Bell Lightbox: The festival headquarters

Forty-five HFPA members are in Toronto for the annual film festival which now rivals Cannes and Venice for star power and movie premieres. This year the festival is showing a total of 393 films, including 142 world premieres. The Judge, which stars Robert Downey Jr and Robert Duvall opened the festival with a gala premiere at the Roy Thomson Hall, where the movie's stars along with director David Dobkin, walked the red carpet and faced a phalanx of fans and photographers. The festival will close with A Little Chaos, a British period piece directed by Alan Rickman and starring Kate Winslet. Among the stars creating the biggest buzz is Bill Murray, who had an entire day devoted to him—Sept 5 was designated Bill Murray Day at TIFF which laid on free screenings all day of his most popular movies. "It was a dizzy day," said Bill, whose movie St. Vincent, had its premiere the same evening. In it he plays a cantankerous Brooklyn retiree who

becomes co-conspirator in mischief with a neighboring 12-year-old lad. " "I rode my bicycle through the streets and people waved and shouted to me. I saw a lot of friends I hadn't seen for a long time and then we had the premiere and the party afterwards." To the horror of many in the city and the delight of journalists and late night comedians, Toronto’s notorious crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford is newly out of rehab and hitting the campaign trail in preparation for next month’s mayoral election. Although maintaining a high profile, he has mainly stayed away from festival events and parties, concentrating on speeches aimed at improving his poll figures—so far he lags behind his opponent in the race. While big-name stars fill they screens there is plenty of action out in the streets, too. For the first time, five blocks on King Street, in the city's Entertainment District have been transformed into a car-free TIFF playground complete with a giant chessboard, music stages, nightly performances and a scavenger hunt. But not everybody is happy. The VIP ticket prices at the festival are causing controversy with some fans who feel the annual event has become elitist and may no longer be a "People's Festival" as it has been in the past. Moviegoers are steamed at the new $1,500 "Buzz List" package that offers five tickets to the moves, working out at $300 a film. Regular ticket prices are now $24 and $46 for a red carpet premiere. The closing night gala film plus a cocktail reception is $205. Critics say the prices are an indication that the festival has become increasingly corporate at the expense of the average filmgoer. D