There is little calm before the storm of the Toronto International Film Festival.

There is a major entertainment news show releasing the details of their three parties the day before the festival starts. There is a spread-too-thin publicist taking to Twitter begging for intern help stuffing festival gift bags. And there are journalists who have to review movies, conduct awkward roundtable interviews and check out the scene while keeping track of their usual nine-to-five responsibilities wondering how they’re going to do it all without cloning themselves? 

But a mellow sense of anticipation? Nope. 

At the Intercontinental hotel on Bloor yesterday afternoon, the mood was excruciatingly still. Publicists manning the desks in the Allianceand E1 Entertainment suites sat with their chins on their fists, only occasionally being interrupted by newbie TIFF reporters wondering which way to the Sutton Place? Hotel staff were placing flower arrangements accented with awkwardly large film reels around the second floor. And the Tastemakers Lounge sat empty five hours after the set up was supposed to begin as a contractor stapled down the event carpeting. 

Within half an hour, Joe Fresh interns had stocked the lipstick displays with a rainbow of glosses. Croma Design’s Ryan Martin and Amy Kent had hung a flock of hand-cut paper peace doves from the ceiling. And a team from Mattel sat on the floor assembling an IKEA table to show off their party games. 

“This suite will be put together with an Allen wrench,” said Leesa Butler, who co-founded Tastemakers with RockIt Promotions principal publicist Debra Goldblatt five years ago. 

This year’s theme is “Peace, Love and Film”, hence the Bristol board birdies and a studio set up by photo journalist (and former NOW scene watcher) Rosie Levine where she plans on snapping celebs flashing a peace sign for a forthcoming coffee table book.

“The only celebrity to ever turn her down was Warren Beatty,” says Butler. “He was thinking about running in California at the time and didn’t want to look too liberal.”

 As for the bold faces expected to swag it up at Tastemakers, Butler says they’re expecting visits from Defender’s Kristin Booth and The Trotsky’s Emily Hampshire early in the fest (Charlize Theron, Brad and Angelina and Paris Hilton have all visited before). Everyone will get gifts from good Canadian brands including Guats and Bring Your Own Bag. 

You can follow our Thursday afternoon visits to Tastemakers and other gift lounge media previews on Twitter @NOWLifeStyle.