Toronto International Film Festival=sidelight

As one of the five recognized leading film festivals in the world now, the Toronto International Film Festival is a pride to Canada, and a celebrity-sighting venue at this time of year. Making quite a bit of news, all of it self-congratulatory, speculative and providing for a whole lot of entertainment. Toronto has hit the movie big-time. Giving the city an opportunity to show off. And there's quite a bit to show off, in Toronto.

Frivolity and celebrity-worship aside, a more sombre note was added to the fare. A press conference, calling for the release of Canadian filmmaker John Greyson and London-area emergency-room doctor Tarek Loubani. They are both languishing in a Cairo jail. They've been there since August 16 when they were arrested on suspicion of being up to no good.

Chris Vognar could not see all of the more than 300 features at the Toronto Film Festival, but he did see these 10 greats. First up: 12 Years a Slave – Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in the best major film ever made about American slavery. He plays Solomon Northup, a free man kidnapped and sold into slavery. His masters include Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Michael Fassbender.

Photo: Jaap Buitendijk

The interim Egyptian government and its military had much on their hands at that time. The appearance of foreigners did not please them at a time when they were attempting to bring some civility and civic order back to the country and the capital. Protests, frequent, large in number and with a tendency to violence made everyone fairly nervous.

Into this volatile scene ventured two Canadians, en route to Gaza. Unaware, it would seem, that the Sinai is in a state of turmoil. Bedouin Salafists, Brotherhood-inspired Hamas and Islamic Jihad, along with Muslim Brotherhood militias have converged on the Northern Sinai to attack police stations, demand the restoration to power of Mohammed Morsi, and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The crossing from Egypt into Gaza was closed to traffic in either direction. So when the two men ventured into a police station to ask directions as to how they might proceed they aroused suspicion. And were arrested. The classic, monumental situation of being in the wrong place at the right time. Or perhaps it was the right place at the wrong time.

The penance they're paying is almost a month-long incarceration.

Two men, a trivial situation by comparison to what's happening in the Middle East roiling the world with concern over final outcomes. Dr. Loubani, with the Schulich School of Medicine at the University of Western Ontario, was determined to return to the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza to continue teaching critical care procedures there.

John Greyson,k a professor of cinematography at Toronto's York University planned to film Dr. Loubani's stay in Gaza, among their Hamas friends and acquaintances. Mr. Greyson had once boycotted TIFF, objecting to its highlighting of a film partnership with Tel Aviv, incensed that anything related to Israel was being given respect in their inaugural city-to-city program.

"We don't always agree with his point of view, but we all fiercely defend his right to speak his mind", commented Atom Egoyan, one of the signees of a petition to help bring the two men back home to Canada. The petition has gathered over 110,000 names. It's debatable whether the authorities in Egypt will be much impressed.