Paris Hilton takes Toronto.

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By Alison Willmore on 09/04/2008

Filed under: Festivals

Adria Petty's Paris Hilton doc "Paris, Not France" has been cut down to a single screening at its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Steven Zeitchik at the Hollywood Reporter rumored that this was because the heiress was so unhappy with the film that she was threatening legal action, but Karina Longworth at Spout wondered if it wasn't all just a savvy publicity stunt:

It would be one thing if the Hilton camp has insisted that the film be removed from the festival completely... but they didn't. Instead, they've made tickets to Paris' single TIFF screening a hot commodity. Though technically this single screening at the Ryerson (one of TIFF's largest venues with about 1200 seats) is open to the public, behind the scenes press and industry folks will jockey for tickets, sucking attention away from the Fest's competing red carpet events, all but guaranteeing Hilton dominance of the following day's TIFF coverage.

And now the tale has trickled up to, of all places, the New York Post's Page Six, where Hilton's manager suggests this was, indeed, all part of a nefarious publicity plan:

Paris' rep Jason Moore told Page Six: "We wanted to create more buzz - create some hype . . . We felt the impact would be more extreme if we had one screening."
Miffed festival programmer Thom Powers told Post movie critic Lou Lumenick: "I wish we could do more, but it's better than not showing it at all."

Paris' manipulation of the annual festival - considered the Cannes of Canada - stands to make more money for the movie when it is released commercially.

"She is a partner with the documentary and will be attending Tuesday's screening in support of it," Moore told us.

Asked whether Paris had a financial interest in the flick, Moore replied, "I can't discuss that."

If there's a lesson to be learned here about building festival buzz, it... probably doesn't apply to any normal human being taking their film on the circuit. Er, be more famous! Plant gossip column items!

[Photo: "Paris, Not France," Pablocita Inc., 2008]

+ Paris Hilton: I Kind of Prefer Wiseman's Verite Work (Hollywood Reporter)
+ The Film Paris Hilton Doesn't Want You To See (Spout)
+ PARIS HILTON'S CANADIAN CAPER (NY Post)

Tags: Paris Hilton, Paris Not France, Thom Powers, Toronto 2008