Powerful programming: The Toronto Black Film Festival

A Toronto festival features content from Black creators in film, music and spoken word

By: Gabriel Hilty

Opening night was hosted at the Isabel Bader Theatre, in Toronto. Prior to the film screening, the festival featured speeches from sponsors and the festival founder Fabienne Colas. (Gabriel Hilty/CanCulture)

In Canada and the West, the first thing associated with cinema is often Hollywood, an industry that has a glaring lack of diversity. This disparity is highlighted by statistics of lead figures in top-grossing movies and industry events like the Oscars that are routinely criticized for celebrating whiteness over talent.

That’s where the Toronto Black Film Festival (TBFF) comes in, with its organizational mission to “develop the independent film industry and to promote more films on the reality of Black people around the globe.”

From on-screen to behind the cameras and to the newsrooms covering events, the spaces allotted to those in the film industry are claustrophobic to marginalized communities, a reality that TBFF aims to change.

In contrast to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and its celebration of large-scale and indie films, the Toronto Black Film Festival envisions itself showcasing Black films and “creating a space to debate major cultural, social and socio-economic issues.”

The festival returned to Toronto from Feb. 15 to 20 in its comeback from pandemic restrictions that forced it to take place online for two years.

Its schedule featured 125 film screenings, musical and spoken word performances, along with discussion panels on Canadian film.

In the array of dozens of film festivals in Canada and the world, TBFF stood out, emerging from the predominantly white spaces film festivals usually find themselves in.

Inclusive programming, support for the next generation of Black filmmakers and the powerful content featured front and centre are some of the ways TBFF creates an inclusive path for underrepresented artists.

Digital innovation

The festival website prominently advertised the online access pass to its programming. (Screenshot via www.torontoblackfilm.com/all-access)

Accessibility was a forefrontal thought for the TBFF organizers. While governments and many individuals have decided to move past pandemic protections like masking and proof of vaccination, the festival organizers recognized that this may not work for everyone.

Familiar from pre-pandemic times, the in-person-only approach that has made a slow return to the community isn’t suited for disabled people, immunocompromised people and others who take precautions and avoid large indoor venues with mask-free crowds.

In order to accommodate those wary of in-person events, TBFF hosted an online access pass alongside its in-person programming.

The online access included most of the festival’s content at a slightly reduced price compared to a regular all-access ticket.

Andrea Este, the head coordinator of TBFF, talked about the festival’s plan for hybrid access methods in the future.

“Our first in-person hybrid festival was the Calgary Black Film Festival in 2022, and we’ve decided that going forward, we will always keep the online component to give more people access to these films” Este said.

TBFF’s decision to continue offering virtual access is a model for what other festivals and events can provide, especially with the knowledge gained in online video technology early in the pandemic — which gives little excuse not to offer alternative ways to access content.

Opportunities for the next generation

Andrea Este speaking about the Being Black in Canada program before screening the short films created within the program. (Gabriel Hilty/CanCulture)

Advancing Canadian talent in the film industry is another area where TBFF has a unique approach that stands out, dedicating a whole night of programming to emerging Black Canadian filmmakers.

The filmmakers at TBFF are highlighted through the Being Black in Canada program.

The program, founded by TBFF creator Fabienne Colas and her namesake foundation, is “Canada’s largest mentorship & training program for Black filmmakers,” according to their website.

Every year, it mentors around 30 young Black filmmakers from across major Canadian cities.

At the opening ceremony, Fabienne Colas talked about the role of the festival and its programming in the Canadian film landscape.

“We want to continue to showcase exceptional work that doesn’t always make it to the silver screen by giving a voice to the marginalized and fostering the development of independent film,” Colas said.

After the creation and production in the program, the short films developed by the filmmakers screen at TBFF in a fantastic collection and showcase of talent.

With a runtime of approximately 10 minutes, each filmmaker only had a short timeframe to highlight their work and creative talent in their films. 

This challenge was tackled differently in each of the films, with some keeping focus on one subject for the whole duration and others choosing to split time by giving shorter insights into the stories of multiple interconnected issues, all part of a larger theme.

Sync, a film by Hilary Etomo Mba, focused on the concept of non-romantic love. The film features three duos, each having conversations on the value of their love for each other outside of the traditional romance-linked definition of the word.

Various techniques used by Mba allow the film to be creative in spite of the short timeframe.

The use of different groups of people allowed her to capture a variety of voices and settings within the film’s time parameters, and the predominantly used ‘fly on the wall’ perspective enabled intimate insight into the personal discussions of the film’s main subjects.

The topics of Sync and the other short films were unique, often reflecting the background and experiences of the filmmakers, and the whole array of films displayed creativity and diversity of ideas.

Topics ranged from important, often swept under the rug, subjects like sex-work to intimate conversations about Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and profiles on local Black businesses.

Content: Not Shying away from important issues

Film director Matt Waldeck (left) and narrator and main subject Rickey Jackson (right) speaking in a Q&A after the opening night screening of their film Lovely Jackson. (Gabriel Hilty/CanCulture) 

Centrepieces at film festivals, like the opening and closing films, are important; they can set the tone for the whole festival and send a message about the values of the event and what it wants to highlight as important.

To select these critical films and create the right impact, the preparation behind the scenes is a process that goes far beyond the days leading up to the opening night.

Este said that elements like discussions on topics, selecting people to invite and going through applications submitted to the festival start around three months in advance.

“They go through the process of watching all of the submitted films,” she said, detailing the selection process done by the festival’s programming team.

After this, Este said that the team makes the decisions on which films make it into the final schedule based on collective discussions.

This year, TBFF opened in the Isabel Bader Theatre with the film Lovely Jackson, directed by Matt Waldeck. 

A deeply personal story released in 2022, Lovely Jackson is a feature documentary on the story of Rickey Jackson, the man who served the longest wrongful incarceration in the United States.

