Sam and Sally, two camels from the Bowmanville Zoo, strutted outside the Windsor Arms Hotel. Zibu the falcon was leashed to its handler. Belly dancers shimmied through the dining room. A cascading fountain of chocolate fondue flowed. The reservoir of champagne was bottomless.
Dubai is definitely the new Vegas -- and more. And the most popular man at the festival is, without doubt, one Neil D. Stephenson. The former Toronto lawyer first moved to Dubai in 1991 to become the in-house legal adviser for Emirates Airline. He was recently summoned back by His Highness Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Defence Minister of the United Arab Emirates, to head up the five-day festival, which launches on Dec. 6.
Featuring 80 films from Bollywood to Bangladesh, it is intended to act as a cultural bridge between Arab and non-Arab worlds.
The mob surrounding Mr. Stephenson at last night's party was so thick, we couldn't even squeeze through to say Masa'a AlKair (good evening). Madness.Is there a big-party boycott going on or what? The paparazzi were bored to tears on Monday when most A-list celebrities failed to show up at soirees thrown by Diesel Canada and InStyle magazine.
A harem of Roman slave boys with giant palm-leaf fans lined the red carpet at Prego Della Piazza on Bloor Street, where Diesel had draped flowing white sheets all over the courtyard for its Dream party. Either everyone was already asleep, or the security was simply too tight, because there were simply no Hollywood stars twinkling that night.
Hilary Swank, Loretta Devine, Regina King, Henry Thomas, Jennifer Tilley, Polly Shannon, John Leguizamo, Emile Hirsch, Shawn Ashmore, musician Daniel Lanois and photographer Bruce Weber were the most lauded guests in attendance. Not a bad list by any standard, but hardly blinding.
Sean Penn kind of showed up -- for about two minutes. After the premiere of Niels Mueller's The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Mr. Penn and friends went to a private do at Blowfish, where he was joined by Woody Harrelson, Jason Lewis, Katherine Isabelle and Marcello Cabezas after that evening's theatre production of This is Our Youth.
The group later sauntered over to the InStyle party, scanned the room and went straight up to a suite on the third floor.
When we joined them, pot smoke hung in the air. Mr. Penn, who plays a failed salesman and would-be sniper on the brink of a nervous breakdown, had just lit a cigarette. Mr. Harrelson, well known for his clean-living, raw-food-eating, yoga-enthusiast ways, might enjoy the odd toke of marijuana, but normal old cigarettes are just not cool.
He asked Mr. Penn if he could limit his smoking to the adjoining room with windows. Mr. Penn obliged, crushed out his butt, then started telling a joke about a husband who comes home to find his wife is still up and smoking a cigarette.
Ever the consummate method actor, he proceeded to light up again. Mr. Harrelson just rolled his eyes amusedly, while all the others smokers followed suit.
