Toronto Internation Film Festival: Tom Ford, Xavier Dolan and more!

Tom Ford directing Colin Firth in A Single Man

What do George Clooney, Penelope Cruz, Mariah Carey, Colin Farrell, Michael Moore and Viggo Mortensen have in common? Well, not very much other than their current whereabouts.

These big-name draws are just a handful of names in the over 500 guests set to make heads turn and impassioned fans shriek in Hogtown over the coming week during the 34th Toronto International Film Festival.

North America’s premier monster film bash unofficially ushers in the fall movie season and serves as make-or-break territory for any film vying for Oscar visibility. Remember 2007’s Juno and last year’s Slumdog Millionaire?

The fest opened last Thursday with the tepidly reviewed Charles Darwin big bang romance Creation, starring real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as the British scientific genius and his main squeeze.

  Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly in Creation

With 335 films from 64 countries unspooling over a frenetic 10-day period, it’s easy for the standout gay-themed flicks to get lost in the shuffle. That’s why I’ll be keeping close tabs on the queer glitterati, the finest cinematic offerings and all the LGBT-inclined excitement and drama you could have hoped for via regular dispatches from TIFF headquarters.

Here’s a look at what are shaping up to be the most talked-about moments:

1) Tom Ford’s directorial debut. Yes, yes. That Tom Ford. Fashion maven Tom Ford. His film A Single Man, about a gay professor mourning the passing of his partner, premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival where it won the the Queer Lion for Ford while Colin Firth was named best actor. It’s based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, which is now recognized as an important piece of contemporary queer lit for its bold portrayal of gay commitment.

Colin Firth and Julianne Moore

It stars Julianne Moore and Colin Firth as the academic in sorrow. Consider this no less than your gay gala and keep your fingers crossed for when it plays tonight.

2) Cannes-winning 20-year-old wonder boy Xavier Dolan. His debut feature I Killed My Mother, about the most antagonistic mother/son relationship you’re likely to see on screen in a long time, became the talk of the town on the croisette back in the Spring during the Venice Film Festival, and the hype machine has now taken on a life of its own.

The openly gay, sprightly French Canadian kid is fast becoming gay media’s new It Boy and his good looks sure don’t hurt either. Dolan, and his trademark untamed curls, are already on the cover of two Toronto papers this week – Eye Weekly and Xtra.

Xavier Dolan

3) The John Greyson controversy. Ever since the prominent Canadian queer filmmaker (Lilies, Zero Patience, Proteus, the upcoming Fig Trees) withdrew his short film Uncovered – about the virulent homophobia experienced by organizers at Sarajevo’s Queer Film Fest – from TIFF in protest the festival’s inaugural City to City spotlight on the city of Tel Aviv, the resulting outpour of both high-profile support and condemnation for his decision has practically overshadowed all other TIFF news.

The international war of words now has Viggo Mortensen, Julie Christie, Jane Fonda, Danny Glover, Harry Belafonte and intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein among the stars backing Greyson’s symbolic protest gesture, while filmmakers Ivan Reitman, David Cronenberg and actress Minnie Driver are opposed to Greyson & Co’s ‘’political censorship.’’

Greyson argues that this showcase of Israeli film is the culmination of a yearlong ‘’Brand Israel’’ PR campaign and that by not including any Palestinian voices among the highlighted films, the City to City spotlight is ‘’complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.’’

Check back each day for updates from Toronto!