Hello faithful reader!

I’m writing from the Big Smoke where I’m gearing up for an intimate affair known as the Toronto International Film Festival, starting on Thursday. I’m in the dreaming stage, where I look at all the films showing and make wild plans to see all that immediately appeal — before the laws of time and physics rapidly bring me back to earth.

For those who are curious, here’s a list of what has caught my eye in a first pass of the schedule:

& Sons, Bad Apples, Ballad of a Small Player, Blue Heron, Blue Moon, Broken English, The Christophers, Dust Bunny, Egghead Republic, Eleanor The Great, Falling, Frankenstein, Franz, The Furious, Good Fortune, Hamnet, Hen, If I had Legs I’d Kick You, John Candy: I Like Me, Late Fame, The Last Viking, Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery, Magellan, Motor City, No Other Choice, Nouvelle Vague,  Palestine 36, A Private Life, Sentimental Value, Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), The Smashing Machine, The Voice of Hind Rajab,  Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, Winter of the Crow,  The Wizard Of The Kremlin

At the Atlantic International Film Festival, commencing on September 10, here’s my aspirational list. You will note there are overlapping films at both festivals, which is great for me. If I miss it at one, I hope to see it at the other:

Dancing On The Elephant, Dreams (Sex Love), Follies, Hangashore, It Was Just An Accident, John Candy: I Like Me, Koln 75, Lilith Fair: Building A Mystery, Little Lorraine, Mastermind, Mile End Kicks,  Nouvelle Vague, Peak Everything, A Portal To Hell,  A Private Life, Sentimental Value, Sk+te’kmujue’katik (At the Place of Ghosts), Videoheaven

I hope we cross paths here or there! Please check out the FLAW IN THE IRIS Instagram for immediate reactions to what I’m seeing, and listen to CBC Information Morning in Nova Scotia where early next week I’ll be reporting from Toronto with a few reviews for The Knox Office.

See you at the movies!