After Cannes, the Toronto Film Festival is the most important in the world. Last year's festival was ripped in two on Sept. 11. I walked out of a screening, heard the news, and the world had changed. Now comes the 27th annual festival, opening today. Are movies important in the new world we occupy? Yes, I think they are, because they are the most powerful artistic device for creating empathy--for helping us understand the lives of others.

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PARK CITY, Utah--What's it like to premiere your new film in the mountains of Utah? "I hate the altitude thing," Rosie Perez said. "Ooohhh, it's so bad. I couldn't do anything. I just had to lay down. My gums hurt. My teeth hurt. My jaws. It's funny. My knees locked in. When we finally got to the condo, they hadn't plowed yet. It's like right up to like my thigh. We were cracking up, but I love the snow. I like the cold weather better than the hot weather."

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PARK CITY, Utah -- At most film festivals, 90 percent of the audience members are civilians and 10 percent are employed in the industry. At Sundance, the ratio is reversed. Screenings here consist of pitches, bids, dealmaking, business card exchanging and schmoozing, interrupted by movies.

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TORONTO -- There is no entry in the Random House Encyclopedia for "The Little Flower," but a Catholic hearing the name will immediately recognize it. Therese de Lisieux lived from 1873 to 1897, practiced great humility in her life, and became a saint almost by acclamation. She would probably be astonished that generations of Catholic girls venerate her as fervently as young Catholic boys these days venerate Michael Jordan.

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The ballots by now have been received, and the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have presumably closeted themselves with their consciences and their memories to nominate the best work in the films of 1991.

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