TIFF mourns one of its biggest fans

It was somehow fitting that Toronto International Film Festival artistic director Cameron Bailey heard the news of Roger Ebert’s death as he left a movie screening in Los Angeles Thursday, after seeing a film that could be added to the TIFF slate in September.

“He was there from the beginning, he always attended,” said Bailey, still sounding shaken at the news.

“He was the most important film critic in the world,” Bailey added, saying Ebert’s passion and support for TIFF “meant everything to us.”

Ebert started coming to Toronto when the then-fledgling event was called the Festival of Festivals.

It seemed like TIFF hadn’t really started until Ebert was spotted walking into a screening. After his illness robbed his ability to speak, he would usually be accompanied by his wife, Chaz, who helped him navigate the aisles. He was often greeted like a rock star.

Twitter was filled with remembrances Thursday, many of them from those who volunteered at TIFF and reported Ebert sightings.

Ebert also occasionally made news at TIFF as well. There were reports of an altercation with the New York Post’s Lou Lumenick, who was unhappy with repeated shoulder taps during the 2008 premiere of Slumdog Millionaire from a patron behind him. Ebert, who turned out to be the tapper, got slammed with a heavy notebook before Lumenick realized the mute critic was asking him to quit blocking his view of the screen.

But despite the fracas, the movie inspired Ebert, who wrote “multiple Oscars” in his notebook. James Finn, who was then with Fox Searchlight and is now a senior vice-president with Fox, tweeted Thursday: “I still have that note.”