The film takes a different approach from more traditional true crime documentaries: rather than centreing the story on a crime or a killer told from a third-person perspective, such as detectives who worked on the case, the main figure in Lovely Jackson is Rickey Jackson himself.

A powerful statement as the opening film of TBFF, Lovely Jackson puts a spotlight on the continued problems in the judicial and carceral system Jackson encountered during his nearly 40 years of imprisonment, and the same militant systems that remain intact today.

It touches on topics including systemic injustices and systemic racism through a first-person recount, along with themes of friendship and Jackson’s capacity for forgiveness.

The wider release of Lovely Jackson after it finishes its festival tour is yet to be announced.

The Toronto Black Film Festival: A powerful event

TBFF highlights some of Canada’s diversity that other festivals and the film industry as a whole need to incorporate, and gives opportunities to the next generation of Black Canadian creators. 

With a lineup of events beyond just film screenings, including live music performances and open discussions with experts in the Canadian film industry, TBFF creates a comprehensive approach to inclusivity across multiple mediums.

As a part of its itinerary, TBFF doesn’t shy away from featuring more complicated and sometimes divisive topics, with this year’s opening film Lovely Jackson touching on systemic injustices and problems within the judicial and carceral institutions.

TBFF is a must-see event for everyone when the festival returns in 2024 for its 12th edition.

Behind the scenes with FilmTripper on her blog and social media journey

Becca Rhodes shares how she built her TikTok visiting movie sets and sharing informative blog posts

By: Julia Lawrence

(Becca Rhodes/The Film Tripper)

Is there a movie set you’ve always wanted to visit in real life, but didn’t know where to start? Becca Rhodes had the same question before beginning her journey as FilmTripper.

Rhodes researches where movies and TV show sets exist off-screen and then spills all the info about the set's location and building’s history on her blog and TikTok. She’s visited places in Etobicoke, like the high school in Mean Girls, and Greenwich, England, where the Bridgerton House is located.

Travel alongside CanCulture journalist Julia Lawrence through Rhodes's journey to starting her blog and how she combines her bachelor's and masters in architecture from Carleton University with her love for films in this in-depth Q&A.

What sparked your interest in creating a blog and social media presence?

I kind of have been obsessed with movies my whole life. So once I found out that not every movie is just filmed on a soundstage, I was like, well, if I'm travelling with my family, and we're close to something where something's gonna be filmed at that, then of course, I'm gonna make everybody haul ass and go see it.

So I kind of just started building up all of these little things over the past couple, I guess maybe 10 years, I've been going and seeing stuff. But then, just before the pandemic, I had been kind of putting stuff together for an actual blog, because I've already found all these places, I'd love to share them with people. So I started compiling them for the blog, and the pandemic hit, literally, I want to say a couple of weeks after I had done my first blog post.

I had all of these things that I was like, ‘what am I supposed to do with all these photos now?’ So that was how I started it. I started the blog as a resource for people to come and find stuff because it's so hard to find all that information, especially about really niche things such as y2k movies. It was kind of a little hobby and then once TikTok kind of blew up, it was kind of figuring out, well, how am I supposed to take all these photos that I've collected and put them into a video format? So it’s still building, but that's kind of how it started. It was an interest of mine that I wanted to share and then it kind of took off a little bit.

What was it like maintaining the blog during the pandemic?

I had a lot of pictures and stuff backlogged, thankfully. So I was like, what things do I already have in my knowledge base without having me to actually go to these places? Luckily, living in Toronto, there's so much that's filmed here. So throughout the pandemic, we couldn’t do anything inside. I couldn’t see my friends, but I could walk to a diner and look at the outside because that's where they filmed Hairspray. I can see it from the outside, I can social distance and I don't have to go talk to anybody. I could just have this way to explore the city that I already know, but through a different lens, if that makes sense. So it was a fun way for me to get out and about and I definitely don't do as much exploring now when everyone is fully functional back working in society, but it was a fun way to do all of that.

Do you usually film your content yourself?

I typically do a lot of the stuff by myself because it's hard to convince people that aren't film people to do stuff like this with you. My sister will tag along for stuff that she's interested in because she also is in the social media world, so she's able to take photos for me. Usually, I'm just like, ‘oh, I'm having a me day, let me go see if there's something that I can find.’

Have you had to deal with situations where a building is covered by scaffolding? How do you handle situations like that?

That specifically has happened to me twice, where it's not even worth me taking a photo of this because there's so much scaffolding in front. The house that Nate Archibald lives in Gossip Girl when I went there was [under] renovation. So full of scaffolding that we couldn't even figure out which building it was and we were like, ‘it's totally the one that has scaffolding.’ And then, a building in London, that was one of the workshops from Cruella, was full of scaffolding.

It makes sense for some buildings, once they get the money after being used in a movie, they're like, ‘well, what a great time to do a renovation. We just got a bunch of money being featured in this movie.’ So that is kind of sad, but then it's a good excuse to go back.

How’s it been combining your architectural background with your movie-lover side?

It is fun. I would say sometimes it is, I don't want to say distracting, but because I have an architecture background and when I'm writing articles or creating posts or anything, I'm writing them from an architectural way. I have to remember most people want a clear-cut answer, they don’t care what type of window frames are used in the building, and I have to pull it back.

I know Architectural Digest does a cool series on TikTok where they have well-known architects break down movies architecture, houses and stuff, and so I'm feeling people are starting to become more interested once they see people, concisely breaking it down from a reputable place like Architectural Digest. I do say that it's a benefit, it's easier for me to pick out buildings because I have a background in it. If I'm looking for something I can narrow it down, because the architectural style is something I'm familiar with.

I’ve been trying to work on some building-specific series, where it's like, ‘well, this building was featured in this many shows,’ let's talk about this building first, and then the shows. So I've been trying to work on a couple of things that are more in line with that just because it is my background and I want to talk about these cool facts that I have about these buildings. So if there's an audience for that, then I'd love to continue moving in that direction.

