Hi there. It?s Tim Hamilton here, director and writer of The Catsitter (pictured right). This is my third film to be in festivals and my second experience with TIFF. I am, of course thrilled to be here. What filmmaker doesn?t want their work to be seen?
And yet in anticipation of the event I can?t help but relive some of the anxiety that goes along with the experience.

The truth is, that I find the experience of sitting and watching my films with an audience to be a curious mix of happy excitement and utter dread and self-loathing. I guess it feels a little like standing naked in front of the person of your dreams and saying; so, what do you think? Every fault is amplified in your mind to massive proportions and every gesture of approval is received with great and deep thankfulness.

And to think people accuse me of being neurotic.

Also, of course, one is painfully aware of the possibility of technical snags. I recall at a festival in Upsalla, Sweden sitting impatiently through a couple of minutes of my first short Shrink which was being projected completely out of focus. Finally, unable to take it any more, I bolted up to the projectionists booth. It was a very old theater and I had to actually climb outside on some sort of fire escape and enter through a window of some sort. There may have been another way, but in my agitation I certainly didn?t see it. I then proceeded to try and communicate the problem to the projectionist, who didn?t speak English, while trying to contain my anger and be polite and courteous (I am Canadian after all). As a helpful tip to any filmmaker in this situation I suggest gesticulating wildly and carefully annunciating your English words works wonderfully.

This particular happy/angst dichotomy is even more emphasized for me here at TIFF, since I live here. It?s a surreal experience to see your own humble offering in a theater that you have seen many great (and poor) films in, let alone to have peers and relatives in the audience. Anyway I really do look forward to it, and to seeing some of the great films that flow through this festival.