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I will be in Toronto on September 29th!!!!!

Toronto Eager for Film Fest Fun After Summer Funk
TORONTO (Reuters) – Movie fans endured four-hour ticket lineups on the eve of the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday, an event the city hopes will draw the curtain on a summer plagued by blackouts, SARS fears and slumping tourism.
With Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan due to arrive for the Sept 4-13 festival, organizers were set to begin screening more than 300 movies from 55 countries.
“We are ready to roll, absolutely… I think this city is ready for a festival. I think this city is ready to put the summer behind it, and this festival is the best way to do it,” said director of communications Gabrielle Free.
“Unequivocally, this is the strongest guest lineup we’ve every had.”
Now celebrating its 28th year, Toronto is ranked with Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Sundance as one of the world’s most influential film festivals.
Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Sean Penn, Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Cate Blanchett, Tim Robbins, Isabella Rossellini and Omar Sharif are also among the stars confirmed to attend.
But the festival is as much about art-house grit as Hollywood glamour. Almost 60 percent of its movies are in a language other than English, providing a treat for Toronto’s multicultural and multilingual moviegoers.
On Wednesday, fans braved lineups for tickets to movies as diverse as a one-minute film by an Oscar nominated animator and “West of the Tracks,” a documentary on industrial decay in northeast China that runs more than nine hours.
Amir Malin, the New York-based chief executive of independent film producer and distributor Artisan Entertainment, said enthusiastic local audiences have been vital to the event’s success.
A 22-year veteran of the festival, Malin said the event has become a key launching pad for autumn releases and a critical industry gathering.
“One of the greatest things about Toronto is you’re able to see the film outside of the context of a screening room. You’re able to see that film with its intended audience. That’s a wonderful opportunity,” he said.
NO SARS FEARS
The festival kicks off Thursday night with Canadian director Denys Arcand’s “The Barbarian Invasions,” winner of the best screenplay award at the 2003 Festival de Cannes. It marks the third time a film by Arcand has opened the festival after “The Decline of the American Empire” in 1986 and “Stardom” in 2000.
Gala screenings include “Matchstick Men” with Cage, “The Human Stain” with Kidman and Hopkins, and “Veronica Guerin” with Blanchett.
The event will be a much welcomed injection of tourism and business for a city hit hard by the SARS outbreak, which ran from mid-March until early May in Toronto. The city remains the only place outside Asia where people have died from the disease.
Organizers said the outbreak had not discouraged stars and industry players from attending, but did delay the programming and confirmation of guests.
“It’s had no effect on the end product. It had effects on the timing. Maybe earlier in the summer, in May, people were asking questions about it. Nobody was saying ‘we’re not coming’ but people were saying ‘what’s going on in Toronto’,” said Free.