A look at the news and events surrounding the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, and a very quick look at one Canadian short film every day.

Day One

Amidst news of Toronto's film industry faltering, thousands of filmmakers, cineastes, and paparazzi will be swarming our city for the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival. And luckily, they'll all be picking up their copies of Variety instead of the Toronto Star, so they'll be more engrossed with agents and distributors than our city's film industry woes.

I passed by Sassafraz late last night, and while all the scaffolding had been taken down, the doors remained locked. The staff were still mum on when the popular celebrity hangout will be opening, but they're confident it will be open for most of TIFF. In the meantime, DJ AM (Nicole Richie's former boy-toy) threw a pretty intense party at the Ultra Supper Club as an unofficial kickoff to the festival festivities.

If you're set on skipping on frosh week or work in order to do some celeb stalking, here are some of the big names that will be arriving in town today:

• Lisa Ray
• Jodie Foster
• Terrence Howard
• Juliette Binoche
• Rupinder Nagra
• Rosamund Pike
• George A. Romero
• Rahul Bose
• Ellen Page
• Ang Lee
• Nandita Das
• Omar Metwally
• Peter Sarsgaard
• Reese Witherspon
• Jake Gyllenhal
• Peter Carstairs
• Peter Lynch
• Julia Kwan

The big event happening today, of course, is the opening night. I'm not a fan of Podeswa, so I'd suggest trying to see Persepolis or Young People Fucking.

And now, a short (100-word) look at a short:

I've Never Had Sex...
A co-production between the National Film Board and the Australian Film Commission, Robert Kennedy's I've Never Had Sex is shot completely on a mobile phone. At 100px-wide and just over 2 minutes long, the film is both the shortest and smallest film at this year's festival, and features people talking about their sexual escapades candidly and openly. While it may not be a cinematic wonder, just watching the various facial expressions on each of the interviewees makes I've Never Had Sex a very engaging two-minute short.

Robert Kennedy's I've Never Had Sex screens before Young People Fucking this afternoon, and will also be screening at the NFB for free all week.

(Image: Jeremy Podeswa filming Fugitive Pieces, via TIFF.)