Taylor Swift performs at the 2013 CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tenn.Wade Payne/The Associated Press
TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey has confirmed that Taylor Swift will be on the red carpet for the biopic Last Chance, about a Welsh cellphone salesman who strikes gold singing opera on Britain's Got Talent. But will Swift perform at the festival, as the New York Post speculates? The Post says Swift wrote a song called Sweeter Than Fiction after seeing the movie, but it doesn't seem likely at this point she will actually sing it in Toronto.
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Canadian director Sarah Polley is doing her bit to help the two Canadians who have been held in an Egyptian prison for more than two weeks. Filmmaker John Greyson and emergency MD Tarek Loubani were arrested on Aug. 16 without charge. Polley was handing out "Free Tarek and John" buttons at the TIFF party held by the Toronto Film Critics' Association. Fellow Canadian filmmakers Atom Egoyan and Arsinee Khanjian, as well as the Canadian government and The Globe and Mail editorial board, have also called for the pair's release. Polley says members of the TFCA will wear the buttons through the festival, as will TIFF programmers.
Note to readers: This item has been updated to include a correction. John Greyson and Tarek Loubani are being held in an Egyptian prison, not a Syrian one.