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TIFF 2009

28 Days of Movies - From Telluride to Toronto to Austin!

by Alex Billington
September 3, 2009

Today I embark on another 28-day adventure around North America to three great film festivals. I fly today to Telluride, Colorado for the Telluride Film Festival, then head to Toronto on September 8th for the Toronto Film Festival, then head to Austin, Texas on September 20th for the Fantastic Fest held at the world famous Alamo Drafthouse, before finally returning home on October 1st. It's a whirlwind adventure that I've been excited to go again since finishing the same "epic tour" last year. Joining me on the road for all 28 days is Peter Sciretta from SlashFilm. You can expect plenty of great fest coverage all this month.

As for the daily news on the site, both Brandon Lee Tenney and Ethan Anderton will be working harder than ever to keep us up-to-date on all the latest. I'll be bringing you reviews, daily coverage, special interviews, video blogs, and plenty more from the road, so there will definitely be a good mix of articles all throughout September. Last year we were the first to see footage from David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the first audience to ever see the eventual Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire as well as Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. I'm excited to discover many great films this year between all three fests.

Some of my highlights include Jason Reitman's Up in the Air and John Hillcoat's The Road, which both show at the Telluride Film Festival this weekend. My top picks at Toronto that I'm excited to see include Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, Peter Stebbings' Defendor, Tim Blake Nelson's Leaves of Grass, Grant Heslov's The Men Who Stare At Goats, Jaco Van Dormael's Mr. Nobody, and Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising. I saw the wonderful Let the Right One In at Fantastic Fest last year, my picks this year are Jared Hess' Gentlemen Broncos and Jonathan Auf Der Heide's Van Diemen's Land.

Other friends I hope to see and catch up with at the various fests include Anne Thompson of indieWIRE, Eugene Hernandez also of indieWIRE, Kris Tapley of In Contention, Quint of Ain't It Cool News, and Eric Lavallee of IONCinema.com, as well as plenty of others I'm forgetting who you'll probably see in video blogs. As grueling as it may be to travel for 28 days straight, I really, truly do love film festivals, especially these three. There is just something exciting about them, something truly amazing about seeing indie films for an entire month straight, and I hope the coverage I provide lives up to that experience. I'll do my very best.

If you also happen to be in Telluride, Toronto, or Austin, shoot me an email and let me know, that way we can possibly catch up at some point along the road. I look forward to bringing all of you the best coverage I can over the next 28 days, including the best reviews and interviews, and much more. Let the fests begin!

Explore tags: Fantastic Fest 09, Telluride Film Fest 09, Toronto Film Fest 09

Boxoffice Marco

HELL YES!
http://www.bleepinggeek.com Pete the Geek

Austin is awesome this time of year (hope you like the heat though). I might be at Fantastic Fest this year, so maybe we'll run into each other at one of the parties (I'll be the tall, really white Irish guy at the Gentlemen Broncos party trying to goad Jemaine Clement into a drinking contest). Peter Sorensen http://www.BleepingGeek.com(writer) http://www.Spill.com (animator)
Jeremy

Have a good road trip, ever thought of documenting the process as well, the films themselves. By the way, I hope you know there are like tons more Drafthouses, in Texas than just the one in Dobe.