THE CARLU, TORONTO -- I'm nocturnal: my typical sleep doesn't last any longer--in fact, it lasts a great deal less--than that of the average person, but I get to bed late, and that means I rouse late, and that makes me, by default, not a morning person. So if this article about the Toronto International Film Festival's (TIFF) Opening Press Conference--which took place today at 10 a.m. (in quotes--things were off to a ritually tardy start) inside College Park's newly restored, 7^th floor fiesta facility "The Carlu"--seems a little cobbled-together, even a tad stream-of-consciousness, consider that attempts to catch a wink of shuteye prior to lift-off were abortive due to my too-ingrained patterns of slumber; that I've dipped in and out of microsleep since returning home; and that there isn't much perspective I can add to the information I'll be regurgitating here, anyway.

TIFF-MENTOS

Martini glasses spread around The Carlu encouage you to take one of these coasters--but you can also pop it in your CD-ROM drive for more information on the establishment!

"Do they give out press kits?" an anxious cameraman asked me after I claimed a plum spot on the conference floor. I'd just come from the lobby and a fifteen-minute conversation with Jason, a pleasant, intelligent colleague I see at all of these conferences, wherein we talked ourselves into liking Ang Lee's The Hulk, and I'd used up all my will to verbalize on the sentence, "I fear that the perceived failure of The Hulk will lead to the death of auteurism in big-budget filmmaking." I therefore grunted in response to the cameraman's query, something along the lines of, "After. Spoilers. Kits at door after. They don't wanna..." I think he intuited what I meant, which is that if you give out press kits before the speeches, nobody listens to them, and there's no suspense. The TIFF organizers are big believers in tantric announcing.

Denys Arcand's Cannes fave The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares) will open the Festival on September 4^th; after Arcand bounded up the steps of the stage with producer Denise Robert and was told by Festival Director Piers Handling that the TIFF would screen over 300 films (shorts and features combined) this year, Arcand said, wearing an eloquent expression of disapproval that only a Quebecois face could make, "Is that some kind of a record?" Indeed, the annual line-up has progressed beyond bloated into showing off, but in theory, that places more wheat among the chaff, even if your chances of finding it are decreased.-BC

SKEDDED THUS FAR:

Program	Title	Director
Gala	THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS (LES INVASIONS BARBARES)	Denys Arcand
	THE COMPANY	Robert Altman
	DOGVILLE	Lars von Trier
	MAMBO ITALIANO	Émile Gaudreault
Masters	CASA DE LOS BABYS	John Sayles
Contemporary World Cinema	OSAMA	Sedigh Barmak
	PROSTI	Erik Matti
	KITCHEN STORIES	Bent Hamer
	THE MOTHER	Roger Michell
	YOUNG ADAM	David Mackenzie
	DEPUIS QU’OTAR EST PARTI	Julie Bertuccelli
	THE PRINCIPLES OF LUST	Penny Woolcock
	STORMY WEATHER	Solveig Anspach
	SHARA	Naomi Kawase
	NÓI ALBINOI	Dagur Kari
	SANSA	Siegfried
	INTERMISSION	John Crowley III
National Cinema Spotlight (Vida Novo: The New Brazilian Cinema)	CARANDIRU	Hector Babenco
	THE STORY TELLERS	Eliane Caffé
	BUS 174	José Padilha
	THE MAN OF THE YEAR	José Henrique Fonseca
	MARGARETTE’S FEAST	Renato Falcão
Special Presentations	THE MERRY WIDOW	Erich von Stroheim (featuring a live score conducted by Berndt Heller)

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH... The Toronto International Film Festival Box Office opens at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 14. At this time, VISA cardholders may order Passes, Coupon Books, VIACOM Gala Passes, VISA Screening Room Passes, and Festival Programme Books either securely online, by fax or by phone. On July 21, the Box Office opens for walk-up sales. Also available is the Globetrotter pass for those who want a complete introduction to the best of world cinema. The Festival Box Office is located at: College Park, Market Level, 444 Yonge Street.