Cloud Atlas at the Toronto International Film Festival 2012 (TIFF) and So Long for a bit

My best friend Kim who works at Christie Digital (the folks who supply all of the projection equipment for TIFF) invited JT and I to a gala screening of Cloud Atlas on Saturday. To say we were excited would have been an understatement. This movie had the ‘A-list’ of all the huge Hollywood stars and we already knew they would be there! We’d be breathing the same air as Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Halle Berry, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Susan Saradon, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, Jim Broadbest and James Darcy to name a few — can you see why we were so excited?

What made it even nicer was that we had Dress Circle Seats, second row on the balcony directly in the middle! Perfect movie viewing location and we were directly above the cast! How cool is that? Now we don’t go to many movies because we find them lame and predictable and we lucked out because Cloud Atlas was not like that at all. It was a story spanning many lives (played by few people) over many years and how one’s actions in one life may affect another in a future life. The story was tightly knit and in the end it all made total sense. JT and I loved it. Sadly, my friend Kim and her hubby Mike hated it (actually, that would be an understatement, abhorred it would be more like it!).

We were allowed into the theatre in advance of the regular seats. We watched the stars arrive from the third floor of the theatre, away from the unwashed masses! Unfortunately, I forgot my Canon Rebel, so I had to make do with my iPhone 4Gs and JTs iPhone 4 for the photos. They are much better during daylight than night, but at least it’s a memory.

The streets were lined with hundreds of people hoping to get a glimpse of their favourite star!

Susan Sarandon was the first of the Big Guns to arrive.

Ms Sarandon signing autographs

Mr. Hanks Sr. and Mr. Hanks Jr. toward the middle of the photo facing each other.

Hugh Grant emerging from his car

Mr. Grant waiting to walk into the theatre.

The Princess of Whales is a gorgeous old theatre. This is on the ceiling.

The directors of the film Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski and Tom Tykwer. These folks also directed the Matrix Trilogy.

The lovely Susan Sarandon

The dashing Hugh Grant

The gorgeous Halle Berry

The classy Tom Hanks (far right)

Mr. Hanks monkeying around, getting the audience to clap louder!

There you go. Our brush with fame at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival; TIFF will go on for two weeks and air almost 400 movies, all of which have never been seen before. This event brings in about 24 million dollars into the Toronto economy. There is not a hotel room to be had in the downtown area. We get visitors from all over the world. JT and I are very fortunate to have been invited to see this movie with a lot of favourite actors.

Here’s the so-long for a while bit:

JT and I are gearing up for our European vacation in a few days. I will try to comment on your lovely blogs but I am unsure of how active I will be able to be. I may keep a running diary (like I did in Morocco) if we do anything that’s notable (such as a tour of the Cern Laboratories in Geneva, or perhaps coffee with my friend Sissi, or a cooking class in Lyon or even a bite of lunch with my friend Charles!). I know I will come back rejuvenated and ready to get back into it, and I hope that you will not forget me and forgive me for not being as active.

If anyone has any suggestions on where to eat (your favourite place) or must do in the following cities, please don’t hesitate to put in the comments, I appreciate them all!
Vienna 1 partial day
Budapest, we’re seeing family so we won’t have time for anything else.
Barcelona 2 partial and 2 full days
Lyon 2 partial and 2 full days
Paris 2 partial and 3 full days

So long until October!