Vancouver filmmaker Simon Davidson still shudders over that dreaded Toronto International Film Festival cocktail party.

He recalls a month ago gathering in Vancouver with fellow Canadian filmmaking hopefuls to show their latest work to TIFF programmers Steve Gravestock, Agata Smoluch Del Sorbo, Martin Bilodeau, as they competed against one another for prized Toronto festival slots.

And after screening their prints in a darkened auditorium, the local filmmakers came together at curtains’ up for drinks in what seemed like an audition episode from a bad reality TV competition show.

“I wish they had the cocktails before they screened the movies,” Davidson recalled.

There was lots of awkward conversation, smiling too much and avoiding eye contact as the filmmakers each hoped they’d done enough to impress the TIFF programmers to move on to Toronto.

“We’re all looking at each other, and then Agata, Martin and Steve say hello, and no one is saying ‘what do you think of my film,” Davidson remembered, as the TIFF programmers worked just as hard not to tip their hand.

In the end, Davidson’s film, The Odds, set in the world of illegal teenage gambling, did get the nod to screen in TIFF’s Canada First! sidebar.

And after taking part in TIFF’s Filmmaker Boot Camp, Davidson reports the Canadian directors and film programmers could finally stand down after the Toronto fest selections were made.

“We could look into each other’s eyes. We were all more relaxed,” he said.

And for good reason. Davidson screened his three earlier short films at TIFF, so the filmmaker feels that, with his first feature Toronto-bound, TIFF is grooming him to make more, and better movies, in the years ahead.

“It feels like TIFF is the place where I’ve gone and felt the most supported and where they are nurturing Canadian filmmakers as best they can,” he explained

The Odds portrays 17 year-old Desson Orr, played by Tyler Johnston, who is in a race to find his best friends’ killer in the world of an illegal gambling ring run by teenagers.

The film’s ensemble cast includes Julia Maxwell, Calum Worthy and Jaren Brandt Bartlett.

Davidson is betting lead Tyler Johnston will break out on the strength of first-time feature lead roles in Justin Donnelly’s Pressed and Jesse James Miller’s Becoming Redwood, now shooting in Vancouver.

“It will be fantastic for the film and fantastic for Tyler,” he said of Johnston moving beyond TV work like Less Than Kind and movie supporting roles to becoming a leading man on the big screen.

The Odds will have its world premiere in Toronto on Sept. 12, with additional public screenings on September 14 and 17.

Kinosmith will release the movie domestically.