How do you balance your work and social media projects on the side?

My job as an architect is obviously really demanding. So I don't put as much time into my blog, I have so many half-started articles that are on my Google Docs that I'm like, ‘I promise I haven't forgotten about you.’ But it is like anything, it's hard balancing your job with just seeing your friends, being healthy, making yourself meals. So to balance my job with all that regular stuff and then my hobby that takes up so much of my extra time, you definitely have to enjoy it in order to do it.

Editing videos, making posts and all that stuff definitely takes longer than putting a blog article together. The hardest part is obviously the research so if I recognize this building but where's it from? Then I have to deep dive and be like, ‘has anyone else found this building?’ ‘No.’ If I know this movie says it’s in Montreal, was it filmed in Montreal or was it actually filmed in Vancouver? It's a whole breakdown of how I got to the answer. It takes time, that's for sure, and I'm definitely not producing as much as I'd like to.

Sirius Black's house from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was also another stop on Rhodes' tour of London. (Becca Rhodes/The Film Tripper)

Rhodes has also visited many Harry Potter shooting locations, including King Cross St. Pancras Station, in London, England. This picture, specifically, was taken exactly where the car flies over the station in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. (Becca Rhodes/The Film Tripper)

In London, Rhodes also recorded content at the Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio Tour, a walkthrough exhibition and studio tour in Leavesden, England. (Becca Rhodes/The Film Tripper)

What are the logistics when it comes to finding the sets?

Let's use Harry Potter as an example because that one's easy and a lot of people have already done a lot of research on Harry Potter, which is also nice. So usually I’ll dedicate a day to Harry Potter; I research Harry Potter filming locations in London, and I see if there are ones that are easy for me to find. Like Kings Cross Station, those types of places are iconic, then I put them all up [on Google Maps] and I see what's close to what. If I already know in my head a lot of places are in this area, then I'll be like, ‘Okay, well, how about Bridget Jones's Diary, how many Bridget Jones places are close to Harry Potter places?’ So then I take two different maps and I tend to overlay them on top of each other. I put in as many filming locations as I can possibly find on the internet. So after I do all the research, and figure out everything via the maps, then I section off by neighbourhood and then I'll go to that neighbourhood and see all the things I wanted to see, document everything.

I always have on my phone the stills from the movie so that I can hold it up and see exactly where it's supposed to be and line it up properly when I'm taking photos and stuff. I try to take at least one and then that's how I like collecting, I guess, all of the data. The research does take the longest and I try not to go to any locations without having done at least the bare minimum of research. Otherwise, I go there and if I'm filming something I don't know what to say or I don't remember the exact spots because there are just so many buildings that look so similar.

Do you tend to focus more on nostalgic 2000s movies or take requests for newer shows?

I try to do a mix. I try not to do anything that I haven't watched, everything that I talk about is something that I'm interested in or that I've watched. My niche I would say is the late ‘90s, early 2000s type movies era of Amanda Bynes and Lindsay Lohan, that key era from my childhood. Because there is so much nostalgia, people love to see things that they remember and things that they watched a lot.

I do try to do TV shows and movies that are coming out, I try to plan my content so that if there's a show coming out in two weeks, I've started to build up some stuff so that I can post it a week before. For example, Wednesday was obviously everywhere, so I bet I could find this building. So I did some research and figured out it was in Romania and there's only a handful of places in Romania where you can film that looked like this. I posted that because it was trending and that video did pretty well, but it was because it was in at that moment.

How to take advantage of TIFF throughout the entire year

TIFF provides youth under 25 with many discounted and free opportunities to engage in the world of cinema

By: Sarah Grishpul

Patrons wait outside Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre on Oct. 29, 2022. Young film fans eagerly discuss Park Chan-Wook’s latest film, Decision to Leave as they leave the matinee screening. (Sarah Grishpul/CanCulture)

That’s a wrap! The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has closed its curtains, the celebrities have flown back to Hollywood and the streets of our city’s entertainment district have returned to their typical hustle and bustle.

Yet TIFF still has so much to offer. The non-profit organization hosts year-round screenings dedicated to highlighting international and Canadian cinema. Although the film circuit has ended, TIFF still curates events, workshops and screenings for local cinephiles to attend during the off-season.

TIFF Under-25 Free Pass

Take it from someone who works at a cinema: going to the movies is expensive.

I’ve been attending TIFF events for around two years now, and the costs have always been the biggest deterrent for how many screenings I attend. Each year is always a vicious battle to snag tickets, as TIFF seats tend to fill up faster than the speed of sound.

While TIFF offers student discounts, those looking to immerse themselves in independent cinema on a budget may be interested in obtaining a subscription instead.

In March, TIFF announced they would be offering young film fans special membership discounts with the Under-25 Free Pass. According to a TIFF media release, the intention was to make the festival and its year-round programming more accessible for Canadian youth.

The pass also grants youth access to member-exclusive ticket pre-sales, where students can save 25 per cent off tickets for year-round TIFF events and screenings. Those who missed out or couldn’t afford tickets to this year’s festivities can now attend screenings of official festival selections such as Decision to Leave, Holy Spider and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

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Those who sign up will be automatically subscribed to the TIFF Weekly newsletter, where contests and invitations to special events will be made available. Members receive promotional codes and can obtain free or discounted tickets to yearly screenings at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Under-25 members also receive 15 per cent off concessions and items at the gift shop, as well as gain exclusive access to the Bell Blue Room Members’ Lounge.

TIFF Cinematheque

Aside from scoring discounted movie tickets, Under-25 pass holders can attend free (that’s right, free) TIFF Cinematheque screenings.

Established in 1990, TIFF Cinematheque (previously known as Cinematheque Ontario) is a yearly program committed to sharing the art of film. The organization’s team of programmers curates a selection of contemporary, international and rare archival cinema that is often left untouched by mainstream theatre chains.

