Hollywood festival circuit diary with celebrity mentions, no substantive allegations

After Tinkers’ dinner, we head back to Cipriani's to Charles Finch and producer Ed Pressman's evening with Caroline Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard to celebrate The Moth Diaries. Lynn represents Rachel Klein, author of the bestselling book. We dine with director Mary Harron and her young actresses Sarah Gadon and Sarah Bolger. Missing is Lily Cole. Her flight is cancelled due to the national one-day labor strike. Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 Following the screenings of The Moth Diaries and a new version of Wuthering Heights with an African Heathcliff, | join Pressman and his cast of The Moth Diaries for lunch at the Excelsior. Jonathan Demme comes by. He is here with the post-Katrina New Orleans-set documentary, I'm Carolyn Parker: The Good, the Mad, and the Beautiful. While housekeeping packs my clothes, | conclude that this is the year Hollywood embraces launching their Oscar-bound films oversees. The race began in May on the beaches of Cannes where Midnight in Paris and The Artist debuted with black-tie galas nightly. Late August, American and English films dominate the Venice waterfront where Shame heats up amid more fancy parties in grand palazzos. Tiny Telluride, now showing more European films was the next stepping stone with a Western hometown casualness. September was Toronto, the mother of all film festivals that premieres its new exhibition space, the Bell Lightbox and a smorgasbord of 250 films. Here was the most user-friendly, fashion-free film festival where one walked to four films a day. Moneyball brings Brad Pitt to town, who brings Angelina Jolie. International stars end up at the Soho House whispering about "the race." Early October is at Lincoln Center, home of The New York Film Festival that shows films that have debuted in the other festivals and await sanctioning from the American media and public. The academy members are yet to weigh in. One ends up with the exhilarating feeling of experiencing world cinema through passionate festival curators giving support and clarity from directors to distributors and helping simple film fans like you and me. Let’s not forget the geniuses, Steven Speilberg, Stephen Daldry, Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Martin Scorcese and Jason Reitman who have bypassed the festival route. Let the race begin. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012746