TORONTO—The Toronto International Film Festival turns the big 4-0 this year with yet another star-studded edition of the annual movie marathon. It’s grown up a lot since starting out as the Festival of Festivals, a fledgling affair largely regarded as a local event until Hollywood started taking note and sending its A-listers north.
Throughout the decades there were stumbles, triumphs, and plenty of celebrity hijinks. Here’s a look at some of TIFF’s most memorable moments:
1976 – The first edition unspools in October with Canadian organizers promising visitors a wonderful Indian summer. It snows. Co-founders Bill Marshall and Henk Van der Kolk discuss the cost of renting snowblowers. Future fests move to September.
1978 – Publicity boss Helga Stephenson is punched in the shoulder as a frenzied mob tries to enter an overflowing screening for “In Praise of Older Women.” A dispute with censors over the film’s sexual content landed programmers in the papers and gave the fest the best publicity it could hope for. Staffers sneak an uncut version onto the screen.
1983 – The ensemble drama “The Big Chill” and its fresh cast of up-and-comers, including Glenn Close and William Hurt, enthral audiences. The surprise hit and parade of photogenic actors set the stage for future red carpet spectacles.
1990 – Now festival director, Stephenson convinces “White Hunter Black Heart” star/director Clint Eastwood to visit her dying mother in hospital. “He was her favourite actor. So after the presentation, we walked across the street from the Elgin (Theatre) and into the hospital where he was whisked to her room.”
1991 – A TIFF delivery van containing that day’s stash of film prints is stolen. Programmers scramble to find other flicks to screen. “Of course, the studios freaked out,” recalls current festival CEO Piers Handling. The van is recovered several days later behind a deli, with all the prints accounted for.
