Festival Guests

The festival announced this week that over 500 guests will be coming to Toronto, representing all aspects of the industry, each with some connection to the films or other programming showing this year.

The full list can be found on the festival web site at:
http://www.e.bell.ca/filmfest/2005/mediaCentre_releaseItem.asp?id=179

Some of the actors attending this year include:
Danny Aiello

Kevin Bacon, Liane Balaban, Alec Baldwin, Sean Bean, Maria Bello, Annette Bening, Andre Benjamin, Juliette Binoche, Jolene Blalock, Cate Blanchett, Brenda Blethyn, Orlando Bloom, Helena Bonham Carter, Lindy Booth, David Boreanaz, Jeff Bridges, Adam Brody, Pierce Brosnan, Geneviève Bujold, Jackie Burroughs, Gabriel Byrne

Jackie Chan, Joan Chen, Margaret Cho, Tommy Chong, Leonard Cohen, Toni Collette, LL Cool J, Douglas Coupland, Billy Crudup, Jane Curtin, Elisha Cuthbert

Vincent D'Onofrio, Bryce Dallas Howard, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Zooey Deschanel, Caroline Dhavernas, Cameron Diaz, Robert Downey Jr., David Duchovny, Kirsten Dunst

Aaron Eckhart, Sam Elliot

Edie Falco, Dakota Fanning, Will Ferrell, Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Morgan Freeman

Ben Gazzara, Frank Gehry, Richard Gere, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rachel Griffiths, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jake Gyllenhaal

William H. Macy, Woody Harrelson, Ed Harris, Anne Hathaway, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anthony Hopkins, Bob Hoskins, Felicity Huffman, William Hurt

Tommy Lee Jones

Catherine Keener, Val Kilmer, Greg Kinnear, Keira Knightly, Kris Kristofferson

Jessica Lange, Heath Ledger, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Alison Lohman, Eva Longoria

Daniel MacIvor, Shirley MacLaine, Andy Maize, Steve Martin, Dylan McDermott, Frances McDormand, Sir Ian McKellen, Liza Minnelli, Colin Mochrie, Gretchen Mol, Michelle Monaghan, Julianne Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Cillian Murphy, Brittany Murphy

Liam Neeson, Cynthia Nixon, Nick Nolte

Gwyneth Paltrow, Vincent Pastore, Guy Pearce, Barry Pepper, Piper Perabo, Joaquin Phoenix, Rosamund Pike, Sarah Polley, Natalie Portman

Charlotte Rampling, Keanu Reeves, Isabella Rossellini, Kurt Russell

Jason Schwartzman, Emmanuelle Seigner, Elisabeth Shue, Sarah Silverman, Jason Statham, Julia Stiles, Kiefer Sutherland, Tilda Swinton

Charlize Theron, Justin Timberlake

Vince Vaughn

Lesley Ann Warren, Emily Watson, Hugo Weaving, Forest Whitaker, Michelle Williams, Reese Witherspoon, Elijah Wood, Robin Wright Penn

Some of the filmmakers coming this year:
Tim Burton, David Cronenberg, Cameron Crowe, Atom Egoyan, Stephen Frears, Terry Gilliam, Richard E. Grant, Curtis Hanson, Tsui Hark, Neil Jordan, John Madden, Guy Maddin, Don McKellar, Deepa Mehta, Nick Park, Ivan Reitman, Guy Ritchie, Liev Schreiber, Steven Soderbergh, Stanley Tong, John Turturro, Michael Winterbottom.

If you want to catch a glimpse of some of these people at the festival, there's a few things you can try:

• Seeing their movie is the best way. If you go to the first showing of the film (each film usually shows twice during the festival), the director and the cast may show up to introduce the film, watch the film, and even do a Q&A session after the film. Note that not everyone does this, and for those who do, they don't always stick around to the end for a Q&A.
• If you can't get tickets to a film, you can try standing out by the red carpet at the entrance to the theatre. Most stars usually come in through the front when showing up for a screening. All gala presentations are shown at Roy Thomson Hall.
• You can try waiting at their hotel, if you can figure out where your favourite star is staying. Most of the stars stay at one of the more upscale downtown hotels.
• Waiting outside hot spots. There's always a lot of socializing during the festival, and many of the stars can be found at restaurants around town. Yorkville is one popular area.

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