A report says the Toronto International Film Festival’s opening night slot has lost it’s cachet and in many cases is being avoided by powerful filmmakers. A Toronto Star story says industry players who come here for TIFF from Hollywood and the rest of the world…have been skipping opening night, complaining that the openers were dull Canadian flag – wavers. This year’s opener has yet to be announced….but Deepa Mehta’s latest film…the highly -anticipated “Midnight ‘s Children” will be screened in a gala presentation at TIFF on September 9th … but not on opening night.

The festival runs September 6th to 16th.