Toronto TIFF weekend

The 39th Toronto International Film Festival begins on Thursday. Hollywood is set to decend on the big smoke — and crews are getting ready for another huge year of celebrities, screenings and parties.

As the red carpet is rolled out, crews scramble finish and film goers file in a day before Toronto becomes the centre of the film world.

Jamie Visen, TIFF ticket holder: “It’s so much fun. Toronto becomes a completely different animal when TIFF is in town.”

Gina Elder: “You feel this energy in Toronto, so it’s just awesome to be around.”

For 10 days, TIFF consumes downtown Toronto. Wednesday was move in day at the Toronto Centre Intercontinental with rooms turning into sets that will host hollywoods elite… and it was pickup day for ticket holders who take in films at an incredible pace

Laurie Coleman, TIFF ticket holder: “Just great, 5 films in a day, you can’t do better. I’ve got anywhere from 25-30 films on my list.”

There’s 284 features being shown at this year’s festival and 108 short films. That makes a total of 31 thousand minutes of film.

Film critic Bonnie Laufer, has been screening films all week, and so far the top of her list is a film called ‘Foxcatcher’. It stars Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, and Steve Carell in a rare dramatic role that is generating Oscar buzz: “I don’t doubt that Steve Carell will see a best actor nomination.”

He plays a wealthy wrestling coach to Tatum and Ruffalo who send chills through the audience

Bonnie Laufer: “The creep factor is a 100 percent there for the entire film. You’re just like, intense the whole time you know.”

As far as surprise hit, a movie about the life of Stephen Hawking called ‘The Theory of Everything’.

Bonnie Laufer: “It starts from when we meet Hawking in university and it’s his deterioration from there. I can’t even, I can’t even describe it without getting goose bumps.”

The film stars Eddie Redmayne, known from ‘My Week With Marilyn’ and ‘Les Miserables’ and Laufer says Redmayne’s portrayal of Hawking is another contender for the Oscars.

Here are two additional reports from Sean Leathong and Melissa Raftis.