Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, took the top prize, the People's Choice Award, at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. The awards ceremony was held over brunch at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which premiered at this year's Cannes Festival), is scheduled for US release in December and has started rumors of Oscar potential. Toronto has long launched directors into Academy Award success; last year's Oscar winner for Best Picture, American Beauty, premiered at Toronto. In other awards, the second prize was awarded to Rob Stich for The Dish and third place was a tie between Billy Elliot, (premiered at Cannes under the title Dancer), and Innocence by Paul Cox, which won the grand prize at Montreal World Fest. The FIPRESCI prize, awarded by international critics went to the Pang Brothers of Thailand for their debut feature Bangkok Dangerous. The committee stated that "this fiercely assured first feature film marks the emergence of not only its twin directors but of their country, Thailand. Beautifully crafted, with a deft eye on the sights and sounds of Bangkok, the film shows a love and appreciation of the poetics of cinema, and of violence."
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The 25th Edition Ends on a Comic Note

For the last Gala of the 25th Toronto Festival, the entire cast of How To Kill Your Neighbor's Dog joined director Michael Kalesniko on stage: Kenneth Branagh (cynical British playwright), Robin Wright Penn (his forgiving wife), Lynn Redgrave (Penn's mother suffering from Alzheimer's disease), and Suzi Hofrichter the young girl turning everyone's life topsy-turvy. This engaging comedy was very well received and the audience left the screening with delight on their faces. Another crowd pleaser from executive producer Robert Redford.
The closing gala party was held at the SkyDome, Toronto's baseball stadium situated at the foot of the city's other landmark and tallest tower in the world - CN Tower. The free flowing drinks courtesy of Smiling Sam's Vodka, lavish food and desert tables were punctuated by the featured performance of the Cirque du Soleil. And so ended this non-competitive festival and its marathon of 329 films presented to the receptive Toronto audience and festival-goers from all over the world.

Turned Away at Pollock Screening

A riot nearly broke out at the Press and Industry Screening for Pollock, one of the most anticipated films of the Festival. Over 200 people from the press were turned away from the premiere screening of the directorial debut of actor Ed Harris (who also stars as the Abstract Expressionist painter Jackson Pollock). Press desperate to see the film have begged organizers for additional screenings in multiple theaters for one of the Festival’s most buzzed films.
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Directors Head to Courthouse

With most of the business wrapped, Toronto is now mostly a movie buff town. Still, the invite-only parties manage to draw bug numbers at various locations throughout downtown. Last night, the directors from the Preludes section gathered at the courthouse for the party in their honor. The filmmakers - all Canadian - were comissioned by the Festival to create shorts in honor of the festival's 25th anniversary, which screened before the galas Guests included directors Atom Egoyan, actress Laura Linney (in town for The House of Mirth) and actor Eric Stolz (in Almost Famous) and festival director Piers Handling.
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Altman Has Harsh Words for the Press

Although he had no gun, Robert Altman had harsh words of his own for the press in Toronto Tuesday for his film, Dr. T and the Women. So far, the film seems to be as popular in Canada as it was in Deauville and Venice last week. The film stars Richard Gere as a gynecologist in Dallas, Texas and features cameos with celebrities in typical Altman fashion. The director had harsh words for the media, noting that they are responsible for creating the obsession with fame, not the stars themselves. Another hot film "Venice-to-Toronto" film has been Chritopher Nolan's Memento, which finalized its distribution deal Tuesday.
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Best-behaved Festival in the World

Midway through the festival, director Piers Handling and managing director Michele Maheux have much to be proud of. Aside from a few obnoxious guests at a screening of Girlfight (who screamed profanities so loudly that the audience could not hear most of the show), Toronto is thus far living up to its reputation as one of the best organized, best-behaved festivals in the world. One fan of the festival is Aussie actress Susie Porter (in two films here: Better than Sex and The Monkey's Mask). In heels and a fishnet black top, she said she was having a great time in Toronto as she dashed off to her next screening.
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Maverick Filmmakers Tell Their Tales

Eight celebrated international filmmakers, each with films in this year's Festival, will be given a platform to discuss how they have shaped their individual careers in candid, no-holds-barred public interviews. While working in different countries and film forms, each of these film artists have successfully bucked the trend to play it safe and commercial and continue to make challenging films with a maverick attitude.
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Where There's a Fest There's a Party … and Lookalikes

The operators of a Toronto website that create spoof movie trailers arranged a major hoax at the gala Opening Night of the Toronto Film Festival for the screening of Denys Arcand's crowd pleaser Stardom. The company filled the crowd with fake movie stars, clad them in black suits and dark sunglasses, and had them crash the red carpet amidst the shouts of "fans" planted in the audience. The "stars" waved at the crowd, signed autographs and were even interviewed on camera. When it was discovered that the "stars" did not have tickets, they reacted the way a real star would, by throwing a temper tantrum and shouting at underlings who were apparently not aware of how important the "stars" were.
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Opening Night Gala

Welcome to the Toronto International Film festival. Don't get excited. There's something you need to know about the Canadian Star System: there isn't one. That's probably why Toronto is such a popular festival for so many celebrities. Adult Canadians would be appalled to stalk and hinder another human being just because he was sexy or famous. (For this, they reluctantly turn to the press.) Generally, Canadians tend to go the other way and actively scowl at stars who happen to get in the way. In the land of maple leafs and ice hockey, it's considered the apex of bad taste to draw attention to oneself for no better reason than being able to speak a few lines on television. Athletes, politicians, and writers deserve to get hounded, but stars? That's just so.. so...silly.
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329 Films for Toronto 2000

The 25th Anniversary Edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, September 7-16, 2000, has announced its Opening Night and Gala screenings. Stardom, from acclaimed two-time Oscar nominated director Denys Arcand, will open the Festival. The film, starring Dan Aykroyd, Frank Langella, Thomas Gibson, Robert Lepage and Montreal newcomer Jessica Pare, first screened at Cannes this past spring, where it was the Closing Film.
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