With screenings of over 200 films, students can enjoy these underrated gems of film history on the big screen after nearly decades have passed. Often for Cinematheque screenings, TIFF will host reruns of past festival selections, iconic pop culture hits, cult classics and international cinema. Some of the Cinematheque collections this year include To Sidney, With Love, Boosie Fade Film Club, Lost and Beautiful: New Italian Cinema.

Under-25 pass holders can access free tickets to screenings such as a 4K restoration of RoboCop (Director’s Cut), Nordic noirs like Headhunters, cult classics such as B*A*P*S and many more.

TIFF Next Wave Film Festival

Programmed for teens by teens, the TIFF Next Wave Film Festival offers free (again, free) movie screenings for anyone under 25 years old. This event is open to all youth, regardless of whether they signed up for the Under-25 Pass.

The festival is curated by a group of young film enthusiasts across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) tasked with planning youth-oriented events at TIFF. According to a TIFF media release, the intention behind Next Wave is to make cinema and film discourse accessible to youth and highlight the work of young filmmakers.

During the festival, students can take advantage of a diverse selection of independent movies, attend workshops with emerging creators and industry professionals and engage with a community of fellow young film fans.

Aside from the official festival selections, students can partake in the annual Movie Marathons, Battle of the Scores and Young Creator Co-Labs at an additional discounted cost.

While the lineup and dates for next year’s festival have yet to be announced, this is certainly an event you do not want to miss!

That’s a wrap!

I highly encourage students interested in experiencing films outside of Hollywood to take advantage of these offers, as attending these events is a great way to explore a diverse range of voices and perspectives through cinema. 

With big-budget American blockbusters crowding the marketplace, it’s become difficult for foreign-language and indie films to be widely distributed. These films are free from the restraints of the box office and are driven by artistic inspiration rather than profit. Audiences can become immersed in a culture or a perspective away from a Western lens.

So, I implore you to take advantage of the opportunities to engage with what TIFF has to offer. After all, film deserves to be accessible to all.

Marvel's She-Hulk and the faculty of female rage: A series review

She-Hulk smashes fourth walls, bad endings and toxic fanboys in its first season’s finale

By: Sarah Grishpul

SheHulk in the Marvel comics (Graphic by Sama Nemat Allah using imagery from @Gwendal via Flickr)

Warning! The next paragraphs contain spoilers for the finale of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Proceed with caution.

Alright, I guess I’ll be the first to say it: The She-Hulk finale was actually pretty good. 

In fact, I didn’t hate the show at all. I thought it was quite witty and a fun, fresh new take on superhero stories.

Wow, shocking. A person online who doesn’t hate the new Marvel show? Now that’s something you don’t hear every day, as the show currently sits at a 35 per cent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is the latest in a stream of Marvel-produced television that stars Canadian Emmy-Award-Winner Tatiana Maslany as the talented lawyer Jennifer Walters. After accidentally becoming exposed to radioactive blood from her cousin Bruce Banner, a.k.a. the Hulk, Walters has become a Hulk herself. Determined to continue living her normal life, she is left to face the conflicts of not only being a superhero but a female superhero and perhaps even scarier, a woman in the workplace.

So, why exactly are people so upset over She-Hulk’s existence? Well, for years, the superhero genre has been largely dominated by men and targeted to an audience of male viewers. We didn’t get a female-led Marvel movie until 2019's Captain Marvel. Even then, Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers was met with instant online backlash, with fanboys complaining about her arrogance and stony expression.

What puzzled me at the time was how Marvel fans could complain about Carol Danvers’ impassivity when characters like Bucky Barnes were idolized for their emotionless, stone-cold expressions. She-Hulk answers this perfectly through its depiction of the weaponization of female rage.

Early on in the pilot episode, Walters explains to her cousin Bruce why she’s able to control her Hulk form, saying, “I’m great at controlling my anger … I do it pretty much every day. If I don’t, I’ll get called ‘emotional,’ or ‘difficult,’ or I might just literally get murdered. So I’m an expert at controlling my anger because I do it infinitely more than you.”

As someone who has navigated a society built on punishing femininity, I could feel myself nodding along with Walters during this scene. Women are often taught at a young age to repress their anger, as it will make them appear unlikeable, emotional and irrational. Whereas with men, their rage is revered, often seen as powerful and assertive, especially in a professional setting. Female rage is often vilified in society as the blame more often falls on our shoulders. This becomes inherently amplified when we find ourselves at the margins of other fault lines in society. Black, Indigenous, racialized, and queer females have no choice but to police themselves lest the world does it instead.

During the last two episodes, Walters’ sex tape is leaked during an awards ceremony, causing her to “Hulk out” and destroy the venue. Instead of going after the perpetrators, the authorities arrest Walters and denounce her as an unstable, irrational superhuman. She is punished severely for simply being angry and discredited in the eyes of the public — after going through something incredibly traumatizing and degrading.

Moments like these are why I enjoyed the show so much. It’s refreshing to see something so relatable on screen, even if I may be a young university student and She-Hulk is a giant, green superhuman.

The show itself wraps up in a way that is true to Walters’ character. In the season finale, it is revealed that Todd, a creep Walters met on a Tinder date, was behind the leak in an attempt to destroy She-Hulk’s reputation. In teaming up with an online group of men who also despised the idea of another female superhero, these internet trolls mirrored the show's real-life haters with an almost unnerving accuracy. After stealing and infusing himself with Walters’ blood, Todd evolves into a Hulk and fans are ready to see the two duke it out in a classic Marvel fight sequence.

Only, that’s not what happens at all.

