TIME has an review of the Toronto International Film Festival. The Festival has been going on for decades and is beloved by many. Richard Corliss has an introduction to it here, Oscar Goes to Canada – TIME, but it seems to me dismissive and condescending. I did like this one good paragraph he has towards the end, where he says that
“Toronto, which used to call itself the festival of festivals, still is — a jumble of a dozen or so different programs that offer everything from high art to, in the invaluable Midnight Madness section, delirious low trash. Moviegoers thus create their own festival out of the films they want to see and can get into. (And you almost always can: stand in the returns line; be patient; it’ll happen.) It’s Lourdes for serious moviegoers, Rodeo Drive for the Hollywood set. But you needn’t see the big films to feel as important as an Academy voter. At TIFF, the audience is the real star. Standing in line for a movie from Africa or South America, you’re Brad Pitt.”
The Festival is really a number of film festivals rolled into one, and offers an exhausting array of films to see. If you love movies, you should go. And after you read the TIME review, you should read more about it. Better yet, come up and see it.
Smart People I Know 
Hey Bernie: I’m wondering why you say that TIME discovers TIFF. I’ve been a subscriber for years, and they regularly cover the event, as a quick Google search shows. I used to attend a few TIFF sessions every year, mainly for fringe stuff – obscure Latin-American movies – but haven’t seen anything in the last 2 years. Maybe it’s time to try it again.
(forgot to add:) Does that make me Brad Pitt?
Aaron! Good catch. Perhaps a better title would be: TIME introduces you to TIFF. There is a “did you know” quality to the article, which is great for people who know little about the TIFF. It is still condescending, though, which is too bad.
Are you Brad Pitt? Ummm…..no. 🙂