The 2009 Toronto International Film Festival starts this Thursday and runs through Saturday, September 19. Previewing what films are included in any year’s TIFF slate is a tantalizing chore (one I’ve undertaken), but here’s a different kind of tribute to the institution: My list of favorite films from past years’ festivals.

Boogie Nights (1997): Raw, sophisticated, unsentimental filmmaking from Paul Thomas Anderson, featuring an early Philip Seymour Hoffman performance. I remember coming back from TIFF that year and experiencing a frisson of pleasure followed by a feeling of awkwardness as I described to my buttoned-down colleagues how the best of the fest was an epic narrative about the 1970s porn industry.

The Sweet Hereafter (1997): If Canadian films are often depressing – and they are – then native-born filmmaker Atom Egoyan may just be the patron saint of TIFF. Here he marvelously assayed Russell Banks’ novel of secrets and tragedies in a small rural town.

L.A. Confidential (1997): I watched this at a 9am Saturday screening at the old Uptown Theatre three-plex, once the centerpiece of the festival but now long-gone, demolished for condominiums. Curtis Hanson’s masterpiece blew me away, and today remains one of my most-admired cinematic constructs: A nearly perfect movie.

Last Night (1998): A quintessential Canadian movie, from writer/director (and TIFF wunderkind) Don McKellar. A weird mix of urban storytelling and end-of-the-world sci-fi melodrama, the film was packed with sly north-of-the-border in-jokes and references that I would still be deciphering years later.

Rushmore (1998): I had a hole in my schedule on a Wednesday afternoon, and ducked in to see Wes Anderson’s second feature on the strength of a rumored appearance by Bill Murray. I didn’t laugh so hard all week – and wouldn’t, for the rest of the year.

Requiem for a Dream (2000): For me, TIFF is usually a solitary experience – I go for the movies, not for socializing or networking opportunities – but I watched Darren Aronofsky’s second film in a public screening on a Monday afternoon with my future fiancée and a friend from Rochester, both in town for the fest. Typically the audience bursts out of the theater when a TIFF selection ends (there’s always something else to see), but Requiem’s intensity was such that the three of us were rooted in our seats while we absorbed what we had just seen. I noticed that we weren’t alone.

Sideways (2004): I saw this at an 8:30am screening on Sunday, my last day of the festival that year. I had already checked out of my hotel with the intention of seeing a full day of movies before hitting the QEW for home, but after watching Alexander Payne’s sublime treasure I knew any subsequent movies would be anticlimactic. I was even inspired to stop at a Canadian winery on the way back to Rochester.

The Squid and the Whale (2005): Smart, funny (and intensely personal) filmmaking from Noah Baumbach, a TIFF regular. I’ve seen three of his movies at the festival, including Mr. Jealousy (1997) and Margot at the Wedding (2007); this was his best work.

Borat (2006): Pure comedies are typically rare in the TIFF schedule, but Larry Charles’ feature – with a star-making performance by Sacha Baron Cohen – was a glorious exception to that unwritten rule. I watched this in a VIP screening room at the Varsity multiplex with a couple dozen critics; none of us were immune from Baron Cohen’s bawdy charms.

Far From Heaven (2003): I nabbed the last seat in the house for a Saturday-evening press screening of this Todd Haynes picture. I sat in the front row, and really didn’t care.

The Visitor (2007): Thanks to TIFF, this made my annual 10-best list a year before its theatrical release.

No Country for Old Men (2007): I missed the last few minutes of this screening to make another film in my schedule, but I caught up with it stateside and reaffirmed the brilliance of the Coen Brothers’ vision.

Of course, not every movie shown in Toronto is destined for greatness. The three worst movies I can recall seeing up there? Elizabethtown (a rare misstep from Cameron Crowe), All the King’s Men (a rare misstep from Sean Penn), and The Other Man, with Liam Neeson pursuing proof of his wife’s infidelity. That one screened at TIFF last year, and is just now preparing for a fall 2009 release. Fortunately, plenty of other more worthy films – including many from this year’s festival, I imagine – will be available to occupy us.