Sutton Place Grande le Meridien Hotel is the nerve centre of the Toronto Festival of Festivals. For the 10 day screening and schmooze fest, executive director Helga Stephenson and her gang pack up their offices on Carlton Street and take up temporary residence at the Sutton.

If star gazing is your hobby than the lobby of the Sutton is a great place to loiter. Press conference schedules are a great way to gauge when to take your position. In past years, Playback has got an eyefull of Tim Robbins, Matt Dillon and River Phenix to name a few.

If the Sutton is the nerve centre of the Toronto Festival of Festivals than the press office is surely the heartbeat. The press Office located on the second floor of the Sutton. It’s where communication mavens Michele Maheux and Susan Norget and their staff of 17 odd people operate from. It’s also where executive director Helga Stephenson or deputy director Piers Handling can be found ironing out unforeseen wrinkles and coordinating the plethora of luncheons, cocktails and private dinner parties. Chances are if Stephenson or Handling aren’t in the press office or adjacent rooms on the second floor, they may be up on the third floor where the festival has several suites for programmers, ticketing administrators and print control.

The press office is fitted with mail boxes for each member of the press. Filmmakers and distributors can arrange to have promotional material or messages put into any or all boxes. Accredited press can also book interviews with directors and actors through publicists working in the office.

The press office always has a couple of tables set up for promotional material and update information on press screening dates and times. Black boards with information on changes in screenings and times of press conferences are strategically placed outside the entrance at press office. The office will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

Hot Hangouts

At Festival Headquarters in Sutton Place Keminski Hotel

The Hospitality Suite is located on the main floor (what suite). It’s open to all accredited industry and is a great place to take a coffee break. A hot lunch is served daily but you’ve got to be there when it hits the tables because it is snapped up fast.

The Perspective Canada Office is located the second floor in the boardroom of the Sutton and will be open from 9:00 to 6:30 p.m. It’s intended as a place for Canadian filmmakers to meet with press, buyers etc. but it’s pretty much open to everyone. Claire Ross Dunn is the festival liaison for this office.

The Guest Office issues passes to invitees from this office located on the second floor in the Paris Suite. Everyone from directors, distributors, press drift in and out of offices at various times. June Weber is the guest office Coordinator.

Restaurants and Bars

If you staked out in Bistro 990 24-hours a day for the festival duration, you will probably see the entire festival’s who’s who. Bistro 990 is conveniently located across from the Sutton Hotel, 990 Bay Street. Cocktail parties are almost a daily occurance at Bistro 990.

Prego Della Piazza on 150 Bloor Street W., is where Alliance Communications holds court. Although Alliance is not having its annual bash this year, the company will more than likely be having regular private dinner parties for clients and such.

Popular upscale hangouts include the rooftop of the Park Plaza Hotel, 4 Avenue Road, and the bars in the Four Seasons, 21 Avenue Road and Hotel Intercontinental, 220 Bloor Street W., Bellair Cafe, 100 Cumberland and Bemelmans, 83 Bloor Street W. These bars and restaurants are in walking distance from the Sutton Hotel. If you want to get away from Bay and Bloor area, you could try the King Street strip. Because of its proximity to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, CityTV and National Film Board offices, the King Street strip is popular with the Toronto media gang. Two hot restaurants are Orso, 106 John Street, KitKat, 297 King Street W.

The alternative crowd will probably surface on the bars and restaurants along Queen Street West especially the Squeeze Club, 817 Queen Street W., Bamboo, 312 Queen Street West, Rivoli, 334 Queen Street W. and Express Cafe, 254 Queen Street W.

Parties

All parties are invitation only. But there is a plethora of events at this fest, so if you don’t get invites to everything don’t worry. You won’t have time to get to them all anyway. Here is an abbreviated list of parties.

Telefilm is holding a cocktail party Saturday September 11 at 5:00 p.m. at the Park Plaza Hotel

Canadian Film and Television Production Association and Canadian Heritage are holding a receiption after the marketing seminar on European marketing, Friday September 10, Hotel Intercontinental, 5:00 p.m.

Rogers Telefund, Monday September 13, 1993 at Bistro 990,

Canadian Film Centre Barbeque, Sunday September 12, at the Canadian Film Centre, 2489 Bayview Avenue.

Directors Guild Party, Santa Fe Bar & Grill, September 11, 9:00 p.m.

Perspective Canada Party, September 10, Montana Restaurant, corner of John Street and Richmond Street.

International Party, September 11, Bamboo, 312 Queen Street West.

