all the old familiar places

familiarity breeds contempt. or, at least, that’s how the saying goes. and, when it comes to TIFF and me, that’s certainly been the case the past few years.

but this year i’m going back to basics, drastically slashing the number of films i’m seeing – partly due to budgetary constraints, and partly because i’m still smarting from the hellish experience i had at the fest in 2008. and it’s kind of refreshing!

by the time TIFF ended last year, we were barely speaking. i was ready to break up with the festival that i loved for nearly two decades, and all set to walk away without giving it another chance. it was thisclose to being over between us.

today, though, when i got up early and embarked on a very brisk 45-minute walk to the box office to pick up my program book and schedule, i began to feel a long-lost sense of excitement. the optimism was still a little cautious, but my mood was definitely buoyant. as i approached the line-up, and saw the familiar faces of fellow fest-goers, i started to get all nostalgic.

i thought about festivals gone by, and the process that lay ahead, and the theatres, and the line-ups, and the curious people i'd no doubt meet, and the festival friends i'd encounter amid the film-going. and i suddenly felt completely at home. proud of my veteran status. eager to return to this familiar world.

maybe it’s the fact that i know i won’t have to try to schedule 35 films over nine days, or the fact that seeing fewer movies means i’ll be much less harried and hurried when the festival unspools, or maybe it’s just that the adrenaline that accompanies TIFF is already starting to seep into my veins.

dunno.

but i felt quite happy as i headed home and began to pore over films. this is the feeling that i missed last year and the year before, and i'm glad it returned.