The Chinese film Aftershocks was one of CBC's Eli Glasner's favourite TIFF highlights this year. (TIFF)

By Eli Glasner, CBC News
 
1. Roger and Me

I skipped out on a delayed screening of Danny Boyle's 127 Hours to go meet an idol of mine, Roger Ebert.

Ebert has been silenced by his battle with thyroid cancer, but he's taken to Twitter in a massive way. Which made it fitting that Ebert hosted the first annual Tweet-Off at the TIFF filmmaker's lounge.

At the event, Ebert was the ringmaster while a host of Twitter wits including actor Rainn Wilson and critic David Poland tried to out-smarm each other.

It was fun, but the highlight was meeting and shaking the hand of Roger Ebert, a man whose honest approach to film criticism is a source of inspiration in the age of Rottentomatoes.com. 
 
2. Intelligent 3D

It was the middle of the film festival. I had spent my days standing in front of red carpets, throwing to celebrity clips while trying to keep tabs on the big buzz films and the party circuit. Slightly exhausted, I limped into a screening of Werner Herzog's Cave of Forgotten Dreams, and I emerged recharged.

After years of whining about needless 3D, here is a film that is the perfect marriage of technology with subject matter.

Herzog's documentary transports us into the fabled Chauvet caves of France. With the 3D glasses, you can actually appreciate the way the charcoal sketches of lions and horses undulate across the rocky walls.

Fantastic. Whimsical. Inspiring.

3. One Movie, Two Views

On the basis of strong buzz I checked out a screening of Aftershocks, a film from China about the 1976 Tangshan earthquake and the effects of the disaster on the lives of the survivors. I found it to be an emotional and somewhat provocative film that posed some tough questions about the preferential treatment of males in Chinese society.

But during the screening I noticed an Asian woman sitting next to me was crying. As the credits rolled, I asked her what she thought about the film. To my surprise she said she was not impressed. Although she admitted to being overcome by emotion, she was frustrated by the portrayal of China's heroic rescue effort. She talked about how at the time of the quake, in which hundreds of thousands lost their lives, China refused international aid. This woman, who emigrated from China to Canada years ago, saw the movie as a thinly veiled piece of propaganda. It was an eye-opening experience that started with the simple question, "What did you think?"