Ticketing

This year the festival has instituted a new ticketing system. Once you pick up your pass you must still line up for tickets at the internal box office for entry into the screening of your choice. The internal box office – for industry folks only – is located next to the Wellsley Street entrance to the Sutton Place Hotel. Tickets must be picked up 24 hours in advance. The box office number is 969-7934. You can also fax in your order in at 969-7935. The internal ticketing system is new, so there’s no way of predicting what kind of line-ups there may be. On a positive note, however, line-ups are a great way to mingle. There have been some festival love connections, and local lore has it that at least three line-up romanaces ended in marriage.

Sales and Industry Notes

The Toronto Festival of Festivals doesn’t have a formal market. Despite that fact, over 840 delegates have registered with the sales and industry office. In fact there are more important buyers and distributors now attending the Toronto Festival than there are industry sales reps attending the Montreal International Film Festival market. Some of the top buyers who will be in Toronto scouting films include: Harvey and Bob Weinstein,Miramax-Jeff Lipsky, Bingham Ray,Oktober Films- Ira Deutchman, Fine Line-Robert Aaronson,New Line-Zanne Devine,Universal-Peter Rice, 20th Century Fox-Dwight Brown, Home Box Office-Marjorie Skouras, Skouras Pictures-Emily Russo, Nancy Gerstman, Zeitgeist- Mairi MacDonald and Derek Hill,Channel 4-Michael Barker, Tom Bernard and Marci Bloom, Sony Pictures Classics-Howard Cohen, Samuel Goldwyn Company- Jonathon Dana and Bob Rock,Triton Pictures- Liz Wrenn, Electric Pictures-Alexander Bohr, ZDF- Rainer Kolmel,Kinowelt Film Verleih-Polygram, Robert Jones- Claudie Cheval, Pyramide International- Patrice Delaytermoz, Films Ariane- Alain Vannier, Roissy Films.

The sales industry office is located in the Amsterdam suite on the second floor of the Sutton Hotel. The job of Christine Yankou and Shane Kinnear and their staff coordinators is to facilitate business transactions.

All industry delegrates registered with this office have a mail box, so messages for sales reps or buyers can be left there.

Special sales industry screenings are held daily at the Backstage Theatre on 31 Balmuto Street. The schedule is also available in the office.

If buyers have missed a theatrical screening, videotapes of all films are available on from print traffic coordinator Erin MacDonald who is located on the third floor.

A number of distributors book rooms in the hotel to conduct business. Miramax will be operating out of a suite this year, as well as C/FP Distribution, which is setting up shop in room 519, Alliance Releasing, which will be located in suites 322/324 and publicists VK and Associates and Karen Pidgurski Public Relations, who will be handling all of their films out of room 319.

The sales industry party is open to those registered at the office. It will take place this year at Hotel Intercontinental, September 13, 10:00 p.m.

The Canadian Film Centre’s Debra Henderson and Wayne Clarkson, will be fielding queries about its program through suite 323/325. Videos of film shorts produced at the festival will be available for viewing. The Centre is also hoping to facilitate networking between its graduates and visiting filmmakers.

Events

Freebie…For the last three years, the festival has held a symposium addressing issues in Canadian cinema. This year, five panelists will tackle who determines which films acquire cultural significance and how funding bodies serve has gatekeepers. The panel will take place September 16 at 2:00 p.m. in the Royal Sutton B Ballroom of the Sutton. This symposium is open to everyone.

A new addition this year is Reel Spiels, an open forum series in which directors Peter Greenaway, David Cronenberg, Denys Arcand, Tim Hunter, Wayne Wang and Morgan Freeman plus some stars and producers will be available to answer questions and talk about their latest films. It’s like a press conference for the public. All panels will be held at the New Yorker Theatre, 651 Yonge Street. Tickets are $10 plus GST and are available at the festival box office at Cumberland Terrace, 2 Bloor Street W.

Trade Forum Symposium

The two day trade forum symposium held September 11 and 12 is a big schmooze opportunity. Catch the top Canadian producers such as Micheline Charest, Michael MacMillan and potential new broadcast executives at the Brave New World symposium September 11, or provincial funding honchos like Paul Gratton, ofdc and Wayne Sterloff, BC Film at the interprovincial co-production symposium, September 12. But choose your sessions carefully, unless you also want a snooze opportunity.

Alliance Communications is also sponsoring the symposium luncheon with Kay Koplovitz founder, president and ceo of USA Network, on September 12 at 12:00 at Four Seasons Hotel. By invite only.