Epilogue
- I apologize for my much delayed final contemplation on the Festival, but for anyone who was following along, you know that my mom becaem critically ill last week and I've been back and forth to Hamilton four times this week, while trying to keep up with the day job and teaching an extra yoga class for my yoga buddy, Lindsey, who badly shattered her leg last week after being hit by a car.
- Every year the press writes that the current year's festival was the best ever. But it's like going to a different vacation spot each year. The new place always feels like it's the most special. And it was bewitching as always, but I lost my spirit once my mother became ill. I felt like an automaton attending the films I saw after her hospitalization. FYI, she was in ICU for almost a week and she is doing so much better now, but she still has a very long way to go.
- Will I be doing this blog again next year? I'm doubtful. I got the sense that I lacked a readership. And although I was able to cut out about an hour of my waking life this Festival by being able to do some of my writing during the day, I still did not usually get to bed until 1:30 am and woke up every day at 7. So, it's still an exhausting endeavour. On the other hand, I still have an idea for a novel/screenplay that is based on events taking place over a decade's worth of film festivals. So my record of the fest each year serves as a good journal of my experiences.
- I managed to eat comparatively well this year, but I hit the dessert buffet at the vegetarian restaurant, Le Commensal, ten too may times.
- My best fashion elements this year were a couple of pairs of jeggings (jean leggings) that served me extremely well in Europe this summer and even more so at the Fest. They are the new yoga pant! Working on my blog in between screenings kept me out of the stores, and during the one and only brief shopping experiences during TIFF, I purchased a pair of Hue's ceggings (corduroy leggings). Comfy!
- I was so impressed with TIFF Bell Lightbox's upcoming programming that I became a member during TIFF (they had a good deal going on where you get three extra months worth). And my first return to the Lightbox occurred just a week after TIFF closed to see one of the films that I got squeezed out of during TIFF, Uncle Boonme Who Can Recall His Past Lives. And the second return will be to see the classic, The Passion of Joan of Arc (which I have never seen), and which is being accompanied by a live orchestra. And I will be a regular there for their Reel Talk program and its monthly screening of world cinema film. And I'll also be catching many, many of their Essential Cinema series. Being able to walk to this amazing new global film centre is the best thing that's happened to me this year! And on that note, I will conclude.