Run For The Border.

September, I’m told, kicks off the unofficial scouting season for new and compelling entries in the annual 360|365 Film Festival, held each May (as if you didn’t know). And so tomorrow my esteemed 360|365 colleague Linda Moroney and I will brave the QEW and head to Toronto for a week at the Toronto International Film Festival — my 14th TIFF (and the 20th anniversary of my first time), but my first without a press pass and without my traditional seat-of-the-pants approach to seeing whatever I want.

A programmer’s agenda is different at one of these things than a critic’s. As a reviewer, it was my job (or so I saw it) to find the movies that people were going to be excited about, watch them, and be ready with a critical take when those films made their way to Rochester. That usually meant fighting crowds of press for good seats at the biggest screening rooms to watch films jockeying for position on the Best Picture Oscar ballot. (Each year, Toronto is widely considered the starting gun for Oscar season.)

As a programmer, though, it’s my job to find movies that people aren’t necessarily expecting — the offbeat, the underappreciated, the little guys — and help put a spotlight on them. I’ll be seeing more foreign films, more docs, and more true independent and experimental movies that haven’t necessarily found their way yet. And while film festivals should arguably have something for everyone, I have to say I’m more than a little excited at the prospect of going to TIFF for the first time with a mission of true discovery.

Oh, and The Descendants. I’m going to have to find a way to see that. It opens wide in December, so it won’t be at 360|365, but what can I do? I love Alexander Payne.