Focus Features’ “Reservation Road” was one of the last movies to have a gala premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, with a party thrown at Empire in Yorkville. The waitresses there, by the way, were perhaps the nicest and happiest servers anywhere, even with the Canadian niceness factored in. Even jaded publicists and agents — some surly for still being in town this long — admitted the servers were rays of sunshine.

The film’s Mira Sorvino exhibited perfect posture wherever she sat, Jennifer Connolly bravely tried to keep last week’s knee surgery from slowing her down and Joaquim Pheonix hugged people. (Mark Ruffalo skipped the party, apparently to catch a flight for a film he was doing.)

Terry George, like many other filmmakers at the fest, had to contend with the pressure of awards rumors swirling about: Is his film worthy or not? But he said the awards talk is necessary or else how are studios going to get people to see these adult-themed films?

“You need the awards to sell these films. A story about a dead child isn’t a story Hollywood is going to jump up and down for,” said George.

The party didn’t go late, but you can tell the festival is winding down when not a whole lot of fans or paparazzi hovered around the outdoor patio, which was good news to those who enjoyed the lack of spotlight.

“Death Defying Acts” also had a party Thursday night. (Borys Kit)