Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Black Sheep @ TIFF 2009!


Last night was one of those perfect evenings at the festival. The night air was fresh and alive; the crowds were out; and the North American premiere of fashion designer/photographer, Tom Ford’s first feature film, A SINGLE MAN, was about to take place about five walking minutes away from my place. I was too far back in line to see the red carpet arrivals but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t surrounded by the industry I so want to be a part of. The two gentlemen behind me in line went on about how many screens their new film was going to open on this fall; Canadian director, Atom Egoyan just waltzed past me; and, when I made my way to my second row seat in the theatre, I turned back to see Patricia Clarkson and CAIRO TIME co-star, Alexander Siddig, sit not more than three rows behind me.


Then it was time to welcome the dapper and gentlemanly Mr. Ford and the stars of his movie, Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. They were all a few feet away from me and we were moments away from watching one of TIFF’s most intriguing titles. After winning rave reviews in Venice last week, A SINGLE MAN had the house full of distributors wanting to see what all the fuss was about. The film was certainly worth the hype; naturally, it was gorgeous and definitely stylish. What else would one expect from a Tom Ford film? This story of a man who has lost his lover of sixteen years in a time when his relationship would not even be given any validation was heartbreaking and somehow very steamy. And for the first time, I truly enjoyed watching Firth. He is incredible in the lead role and he will certainly be a contender come awards season.


The only downside to the evening was raising my hand to ask a question during the Q&A after the movie, seeing Tom Ford look directly at me and notice my hand up and then have the moderator call on someone else for what would be the last question of the evening. My arm sunk down but nothing could have sunk the magic that lifted this evening higher than I ever expected. I even held the door open for Miss Clarkson on my way out …

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