A look at the news and events surrounding the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, and a very quick look at one Canadian short film every day.

Day Eight

Sometimes, after watching a Canadian movie at the film festival, I wonder about films that have come before it: the director's previous work, the previous attempts at the same story, or just the obscure references that were made in the movie. And while some of us pretend to know it all when it comes to Canadian cinema, it is almost impossible to have seen every film that has graced every screen in our country. This is where the Film Reference Library comes in handy.

For those of you that don't know about it, the Film Reference Library has more than 17,000 book titles and 60,000 film files, and is the world's largest repository of Canadian film-related materials. Now, while the library is open for research purposes all through the year, it has decided to open its doors to the public for the duration of the film festival so that Canadians can look at the great cinematic history of our country.

The Film Reference Library, located at 2 Carlton just outside College Station, is open for the public from 9am to 5pm during the festival, and will be holding special library tours at 10am and 2pm today and tomorrow.

If you're set on skipping school or work in order to do some celeb stalking instead of library hopping, here are some of the big names that will be arriving in town today:

• Vik Sahay
• Romola Garai
• Michel Brault
• Christopher Plummer
• Marcia Gay Harden
• Kevin Bacon
• Lucia Puenzo
• Garth Jennings

Two Canadian celebrities, Michel Brault and Denys Arcand, will be at the ROM Theatre today at 4:30 as part of the Canadian Retrospective programme. Moderated by biographer AndrĂŠ Loiselle, the panel featuring Arcand and documentarian Brault will look back over Brault's career, the unique situation of Quebec cinema and the different demands of documentary and fiction.

Lord Richard Attenborough will be on hand to discuss and introduce his 1969 film Oh! What a Lovely War at the Cumberland at 2:15pm. Part of the Dialogues programme, Attenborough will talk about the conception of this humorous musical that purveys an important message about war.

And now, a short (100-word) look at a short:

Latchkeys Lament
The first thing I noticed about Troy Nixey's Latchkey's Lament was that apart from looking great, the film also sounded phenomenal. Every small noise drew me into the part-live-action, part-CGI film and complemented the brilliantly composed score in order to make the film feel vibrant and exciting. It helps that the story is quite a good one, and that Nixey has a knack for the visual flair that makes the inanimate world come alive in miraculous ways. Latchkey's Lament is definitely not a short to be missed.

Troy Nixey's Latchkey's Lament screens at noon today at the Cumberland Theatre as part of Short Cuts Canada Programme 3.

(Image: Still from Michel Brault's Les Noces de papier, via TIFF.)