TIFF Goes Dark 2001

The first big story of TIFF 2001 was Matthew McConaughey stepping out of the red carpet for Jill Sprecher's Thirteen Conversations About One Thing to help a woman in line who'd collapsed from heat exhaustion. And then 9/11 happened, bringing the festival to a stunned halt early that morning. Press junkets were cancelled and screens went dark for the rest of the day, leaving industry players and civilians mingling in a mixture of shock, confusion and grief. When the festival started back up on Wednesday, it was with a sombre new tone: No more parties, no celebrations. Just movies, in the dark, with respect