Two incredibly magical experiences to report from the Toronto International Film Festival.
The first was seeing the premiere of the film Youssou N'Dour: I bring what I love..and sitting two rows behind its star!
The film reflects back on his career -- unless you work in international development, you might remember him from his tours with Peter Gabriel or his hit single "7 Seconds" with Neneh Cherry -- but explores the backlash he received after releasing an album of intensely personal religious music during Ramadan.
The album is called "Egypt" and it's hypnotic. Youssou not only addressed the crowd after the film, he sang to us.
I don't need to tell you that I cried.
My new best friend from the line-up, Ryan, wrote a great review of the movie on his blog...as well as giving me a shout-out. Check it out here.
Ryan's one of those guys who goes in for the cornea-burning Festival experience. I think he told me he's seeing 35 movies.
He told me that he's getting married next September, and they've already had the discussion that they probably won't be able to attend as many movies as they'd like next year. He's a bit of a savant when it comes to entertainment trivia.
The second bit of magic, which I also saw with Ryan -- go figure -- is Slumdog Millionaire.
It's the sweeping story of a slum kid in Mumbai -- a lowly tea walla -- who makes it on to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
It's brilliant, sad, funny and sweet.
When it was finished, the crowd erupted in a standing ovation. This is why movies are made! It's directed by Roddy Boyle (Trainspotting) and stars a cast of people you've never heard of...which is probably why it's worth your while to see it.
Hoping for more movie magic tonight.
3 comments:
I should get over my fear of the complexity of the film fest and actually try and get tickets next year. I LOVE movies so much!!
By the way - I can't wait for Doc Soup to start up! Pretty pumped about that.
Enjoy the rest of your TIFFing!
I still have an extra ticket to Happy Go Lucky tonight... Will see you in line at Isabel Bader.
If no one takes it I will swap it for another ticket later in the week...
Thanks again for the mention, I'm actually meeting *quite* a few new people this year, and count myself lucky to have met them all!
Speaking of, here's a neat little moment of six-degrees.
Last night I went to a TIFF blogger meet up in Yorkville. I got on quite well with a couple, and even met up with them in line for THE WRESTLER today. The twist? They're the couple you told me about who run TOfilmfest.ca!
Hope your last show is a good'n.
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