Cathy Overett's World Cinema Club article for BIFF

Toronto. As my taxi brought me in from the airport, past the sky needle, I thought how much it looked like a big Auckland. Someone later commented it looked like a little New York.  Grey and drab. But by the time I discovered the beautiful central avenue of parks a few days later, I was already in love with Toronto.

Toronto International Film Festival is one of the big five film festivals. It was an honour for our film Unfinished Sky to be selected for the festival, and the reputation of Toronto audiences preceded them. Film literate, enthusiastic, warm and welcoming. With 350 films to choose from you’d think they’d be tired and jaded but not so. The vibe was fantastic.

Unfinished Sky has only had three screenings so far in Australia – two at BIFF, where audiences voted us number one film of the festival (thank you!), and one in Townsville with the Sydney Travelling Film Festival. All were sold out and well received.  But as I sat in our first screening in Toronto I was a little nervous. Would the film travel internationally? Would they get the wry Aussie humour? With so many other films to choose from, how would ours stack up? I needn’t have worried. The three public screenings were again all sold out and warmly received. Even the handful of Americans in the crowd got the jokes, and the Q&As afterward were bright and intelligent. It was a lot of fun.

For me as a producer though, the tough ones to crack were the Press and Industry screenings. I was warned not to go. People walk in and out all the time and buyers sit there on their blackberries the whole time. But I wanted to get a feel for the reaction. The first one was as described, but I wasn’t daunted. No one was groaning or hurling abuse. The second one, though, was great. Only two blackberries shining in the darkness, and applause at the end, which I believe is very rare amongst this festival savvy bunch. Our first review came out and it was great. Phew!

So I stepped out into the streets of Toronto, pushed my way through the crowds waiting to catch a glimpse of Brad and Angelina or George or Woody, tiptoed self consciously along the red carpet into the hotel to my next meeting where I was trying to sell our next film on the coat tails of Unfinished Sky.

By the time I’d finished working, I realised most of the films I’d wanted to see were already over.  I managed to catch a couple, but I wasn’t too worried - the good ones will make it home.  For me, Unfinished Sky had been successfully launched internationally, including a sale to Canada, and that’s all that mattered. Maybe one day I’ll get to see TIFF as a filmgoer instead of a filmmaker. It would certainly be worth the trip – that plus Niagara Falls.