In recent years, I've become dependent on the weekly headline blast from The Economist and Twitter feeds for information about the world. Quick and easy, but not exactly hard hitting or in-depth.

Enter M.U.C.K. - or Movies of Un-Common Knowledge - a new film fest that brings big issues to the big screen in Toronto. For its inaugural edition, running from October 1st to 4th at The Royal cinema, the M.U.C.K. Film Festival & Forum has lined up an eclectic bunch of feature docs tackling some of the major social, political, and economic messes of our time.

The idea behind M.U.C.K. is to engage audiences and to get people talking with filmmakers, organizations and experts after each screening. Will this stir up any local activism? Who knows, but I did learn a few things from this year's programme about folks taking positive action against environmental disasters, war, and injustice.

Following all the fuss and debate over TIFF's City to City spotlight on Tel Aviv, perhaps it's fitting that the Toronto Palestine Film Festival (TPFF) is the next movie event to hit Toronto screens. From September 26th to October 2nd, the festival will run cinematic works from Palestinian short, feature, and doc makers - many of which tell compelling and entertaining stories while tackling some serious issues.

The festival's headliner this year is Amreeka, an acclaimed film that - I can assure you - has been oversimplified in the cookie-cutter feelgood trailer above. The Toronto Palestine Film Festival is hosting the Canadian premiere of the film on Saturday, September 26th at the Bloor, following great reviews, nods at Sundance and the Director's Fortnight FIPRESCI (international critics) Prize at Cannes.

Despite being a major industry schmooze, the Toronto International Film Festival holds that it is first and foremost an audience driven event. With this in mind, TIFF volunteer collect ballots after every screening and with all votes counted, this year's Cadillac People's Choice Award went to Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (with Oprah on the ticket as exec producer).

Earlier today, I kicked off the last of my TIFFing at a reception announcing this year's jury and people's choice picks. While my festival favourites (Fish Tank, The Time That Remains, Life During Wartime) were overlooked at the Awards, a surprising new list of must-see titles emerged.

The Toronto International Film Festival wraps up today. Here's what we've seen since our last set of reviews.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The Road
Watching this is everything I imagined post-apocalyptic North America to be. Based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, The Road is haunting and chilling, partly because of Viggo Mortensen and Australian child star Kodi Smit-McPhee, who translate the story well, but mostly because visually, it's just damn epic. Forget DVDs or Internet streaming -- check this one out in a proper theatre for full effect. (Connie)

The number of TIFF related photos taken this week must number in the millions. Walk past any red carpet with even a B list star and spot a swarm of local and international media outlets aiming to take the money shot. Mix in photos from media events, parties and impromptu sightings around Toronto and there's no risk that a nearly comprehensive photographic record of this year's Toronto International Film Festival has escaped society.

While this site doesn't employ our own paparrazi to track down the likes of Clooney, Penelope and Oprah, we've enjoyed checking out photos of TIFF that have been submitted over the past week to our Flickr pool. Here are some of our favourites.

Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival is coming to Toronto with a new show. While I only have a vague memory of anything pre-TIFF, as the Festival is coming to a close this weekend, I'm shifting gears a little - to a solid hour and a half programme of gross and edgy cartoons. Move over Clooney.

Spike and Mike (aka the "Kings of Tasteless Toons") founded the festival in 1990 and have introduced a new show at the San Diego Comic-Con every year since. The festival tours in across 50 cities in Canada and the U.S., and has, over the years, premiered classics like South Park and Wallace & Gromit on the big screen.

Weird, funny, and offensive as ever, this year's set running at the Bloor Cinema from September 18th to 26th is a messed-up mix of old and new picks.