Instead of “Hulking out” and going up against a villain in the typical superhero fashion we’ve come to expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Walters breaks the fourth wall (literally) by smashing out of her show into the Disney+ dashboard. Infiltrating Marvel Studios, Walters takes her issues with the plot to the one in charge, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. Or rather, an AI robot named K.E.V.I.N. (Knowledge Enhanced Visual Interconnectivity Nexus). Walters refuses to abide by the classic Marvel formula and instead rewrites her narrative the only way a lawyer knows best. She argues that because it is her show, she should get a say in how her own story should end.

The entire sequence was cheeky and charming, bringing a smile to my face as Walters was able to save the day — not through brawn, but brain. In her closing argument, much like a lawyer, she proclaims that the MCU has become derivative due to the fact they all end the same way, with big spectacles and flashy fight scenes.

“It distracts from the story which is that my life fell apart right when I was learning to be both Jen and She-Hulk. Those are my stakes, K.E.V.I.N.”

Walters convinces the omnipotent K.E.V.I.N. to get rid of Todd’s Hulk powers, proclaiming that the real villain wasn’t the powers, but his toxic masculinity.

By breaking out of the stale superhero finale trope, She-Hulk opens the door for future MCU projects to experiment outside the recycled storylines fans have begun to grow tired of.

Overall, do I believe She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is a good show? Hell yeah.

Does it deserve all the hate it’s been receiving for its entire run time? Hell no.

We need more shows like this that present the world from a female perspective. Women should be allowed to occupy strong, powerful roles both in fiction and in real life. To pull a quote from The Incredibles’ Elastigirl, another one of my favourite female superheroes: “Girls, come on. Leave the saving of the world to the men? I don’t think so.”

A modern-day coping mechanism

How films and TV shows help us cope with the stress and anxiety of life, inspire us, and help us find community

By: Aditi Roy

To cope with the substantial amount of pressure in our lives today, we find mechanisms that help us destress and relax. For many, this method is consuming content like films and TV shows.

Watching a funny TV show or an action-packed drama allows you to be in the present. While you're watching such forms of entertainment, your mind stops juggling your endless responsibilities and focuses on the plot of the movie or TV show. It's almost like a reward that we look forward to after a long day of studying or work. A good film or episode can be like a comforting hug that we all need and desperately crave.

This is evident as the average Canadian aged 18-24 spends around 10.6 hours watching TV a week, and this number does not include watching entertainment on online platforms. Telefilm Canada  also reports that more than 50 per cent of Canadians watch at least one movie a week.

Believe it or not, using TV shows and films can also be considered a form of therapy. Cinematherapy is a form of self-help that has many benefits. Being aware of cinema and the content we consume can shape the way we deal with life. Movies can help us realize how to approach and deal with hardships and make sense of our own lives.

Gary Solomon is the author of Reel Therapy: How Movies Inspire You to Overcome Life's Problem's and The Motion Picture Prescription: Watch This Movie and Call Me in the Morning, two books focusing on cinema therapy. Solomon recommends that to reap the benefits of this nontraditional therapy, you must select the content that reflects your current situation in life and consume them. This way, you learn how to tackle your problems. This form of therapy is also gaining recognition in Canada, with Kelowna College Of Professional Counselling offering a three-week-long introductory course as well as a full-length course on this subject.

While films and TV shows can help us contextualize our lives, fan culture works to bring people together and create a tight-knit community. As defined by Grinnell College, fan culture is the phenomenon that occurs when communities are built around a shared enjoyment of a pop culture aspect. In some cases, fan culture can become toxic and obsessive, but for the most part, such culture helps and profoundly impacts the lives of many.

Conventions, Discords, and clubs are formed when people come together and truly appreciate the same piece of work. Being a fan gives you people to identify with, as being around people with the same interest as you can influence your life positively. A feeling of involvement and belonging kicks in when surrounded by like-minded people.

A study conducted asked 198 cosplay members why they chose their costumes; the anonymous reply was because they were excited to portray their favourite characters. They couldn't wait to represent their love through elaborate costumes and attire. This feeling of euphoria is undeniable when you are so invested in such projects. 

The Fan Expo Canada event is probably one of the most prominent examples of fan culture. It is a four-day experience dedicated to celebrating iconic movies, anime series, and comic books. This event is truly a time where Canadians get to enjoy the company of other film and TV junkies and engage in honest conversations.

Sometimes films can inspire us to such a great degree that we may even pursue them as our careers. You would be surprised at how many directors, producers, and cinematographers were inspired to embark on their path because of impactful shows and films.

Denis Villeneuve, Canadian academy award nominated director studied film and graduated from Université du Québec à Montréal. The director of films like Blade Runner 2049 (2017)  and Dune (2021) credits his inspiration to films like Children of Men (2006) and Vertigo (1958). The director also states that he greatly admires the work of Christopher Nolan.

David Cronenberg, known for creating the body horror genre, was influenced by a film to such a degree that he chose to change his career after he attended the University of Toronto to earn a BA. The film Winter Kept Us Warm (1966), directed by David Secter, inspired him to pursue his love for cinema. Cronenberg went on to found the Toronto Film Co-op along with Iain Ewing and Ivan Reitman.

I think we can all agree that entertainment in the forms of films and TV positively impacts our lives. Such projects can touch our hearts, make us cry, laugh or even cringe. But film evokes emotion and allows people to gather together. Discussing our favourite plot twist in a show or recreating film looks and reciting iconic lines is a part of our modern-day culture and society. We become strangely analytic as we tear apart content and develop our theories and ideas about what it truly meant.

Though some may view entertainment as wasted time, such projects have the power to change the way we look at life and influence our behaviour.  Movies and TV shows are an endless world waiting to be explored.

Carlton Cinema: A students' movie haven

by Vartan Bzdikian The Indie-themed Imagine Cinemas Carlton are offering a student deal that allows you to watch any movie comfortably with a medium sized popcorn and pop for just $15 on Mondays and Wednesdays.

The new offer is a different approach from movie-giant Cineplex and their own old deal, of half-price tickets on Tuesdays.

