It was early September.
The hotness and humidity of summer were still a bit in the air, but there was also coldness, making it a perfect atmosphere to go out.
Especially in a place like Toronto, Canada. Yes, Aiden and Wade finally took their first steps into the Toronto film festival.
After his discussions with Harley, Aiden had spent a sleepless night thinking about the idea of his novel.
The next morning, Wade dragged Aiden to the airport, and he slept throughout the flight.
Yawn!
"You are still sleepy."
"Yeah, I was thinking about my novel the whole night. I slept on the flight, but it seems like it wasn't enough."
Aiden said as he and Wade walked through the airport.
He was able to see a lot of reporters here and there and people from different countries. Although the Toronto film festival focused a lot on Canadian movies, it was highly rated all over the world.
Though, it was not among the top three film festivals.
Despite that, Vanity Magazine has quoted, "Although the Toronto film festival is not too old, the importance and quality of movies along with the number of stars that grace it make it the best film festival after Cannes."
That's why, for Aiden, it was a crucial chance to show the movie he had worked on for months.
"I told you a hobby is good but don't let it ruin your sleep. Thankfully, the premier of [30 days of Happiness] isn't today."
Wade said as they walked.
"Yeah, I was planning to go watch some indie movies. A lot of big actor's movies are also premiering in the film festival."
"You can treat it as a break to watch movies if you want to. You deserve it."
Wade said, and at the moment, a commotion occurred from a distance. Both stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at what was happening.
A swarm of reporters was getting excited and taking photos of a man coming out of the airport with a whole entourage following him. He was wearing a very expensive-looking white fur coat and had an annoyed expression on his face.
"Aaron Hart."
Aiden muttered, looking at the man.
At the same time, he experienced the difference between himself and an A-lister actor. Only a few reporters had even recognized Aiden and clicked a picture of him.
It was completely opposite to the scene in front of him.
Aaron Hart was the same actor who had acted in [Shadows of War] and had always behaved rudely with Aiden. He had done that movie only to get an Oscar, but due to his scandals, he had fallen out of favor from the jury and had lost out on it.
"You two acted together in a movie, right?" Wade asked, glancing at Aiden.
"Yeah, but we never really talked. He was rude to most people on the set, and only the director knew how to handle him."
"He has worsened since then, especially because he lost out on Oscars. He really covets it. There are a lot of rumors he's becoming more and more abusive after that and would divorce his wife soon too. Apparently, he assaulted her physically."
Aiden's eyes widened when Wade finished his sentence. Then, suddenly, he understood one thing.
"So, reporters are swarming him because of all those negative rumors."
"Yeah, it's not because he's an A-lister. Though, the rumors escalated so much because he's one. His team had been a mess trying to get him a better image."
Aiden nodded his head, understanding the whole crux of the matter.
"Which movie of his will be at the film festival?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"[Blood Valentine]. Apparently, it's very highly rated according to rumors and internal screening. The director is very famous in Canadian film circles. Aaron literally did the movie to get critical acclaim through film festivals before going for the Oscars. All his life, he mostly did commercial movies after all."
"Then, he must be after the People's choice awards."
The People's Choice Award is one of the main awards in the Toronto film festival. Moreover, it is called a ticket to the Oscars as movies that had won this award in the past had gone on to win Oscars eventually.
The lead actors in the winning movie had also gotten at least nominations, if not the award.
"Yeah, well, don't think about him a lot. Try to avoid him if you come across him. Media is going to surround him no matter where he goes, so he will be in a bad mood and might just start a fight."
Aiden nodded his head, very well aware of Aaron's tendencies. However, he felt like he should be with a therapist instead of being at a film festival.
"I will just try to enjoy the film festival. It's a chance for me to watch a lot of movies."
Aiden said as he and Wade walked out of the airport. A car was already waiting for them to take them to their hotel.
***
As the Toronto film festival was going on, a lot of reporters had also reached Canada to attend it. Reporters from famous magazines and movie critics were going to write about all sorts of exciting movies that would be seen in the festival.
Obviously, American critics would be harsher than the rest, as Canadian critics are known to not heavily criticise the movies premiered in the festival.
A lot of critics and distributors would also be looking out for the next big movie, which could be a box office hit. Though, even good movies from the festival rarely equate their success to the box office.
Especially movies in niche genres that don't appeal to a lot of people.
Among all the reporters that had come to the festival, there were also those from Vanity Magazine.
One of them was Gordon Lee, one of the most well-known critics in Hollywood film circles who often interviewed big Hollywood superstars and had a lot of connections in talent agencies and studios.
At the same time, he was known to be very aggressive.
He was also attending the Toronto film festival, and just a day before the movie screenings began, he wrote an article about the movies that people attending the film were excited to watch.
The article with a basic headline got a lot of reads thanks to Gordon's popularity.
<Movies to look out for if you attend the Toronto film festival.>
The Toronto film festival is the biggest movie fest in Canada, and on Thursday, many popular Hollywood celebs and recognized filmmakers graced the festival with their steps.
Some of them were there for the premiere of their movie, and others were simply visiting as guests. But there were undoubtedly early signs that this year's festival might give us some of the best movies of the decade. Some might even go on to win an Oscar or become a box office hit.
There were also those young, budding filmmakers trying to get a distributor for their movies that have been made on a low budget and a lot of passion.
In this article, let's talk about the movies which might get recognition through the festival.
When I entered the film festival, the one movie people were talking about was [Blood Valentine] due to the people involved with the project. Many are also calling it the winner already, but the niche genre of it might stop people from spending too much on it if it is released worldwide.
But for a festival movie, there's no stopping it.
After a string of controversies, Aaron Hart might also be looking to make a good comeback with this movie.
Other than that, there are also [Dark] and [December Snow]. Both of these movies are by people who have won awards in Toronto before, and they are helmed by the biggest Canadian actors.
I even heard many good things about [Buried Alive], a thriller that might interest people a lot.
These all are parallel cinema and niche movies that would have a bigger release at the festival, but their faith lies solely on if they could convince the audience of their story.
On the brighter side, If one is more interested in romantic musical comedies, there was also much to talk about [30 days of Happiness]. Although it has a freelance production and few connections in the festival, people have gone wild for the music album that has already been released.
Thanks to the music album doing so well, many distributors might bet on it as it's a movie that is easier to sell.
That gives the hope that the movie might turn out good, but it's also true that it's a complete mystery as no one could judge by the quality because the director is new.
There is no past work to look back at, so one could only tell after watching the movie.
The main actors are also more or less rookies. One of them, Aiden Silvereye, is more of a singer than an actor and is just trying to make his way to movies to gain wider recognition. Although he did well with the soundtrack, one can't expect him to helm an entire movie on his shoulders.
In my view, he's too raw to be the lead.
The female lead, Katie Brooks, while being the most famous of them all, her commercial roles haven't gotten any wide acclaim for her acting skills, and this movie might be her trying to rectify that.
But what I have seen of her. She's not a good actress, and this movie might prove that.
For me, it's going to be either hit or miss.
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