One day, 56 screenings. What to do?

OK, I just counted: Today, on the first day of the Toronto International Film Festival, there are 40 press screenings and 16 public screenings, with the earliest starting at 9 a.m. and the latest getting underway at 11:59 p.m. The Seattle International Film Festival, by contrast, has three press screenings any given weekday, and cranky members of the press (such as myself) tend to grumble about it. TIFF is, for better or worse, an entirely different ball game.

So, how do you attend 40 press screenings in a day, short of unleashing a team of energetic clones? (Not a bad idea; perhaps my editors could budget for that next year.) You do what I was teaching my teenage goddaughter to do, just last Friday, while shopping for clothes: ruthlessly eliminate most possibilities, focusing on the essentials. Today I will most definitely see Ang Lee's "Lust, Caution," which should have long lines of eager press waiting at the Varsity multiplex. (Interesting that TIFF is showing this prestige film so early in the week; in past years, I've noticed that some members of the press don't arrive until Friday.)

This means missing out on Michael Moore's "Captain Mike Across America," and Christophe Honore's musical "Chansons d'amour" (which, quelle dommage, sounds adorable), and Arthur Dong's documentary "Hollywood Chinese," and Volker Schlondorff's Kazakhstan drama "Ulzhan," among many others. So be it. Once "Lust, Caution" ends, I'll race across the Varsity lobby and wedge myself into the screening of "Michael Clayton," Tony Gilroy's legal thriller starring George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson; a trio who could turn the most mundane scene — can't you picture them all, say, doing their laundry? — into something vivid and fascinating.

Around those two films, the rest of the day will fall into place. Meanwhile, the Toronto Globe & Mail has announced the festival's top 10 stars. In order, it's Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Jake Gyllenhaal/Reese Witherspoon (supposedly a couple, so they count as one — huh?), Woody Allen, Jodie Foster, Ryan Gosling/Rachel McAdams (ditto), Jude Law, Uma Thurman, and Evan Rachel Wood. It's a tricky list: For heaven's sake, Clive Owen is at this festival, as are Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson, Naomi Watts, Charlize Theron, Juliette Binoche, and the wonderfully named Paprika Steen, whose publicist has been introducing her to the press as "the Meryl Streep of Denmark." As for the Meryl Streep of, well, everywhere else, she's got a film in the festival (Gavin Hood's thriller "Rendition") but is apparently sitting out TIFF this year.

More to come, as I descend on this Meryl-less but otherwise stuffed-to-the-gills festival. Stay tuned.