Carlton Cinema was founded in 1981, and had achieved relative success until their business went well until they faded into the background and were closed in 2009 by Cineplex Odeon.

Rainbow and Magic Lantern Theaters resurrected Carlton Cinema in 2010 and because of how well locals took to its reopening, Imagine Cinemas bought them in 2016.

A self proclaimed regular customer at Carlton Cinema, Nadia Adil says that, “the artistic décor of the place attracts a lot of young people, they try to maintain that old 90's vibe, plus you feel like the customers here respect the theatre and the movie.”

Carlton Cinema is popular in Toronto because they’re not shying to display blockbuster, foreign, artistic, and independent films which would not normally be screened in other larger theatres.

Assistant manager of Carlton Cinema Amelia Cumming added, “we also like to do our retro screenings, like this week we’re showing Wayne’s World, we’ve done things like Alien, so just retro screeners that we know are popular but don’t really get theatre play.”

The cheap prices also attract moviegoers in the community.

These are dark times for the film industry, the tastes and demands of consumers are changing and Hollywood is struggling to adapt.

According to comScore the summer box office was the worst the movie industry has seen in over a decade; it is a 14.6 per cent drop from last summer.

Young people between the ages of 13-30 seem more reluctant on going to the cinemas to enjoy a popcorn and a movie with their friends or even by themselves.

Cumming reaches out to these moviegoers and says, “There are multiple distractions when you watch a movie at home, you can check your phone, pause it anytime, whereas when you’re in the theatre you’re really immersed into the characters and the film, unfortunately we’re losing that.”

Why, is a question many experts are pondering on. It could be the expensive tickets, the disruptions in the cinema (phones ringing, friends chatting etc,) the rise of streaming services such as Netflix, HBO, and Hulu, the cost of snacks, the internet or it could be the combination of all these factors.

Adil adds to the list and says, “I feel like movies nowadays lacks originality, they just conform to whatever they think is the trend instead of just being honest, innovative, mind provoking and original.”

During these tough times, cinemas and theatres are tested and are forced to take risks and experiment to keep their business afloat.

According to Cumming the license to enable the selling of alcohol and concession sales have helped them but what keeps their business afloat are private rentals, “people who want to show their own films on a big screen, so they’re willing to pay us just to rent out a screen and show it, that’s literally what’s keeping us in business.”

Feature photo courtesy of Carlton Cinemas/Flickr

A Nightmare on Dundas Street: Inside the AGO’s Horror Film Festival

by: Ben Cohen

Southwest of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s chasmal main foyer is Jackman Hall, the site of their new late-night spook-fest: A Nightmare on Dundas Street.

Beginning Oct. 6, the AGO has ventured to screen a different classic horror film each Friday night, a promotional tool working in concert with their inspired, ongoing Guillermo Del Toro exhibit.

With three weeks to go, the gallery’s final offerings are all heavy hitting canonical classics: The Shining, Repulsion and The Haunting.

It’s a unique experience, re-watching a celebrated flick in a theatre. On Friday night, I saw The Exorcist. I’d analogize the feeling to being bowled over by the dynamism of colour, after living life entirely in grey. You really are discovering a new dimension.

When young Regan starts acting odd -- levitating, speaking in tongues -- her worried mother seeks medical help, only to hit a dead end. A local priest, however, thinks the girl may be seized by the devil. The priest makes a request to perform an exorcism, and the church sends in an expert to help with the difficult job.

The soundtrack was made sharp, clear and jarring. I was tuned into all the fright and tension I’d be spared, thanks to ho-hum television speakers. The intimate theatre’s insular build and cranked up volume allowed the film’s chilling instrumentals to craft a sense of dread, organically.

I nearly leaped out of my seat at one point at the sound of an on-screen phone suddenly ringing, a scare that would have passed right by me had I been enjoying the movie from the comfort of a sofa.

It also goes without saying that a bile-spewing demon-child with a 360-degree rotating neck is a lot more terrifying when blown up to span the length of an entire room.

Del Toro is famous for thinking the monsters we see are reflected in all of us, and his exhibit paired with these films allow us all a more in-depth peak into ourselves.

The final films will be screened from 10-12 pm, the following three Friday nights. The fee is $8 for students, $10 for AGO members and $12 for everyone else.

Top 8 movies to get ready for Hallowe'en

by Brooke Houghton, Caroline Thorne, Brooklyn Johnson and Isabella Lopes No big plans for Tuesday night? Just decided to curl up and watch some good ol' fashioned Hallowe'en movies? Here are the top eight movies to get you in a spooktacular mood!

Backcountry (2015)

In this nature-horror film, young couple Alex (Jeff Roop) and Jenn (Missy Peregrym), go camping in the Canadian wilderness. As an inexperienced camper, Jenn lets her confident boyfriend take the lead. The couple heads to Alex's favourite spot on the secluded Blackfoot Trail. The two soon find themselves lost without a map or food to survive. Terror settles in when they encounter a strange man in the otherwise deserted forest.  

Mom’s Got a Date with a Vampire (2007)

In a plot to get their mother out of the house so they can sneak out, siblings Adam (Matt O'Leary) and Chelsea (Laura Vandervoot) set their mom (Caroline Rhea) up on a blind date. However, their youngest brother Taylor (Myles Jeffrey) soon realizes that the man their mother is on a date with is a vampire. The trio of siblings spends the night following their mother on the date to prove it.

Twitches (2005)

On their 21st birthday, Camryn (Tamera Mowry) and Alex (Tia Mowry) find out that they are long lost twin sisters, with magical powers originally from a kingdom in an alternate dimension. The two must use their newfound powers to defeat the darkness that plagues the kingdom.

