John Cameron Mitchell gets Stiff at TIFF
The acronym TIFF has always offered opportunities for puns (we’re certainly not above it), so we were not shocked to hear that the party celebrating all that’s glorious and gay about the film festival had titillatingly been titled Stiff. Pre-event buzz forced a venue change from the tiny Beaver Café to the enormous Wrongbar, where Miss Margot (a.k.a. the doorwoman with the enormous bouffant wigs at Big Primpin’) played hostess with the mostest to patrons clamouring to get a glimpse of rumoured guests Xavier Dolan and Dustin Lance Black.
Sadly, both were no-shows. We were, however, treated to a DJ set spun by director John Cameron Mitchell, in town for the premiere of his film Rabbit Hole. Before playing, Mitchell—who also directed the more sexually charged Short Bus and Hedwig and the Angry Inch—held court onstage, greeting, air kissing and hugging his fans. Of course, it was still a gay night, so by 1 a.m., the boys in the crowd had already forgotten about the famous talent and were focusing on the more important task at hand: dancing, drinking and picking up.
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![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/culture/john-cameron-mitchell-gets-stiff-at-tiff/&title=John Cameron Mitchell gets Stiff at TIFF&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/John-Cameron-Mitchell.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_40521" align="alignleft" width="398" caption="Left: John Cameron Mitchell and his assistant at the turntables. Right: Miss Margot on Queen West (Images: Fraser Abe)"][/caption]
The acronym TIFF has always offered opportunities for puns (we're certainly not above it), so we were not shocked to hear that the party celebrating all that’s glorious and gay about the film festival had titillatingly been titled Stiff. Pre-event buzz forced a venue change from the tiny Beaver Café to the enormous Wrongbar, where Miss Margot (a.k.a. the doorwoman with the enormous bouffant wigs at Big Primpin’) played hostess with the mostest to patrons clamouring to get a glimpse of rumoured guests Xavier Dolan and Dustin Lance Black.
Sadly, both were no-shows. We were, however, treated to a DJ set spun by director John Cameron Mitchell, in town for the premiere of his film Rabbit Hole. Before playing, Mitchell—who also directed the more sexually charged Short Bus and Hedwig and the Angry Inch—held court onstage, greeting, air kissing and hugging his fans. Of course, it was still a gay night, so by 1 a.m., the boys in the crowd had already forgotten about the famous talent and were focusing on the more important task at hand: dancing, drinking and picking up.
= Find this story on our Celebrity Sightings Map, where we plot the locations of stars spotted throughout Toronto){kind=link}