TIFF has become more focused on music in 2010 than ever before, it seems. In fact, this year's Toronto International Film Festival features 7 music based movies, as well as a handful of exclusively soundtrack oriented after parties and events.

The most famous of the 7 is likely the Springsteen documentary The Promise: The Making of Darkness at the Edge of Town, which focuses on the troubled years of making his 1978 collection. Or perhaps closer to our hearts, Fubar II - the rock n' roll fueled headbanger sequel where the infamous Albertans land jobs in the Fort McMurray oil sands. Even more popular, Score: A Hockey Musical shows that hockey fights and impromptu bursts of song can go hand in hand (on the big screen, anyway).

Amidst running around to different TIFF events, including the Festival Music House featuring an impressive handful of Canadian talent (City and Colour, Tokyo Police Club, Hawksley Workman...) I was invited to check out something that sounded a little more unique - a concert for a small and relatively unknown film, Janie Jones.



Directed by David M. Rosenthal and starring Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) it was really the short film synopsis that pique my curiosity about the concert after party:

"A young girl, Janie Jones, is abandoned by her former-groupie mom at a concert where she reveals that she is daughter of an aging rock singer."

Although I didn't get to see the film itself, the party was a full swing kick off that seemed to suggest that the premiere at TIFF went over well. I was lucky enough to catch performances from a handful of the artists whose music is featured in the film, including the acoustic folk harmonics of Gemma Hayes.



Just a small taste of the talented musical side of TIFF 2010 celebrations! Tonight I plan to catch Gord Downie, Zeus, Beast, Born Ruffians and Diamond Rings performing at the Festival Music House... and we'll try to bring you more from these swanky TIFF events!