The Lost Boys (1987) When two brothers, Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim), move to a new town with their recently divorced mother, they get more than they bargained for, as they discover the town is a haven full of vampires! Beetlejuice (1988) A recently deceased couple haunting their former house hire a heinous ghost in an attempt to scare away the new residents. This all-star cast (featuring Alec Baldwin, Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton and Canadian-American actress Catherine O'Hara) has become a cult classic, growing in popularity every year.

It (2017)

In the small town of Derry, Maine, children are going missing at an increasingly alarming rate. Once his little brother falls victim to one of these mysterious attacks, Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) and his friend group including Richie (Finn Wolfhard), decide to investigate and ultimately destroy whatever evil force is terrorizing the town. Spoiler Alert: it’s a terrifying clown that will haunt your dreams. How is this a Canadian film? It was all filmed in Toronto, Oshawa, and Port Hope.

Prom Night (1980)

A masked murderer stalks and attempts to kill a group of six high school seniors on their prom night in this classic horror flick starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The group was responsible for the accidental death of young Robin Hammond six years ago. This movie was filmed all over Toronto, with some signature shots placed at the Scarborough Bluffs.

Scream (1996)

Scream is a (somewhat) modern classic, following Sidney Prescott (played by Canadian actress Neve Campbell) as she is stalked and attacked by the mysterious masked killer called "Ghostface." The film is famous for references to overused horror movie cliches and for mixing comedic elements into a classic slasher film.

Blade Runner 2049 Review

Thirty-five years after the original cult-classics release, Blade Runner 2049 has continued the universe of Blade Runner, while adding new age elements and improving upon its prior.

Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, in his first work since Arrival last year, has created a stunningly beautiful film - a seemingly hallucinatory, sensory odyssey through landscape and light. Although incorporating visual jump-offs seen in the original, 2049 pushes into a different reality. From creating a ghost-town Vegas, cyberpunk LA streets, all the way to an endless junkyard, the world of 2049 is the fantasy of unforgiving soulless capitalism. The artistry of this fever dream is most comparable to that of pornography; nothing is real and yet everything is available.

Gosling’s performance as 'K' highlights characteristics of Harrison Ford's original character,  and he has considerably bulked up since last year’s La La Land. His naturally charismatic demeanour is back in the impassive and aloof mode of “Drive” (2011) and “Only God Forgives” (2013), to create a character who’s every bit inscrutable as he is cool.

Blade Runner vs. 2049

Let’s start with the most blatant comparison. Ridley Scott masterfully directed the 1982 film, using a slow-burn approach that gave audiences the opportunity to take note and soak in the immense detail of a dystopian 2019 L.A.

Denis Villeneuve is one of the most exciting directors in Hollywood today, however he uses a similar, patient approach to create a deserving sequel. Villeneuve’s version is an achievement in itself, more epic and ambitious than the original, not letting a bigger budget hinder the vision.

The original Blade Runner has an overarching narrative that ends up being fairly simple. It sends Deckard off on a breadcrumb-quest to ‘retire’ replicants. It is a movie shaped as much by its style and themes as it is by the plot, which compliments the minimalistic approach.

And although 2049 finds its narrative built off the foundation laid out by the original, it is more ambitious, and far less repetitive in its investigative approach, and has more than one aspect of the movie to follow at once. It retains specific mysteries while creating new ones, and manages to do a good job standing alone.

One main aspect of the 2049 that falls short of the original is the score. Vangelis created a synth-driven, jazzy score that stood out as a main element. It still stands peerless in the sci-fi genre in comparison to the approach Villeneuve took.

Although just like in his recent work in Dunkirk, Hans Zimmer's composition references the original 1982 score whilst subtly forming its own being. The singular thumping gunshot percussion that opens the 1982 film is present and beats through this film like a foreboding advance of fate as other themes reoccur to recreate a sense of melancholy and loss. Zimmer is perfectly able to honour the original score, while placing his own signature, bombastic mark on the film.

The Result?

Blade Runner 2049 is not the film audiences have grown accustomed to watching. The pace occasionally puts the plot in the foreground and some story elements are introduced only to drift away to the land of potential sequels. It can easily be misunderstood because it requires consistent attention, a markedly different experience then the action movies we have grown accustomed to watching that feature little more than intervaled explosion scenes. But Villeneuve has managed to create a thoughtful piece of sci-fi, which surpasses the gravitational pull of its inspiration to become a vast improvement of Blade Runner.

TIFF Review: “Eye on Juliet” - Love in the Age of Drones

By: Urbi Khan

Letter Grade: B

While piloting his robotic spider from the United States, a hexapod operator and pipeline guardian (Joe Cole) becomes fascinated by a Middle Eastern woman (Lina El –Arabi, it’s the latest from the Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Kim Nguyen. – TIFF description

We have all come to know that Big Brother may always be watching. However, he observes us for our own good, apparently. This is the proposition that the Quebec filmmaker, Kim Nguyen sets for his latest film, Eye on Juliet.

The film, starring Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders, Green Room) and Lina El-Arabi, explores a drone-assisted love story that breaks down cultural barricades and long distances. Eye on Juliet is set in an utopian world where technology has the ability to influence love.

This well-meaning, romantic story that circumstantially brings together two people together is a disappointment. Mainly because the so-called 'roundness' of the geopolitical landscape in this tale is extremely flat as Gordon (Cole), the hexapod operator is shown to be in suburban Detroit whereas Ayusha (El-Arabi) is shown to be only located in a town in the North African desert, her exact location is not identified.

The representation of the two characters’ location is uneven. Compared to Nguyen’s Oscar-nominated film, War Witch (2012), this film lacks representation of the diverse nature of Africa as it is very generalized in this film.

Eye on Juliet opens with a landscape seen in night-vision accompanied by low-frequency music. This sets the mood for the film that you are going off into an unknown world.

