Toronto's Film Festival Celebrates a World of Filmmaking

By Deborah Lambeth

Beginning September 7 and ending on September 16, the world will be privy to viewing over 3000 films during the Toronto International Film Festival. For over thirty years, the festival has been the "launching pad" for many artists and filmmakers. The festival, begun in 1976, started out as a venue to showcase films from other festivals. However, in the past three decades, the festival became one unto itself. Now the festival is ranked next to the Cannes Film Festival as the most acclaimed film festival as well as the largest and most successful public festivals in the world. The Toronto Film Festival is considered the premier festival in North America.

As with any artistic venue, the main mission is to promote the preservation and creation of the arts. The Toronto Festival has remained committed to similar objectives; to lead the world in a cultural and creative discovery. At the same time, the festival seeks to make a place for Canadian achievements in an international realm. Over the years, a remarkable diversity of local, national and international films and personalities have been brought together to the delight of receptive audiences. It is the filmgoers of Toronto who make the Toronto International Film Festival a must-attend event.

To give you an idea of how encompassing this festival has become, every year the festival attracts over 250,000 people and that number keeps growing. The festival presents one of the world's largest showcases of Canadian films and receives over 3100 submissions and screens over 350 films. Two public screenings for every film is presented for moviegoers.

One of the most controversial films to be shown at this year's festival is "Death of a President," the mock-documentary depicting the assassination of President George Bush. Many Americans are finding the film's premise insensitive, despicable, and very disturbing. America has seen four of its presidents assassinated and seen two others, in recent decades, have an attempt made on their life. Because of world tensions, Americans are worried that this film might give someone an idea to actually carry out an assassination. Conversely, Britain is rallying behind the filmmaker saying that it is an expression of his views on world terrorism. Obviously, the film will prove to be one of the highlights of the festival and will be discussed long after the camera has been turned off.

It remains to be seen which films previewed will come out with superb commendations. One thing is for sure though, that for eight days in September there will be a lot of "lights, cameras, and actions!"