24th Toronto International Film Festival Coverage: Day One
Sept. 9, 1999 – Pop the champagne, the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival has started!
We thought today was going to be pretty quiet. We attended a press screening of Atom Egoyan’s Felicia’s Journey and then headed over to cover the Gala Opening of the Festival, a fancy schmancy screening of Egoyan’s film at Roy Thompson Hall. Should have been quiet right?
Wrong. Just as we prepared to photograph the red carpet arrivals for Egoyan’s film, protestors from the Ontario Coaltion Against Poverty arrived on the scene chanting that the rich should leave and so should the Hollywood parasites. They were held back by mounted police in riot gear and the limos headed to the underground entrance, bypassing the photographers. So we headed in for some podium shots and then made our way to the Skydome for the opening night party.
Lots of stuff to cover for the 10th (Day 2) so we’ll have that report tomorrow night.