Fans on the frontlines witness TIFF's evolution over 40 years first hand

Piers Handling, left, Director and CEO of TIFF, and the Artistic Director Cameron Bailey, right, speak during the Toronto International Film Festival press conference announcing the 2015 Canadian features and shorts lineup in Toronto on Wednesday, August 5, 2015. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim)

TORONTO -- They spend ages carefully planning which films to see, line up for hours to catch a glimpse of the biggest stars, and generate the buzz that elevates movies into Oscar contenders. The thousands of fans who descend on the Toronto International Film Festival every year are a dedicated bunch and have seen first-hand how the event has evolved over the past 40 years.

Angelo Iascone, for instance, first attended TIFF in 1978, when it was still called the Festival of Festivals, and has been going back ever since.

"I had just graduated, couldn't find the career I wanted, so I had time on my hands," said the 64-year-old film fan.

"It was this really incredible, exotic event. It was exciting going because even if the films themselves were mediocre, just getting places you didn't usually see portrayed in movies and seeing the talent was captivating."

The festival was smaller in its early years, with fewer films and more casual encounters with celebrities.

"You're just walking down the street and there's Nicole Kidman in her scruffy jeans searching for her lipstick in the back door of the car before she goes in. That's kind of cool," said Iascone, adding that experiencing films he'd typically not otherwise get to see was what drew him back year after year.

"It became a real treat, like having tickets to the World Series," he said. "You'd get movie tickets in batches and take out friends, so they became social events."

As the festival grew, so did the amount of films on offer and the fans flocking to it, but the expansion has brought on its own set of frustrations for some TIFF veterans.

"You'd buy the guide, you'd start planning your agenda and start buying the flex packs where you buy a bunch of tickets and then have to slot in the appropriate movies," Iascone explained. "It became a real job."

The biggest change over the last few decades, in Iascone's eyes at least, is the festival's shift to a high intensity star-studded event.

"It's become too much of a glitz. Most of the good movies, the galas, are going to be released in like three months. That's a huge difference," he said. "The exoticness has kind of played itself out."

But the glitzy red carpet premieres -- in which stars and the public watch movies together -- are part of what has hooked Tori Nixon on TIFF since she was 16.

"All the films are still open to everybody," said the 23-year-old.

"I was at the premiere of 'The King's Speech' ... it got a fantastic reaction from the audience. I remember it was also Colin Firth's birthday and everyone sang Happy Birthday. It's stuff like that that happens. It's different.

"Even though it's such a huge thing and all these celebrities are there, it still feels very audience focused."

The accessibility of stars on the red carpets keeps drawing Mac Pourmoslemi back to TIFF.

"It's only in Toronto where the stars come way, way close to the fans," said Pourmoslemi, who has been at the fest every year since 2007.

"I'm amazed that for so many years there's a star coming and literally touching you."

The 54-year-old has taken pictures with stars including Nicole Kidman, Tina Fey and Will Smith, and has autographs from Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock and Natalie Portman, among many others.

While some stars stop for just a minute or two, Pourmoslemi has had more drawn out encounters with certain actors. He recalls meeting Robin Wright, who posed for a picture and then came back when Pourmoslemi realized the photograph hadn't been taken.

"She grabbed the camera," he recalled. "And then she said, 'Let's see if the picture is there.' I was flapping my hands in the air at that point."

As the festival has grown, Pourmoslemi notes that the crowds at the red carpet have burgeoned as well, leading to shorter star encounters. But those who stake out front-line spots hours in advance are typically rewarded, he said.

That level of celeb-spotting takes dedication, but it has also created a community of fans who get to know each other as they wait ten hours at times to have a few minutes with their favourite actors.

"It's like a reunion," Pourmoslemi said of his fellow red-carpet fans.

"One thing that we have in common is that we are there to see stars."

By the numbers: TIFF 1976

When the Toronto International Film Festival launched as the Festival of Festivals in October 1976, there were few hints at the industry behemoth it would become. Here's a look at the annual movie marathon, then and now:

Memorable moments from the last 40 years

The Toronto International Film Festival turns the big 4-0 this year with yet another star-studded edition of the annual movie marathon.

It's grown up a lot since starting out as the Festival of Festivals, a fledgling affair largely regarded as a local event until Hollywood started taking note and sending its A-listers north.

Throughout the decades there were stumbles, triumphs and plenty of celebrity hijinks. Here's a look at some of TIFF's most memorable moments: