in a delicious conversation (the bacon was very good) with the CFC's World Wide Short Film Festival Director, Eileen Arandiga, it dawned on me that this year's festival seems more inclusive. Regular movie goers are front and centre in the action at lively venues like Yonge-Dundas Square, where you can see a film out in the open. The barely one year old AMC theatre is another venue that helps ground the festival in the nature of the everyday film enthusiast.  Eileen suggested TIFF continue to inspire more people to take a leap into the thrill of the hunt. Embracing the line ups, rush lines and inevitable disappointment. The experience of obtaining tickets for the movie you want can easily become a risky proposition. My early years of TIFF were spent in long line ups days before the festival just to get a ticket , I guess I did it for the love of film.  That experience drove me to discover new avenues of TIFF pleasure, exploring the nuances of doing TIFF to the point of precision.  Every year is another adventure and opportunity to sharpen your ticket purchasing prowess and technique.   

While seeking out more brunch to munch I met Susan Coyne and Martha Burns.  They're excited about staring behind the camera for their first short film. How are You is a short film about the comedy of grief.  I wondered out loud about what the tradgedy was in this film, specific elements of the human condition is Susan's interpretation of  tradgedy.  Susan goes on to say "people ask you how you're doing then tell you how they are".  Only in Canada would we see comedy and grief hanging out in the same movie. 

Canadian film is business unusual.