* Oct. 18, 1976: The inaugural Festival of Festivals kicks off with a screening of Cousin, Cousine, a popular French comedy.

* Star sighting: Jeanne Moreau arrives with her film Lumiere.

* York University suspends classes so that its film students can attend the festival.

* Budget for the first festival – $350,000, including $19,000 from the federal government and $5,000 each from the City and Metro Toronto.

* 1978: In Praise of Older Women, the Opening Night Gala, sparks a near riot as 2,000 try to attend the Elgin, a theatre that seats 1,600.

* Thanks for the correction: ‘We’ve not been oversold, just over-attended.’ – Bill Marshall.

* Michael Douglas is turned away from the Opening Night party at City Hall.

* Montreal World Film Festival director Serge Losique ignites war with Toronto by sending films back to Europe that were intended for the Festival of Festivals.

* 1979: attendance reaches 100,000.

* Wayne Clarkson, the festival’s director since 1978, replaces Bill Marshall as the director-general in 1980.

* Clarkson is paid $35,000 a year.

* 1980: Tickets are: $3 for a single admission; $3.50 for galas; an all-inclusive (except for parties) Silver Pass is $90.

* At the festival as journalists: future film directors John Greyson and Atom Egoyan.

* 1981: Diva, a stylish French thriller, becomes a surprise North American hit after its launch at the festival.

* Memories are made of this: ‘Each night, the Hospitality Suite resembled the Charles Laughton bacchanal scenes in The Sign of the Cross. During one enchanted evening, a couple – how can we say it delicately – fucked in the suite’s bathroom.’ – Arthur Bell, The Village Voice, 1981.

* Robert de Niro and Harvey Keitel surprise Martin Scorsese by appearing at his tribute in 1982.

* 1983: Launch of The Big Chill, with Kevin Kline and William Hurt in attendance, kicks the festival into a higher gear.

* 1983: Budget – $1.5 million, with $525,000 coming from government agencies.

* Censor watch: 60 people say rosaries, then engage in a silent vigil in front of the theatre where Godard’s Hail Mary has been given its only sanctioned screening.

* 1986: New festival director Leonard Schein has to cancel single ticket sales because the theatres are oversubscribed.

* Inquiring minds want to know: ‘Doesn’t anyone in Toronto work?’ – B. Ruby Rich, American journalist.

* 1987: Helga Stephenson replaces Schein as festival director; Piers Handling becomes the program director.

* First appearance at the festival: Don McKellar is a Theatre Rep.

* 1988: Budget – $2.4 million.

* Roots?: At the Closing Night Gala, Shirley MacLaine reminds the audience that her brother, Warren, and she have a Canadian mother. ‘Can you believe that Warren Beatty is half-Canadian?’ But she quickly added, ‘The top half.’

* Bruce McDonald startles the audience at the awards banquet by commenting that, with the $25,000 in prize money from Citytv, he can buy ‘a big chunk of hash.’

* Michael Moore’s radical documentary Roger and Me stuns festival audiences, sparking a multimillion-dollar bidding war for its distribution rights.

* Two days before the festival’s conclusion in 1991, a Rent a Wreck van containing 30 films is stolen. Recovered the next day, the van has only one item missing – a cell phone.

* Atom Egoyan wins the Citytv award for The Adjuster and gives the prize money – $25,000 – to the runner-up, John Pozer.

* 1992: The Festival Pass, good for everything except the galas, goes for $125. A Daytime Pass is $60, so is a coupon book, which is good for 10 evening films. A Gala Pass, good for eight screenings, is $45.

* That same year, Quentin Tarantino wins the inaugural fipresci prize for best first film for Reservoir Dogs.

* 1994: Piers Handling replaces Helga Stephenson as festival director. Suzanne Weiss becomes managing director. The Festival of Festivals is officially renamed the Toronto International Film Festival.

* Robert Duvall’s The Apostle is picked up by October Films for $6 million at tiff.

* 1998: Michele Maheux replaces Suzanne Weiss as managing director.

* And you can quote me on that: ‘I don’t think I’ll buy a chunk of hash. I don’t think I’ll give it away magnanimously to anybody else. I think I’ll just keep it and roll around in it like Scrooge McDuck.’ – Don McKellar on winning the $15,000 prize for best first feature by a Canadian.

* 1999: ticket prices – $11.77 for singles; $21.40 for Galas; $107 for a Daytime Pass; $278.20 for a Festival Pass.

* 1999: Budget – approximately $7.4 million; $3.8 million in corporate sponsorship; $1.2 million in government grants; with 250,000 audience members spending $2.4 million on tickets. *