TIFF Today: September 6, 2008

Day three, and the Toronto International Film Festival is already getting immense attention from local Torontonians. A big reason for that may have been the arrival of Brad Pitt yesterday for the screening of Burn After Reading. At the screening of the film, co-director Joel Coen thanked Pitt and the rest of the A-listers in his movie: "We'd like to thank the amazing cast for induging in our nonsense."

Nonsense or not, Burn After Reading was one of the most buzzworthy movies to screen yesterday — but it certainly wasn't the only story making waves.

Wednesday's gala presentation of Fifty Dead Men Walking is running in to some trouble because the former British spy who is the subject of the film has not waived his moral rights to the story. TIFF programmers are assuring the press and public that the screening will happen, and filmmakers have retained local legal counsel to make sure everything goes off without any glitches.

TIFF this year is looking better and better for Canadian films. Variety is reporting that the Canadian film industry is booming (especially with the critical acclaim being given to big name Canuck productions like Passchendaele) and CTV has recently announced funding for seven auteur documentaries by Canadian filmmakers entitled My Canada.

Looking for some more information about the festival today? Here are a few other TIFF headlines from around the web:

• Toronto film festival gift lounges -- worth the wait for sponsors (Reuters)
• More Fun, Less Politics, at Toronto Film Festival (NYT)
• Big-buzz films have the big lines (Dallas News)
• You saw it here first, er, second (Globe and Mail)
• Toronto fest loses democratic nature (London Free Press)

The stars are out in full force in Toronto. If you're deciding to skip the films and check out the celebs, here's a list of who's expecting to be arriving in town today:

• Sophia Bush
• Laura Linney
• Josh Brolin
• Matt Damon
• Julianne Moore
• Danny Glover
• Colin Firth
• Michael Caine
• Jennifer Aniston
• Steve Zahn
• Danny Boyle
• Anil Kapoor
• Darren Aronofsky
• Mickey Rourke
• Marisa Tomei
• Evan Rachel Wood

Finally, if you're looking to catch a screening some time today, here are three films that have been getting some good buzz but might have slipped under your radar. If you do decide to check any of them out, let us know what you think of them!

• Los Paranoicos: Even paranoid weirdos can fall in love.
• Edison & Leo: Canadian feature pushing the boundaries of animation.
• Flammen & Citronen: Debunking the myths of some of WWII's folk heroes.

Happy festivaling! Keep checking blogTO over the next few days for continuous coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival.

(Photo: Still from Edison & Leo.)