We first find Gordon, a handsome all-American man, in a night-club, where he is in the middle of a bad break up. On the verge of a mental breakdown, Gordon gets thrown out of the club. He goes home, sits in a corner and contemplates in a disheveled and empty room. We are introduced into the world of a character who is emotionally distraught and displaced. This is not unknown territory for anyone; it’s a cliché. The only point of solace in Gordon’s life is when he stumbles upon Ayusha in the North African desert through his hexapod, where he is guarding oil pipelines for the company he is working for.  

Ayusha’s storyline presents an inventively stylized Romeo-Juliet melodrama as she meets in secret with her boyfriend near the pipelines. Gordon interjects himself into her life as he has lost his own love. The Juliet-like character of Ayusha is arranged to be married to an older man by her parents; Gordon tries to resolve this through his hexapod all the way from the United States.

Despite all the stereotypical story material about a ‘third-world’ damsel-in-distress, who is essentially rescued by a white, male saviour, this film does have its enduring qualities.

When Gordon comes into contact with Ayusha for the first time, he speaks Arabic in a computerized, pre-set voice which is programmed to be “soothing” in sound. I find this to be reminiscent of Spike Jonze’s tech love story Her (2013), as human and a robot interact in a humanly, empathetic way.

Eye on Juliet could easily have been political as it centres around an white, American male and an African-Muslim female, but it is not and that is uplifting for the audience. However, it seems that this story is only an attempt at romance and is not fully realized as Gordon only helps Ayusha because he is lovelorn himself.

Another enduring quality of the film is its ability to bring in some elements of humour to an otherwise dramatic plot. The film  includes a blind, old man who appears only once. He apparently “sees” the world with wisdom and tells Gordon - through the hexapod - the true nature of love. Understandably, this is a Shakespearean allusion, alluding to the film’s title.

When Gordon questions the self-proclaimed expert on life, how you can know when you really love a woman the old man replies, “First you must embrace her, close. Close enough that you can smell her neck, smell her scent. And if you become engulfed by it - kiss her! Then the talking will ensue between you two. And if you didn’t like kissing her, than all talk ceases. After that, you must simply walk away.”

To this advice, Gordon chuckles.

Eye on Juliet is well-produced. The desert terrain and soundtrack creates an atmospheric experience as the sounds make it an impressive journey for the audience. When viewing this film, the audience can hear every trickle of water, the winds of the desert and see in vivid colour the environment that surrounds the characters.

Essentially, one leaves with the sense that this film is about a lovelorn, privileged saviour who is detached from his environment, until he finds an exotic cause to care about. The damsel-in-distress, Ayusha, alleviates the troubles of his mundane existence. In the end of the 90 minutes, the hero finds love and the heroine simply just accepts his love. Finally, Eye on Juliet leaves the audience with this message: Big Brother sees all and he protects. He is the saviour.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39r8FF94Iro[/embed]

A Brief History of TIFF

by Daniel McIntosh

September in Toronto brings three things: back-to-school traffic, colder morning weather and the Toronto International Film Festival, the city’s annual celebration of film culture. Anyone who has ever heard of TIFF knows it’s a breeding ground for Oscar nominees, future cult classics and emerging directors, but it wasn’t always as accepted for its merits. Look back through TIFF’s origin story to find out how the plucky festival became an industry powerhouse.

TIFF began in 1976 as the brainchild of co-founders Bill Marshall and Henk van der Kolk. The two film producers shared a vision of Toronto as a film hub, detached from Hollywood and American studios that dominated the industry.

In conversation with the National Post, Van der Kolk described how the idea for the festival first came to them.

 “All Bill and I wanted to make was feature films. Making a feature was a bit of an uphill battle in this country: you didn’t make feature films, you went to see American feature films," Van der Kolk said. "We needed to get noticed. How the hell do we get the world to realize we’re here, and how do we get a Canadian film industry? That’s why it started, really."

The pair, along with mutual friend Dusty Cohle, founded Toronto’s Festival of Festivals, showing films that were well-received in international circuits, in an effort to bring attention to Canada’s film scene.

The festival faced setbacks in its first year, with several Hollywood studios withdrawing their submissions, believing Canadian audiences would be too conservative for their content.

“The first year, we had a panel where the American distributors all said they would come, and they lied to us. So I put up directors’ chairs with the names of all the studio heads on them and went up and down and told them what shitheels they were,” Marshall said.

Nonetheless, the inaugural festival opened to 35 000 people, showing 140 films from 30 countries.

By the 1980s, the festival had gained notoriety in the international film community. In 1981, Chariots of Fire won the festival’s People’s Choice Award, providing fanfare that would contribute to it winning the Best Picture Oscar. The festival expanded from a simple community showing to a veritable predictor for future award seasons.

Hollywood began to take notice, and, seeing the burgeoning popularity of the festival, rethought their stance on attending the event. In 1982, Robert DeNiro and Robert Duvall made appearances during a Martin Scorsese retrospective, beginning the long tradition of celebrity sightings that TIFF has become synonymous with, and marking the first major involvement of Hollywood stars in the festival’s programming.

In 1994, the name of the festival was changed to the TIFF we know and love.

Today, TIFF continues to expand its presence in Toronto and the film world, with the 2007 construction of the Bell Lightbox—a theatre, research centre and museum dedicated to film culture.

The Lightbox, located on the north corner of King and John streets, features two gallery spaces and offers screenings, lectures and workshops for budding filmmakers, viewers and fans.

The Lightbox also contains archives, a film lab centre and houses the Film Reference Library, which provides access to a comprehensive collection of film prints, scripts, periodicals and press kits surrounding the festival and film culture at large.

Despite its rocky beginnings, TIFF has become an integral part of Toronto’s culture and an esteemed event for cinema lovers all around the world. Now after its 40th anniversary, and with its own headquarters for year-round events, it shows no sign of slowing down.

TIFF Review: "The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches"

By Julianna Perkins

Grade: B

Quebec director Simon Lavoie returned to the Toronto International Film Festival this year with a perverse gothic drama sure to stir conversation among the film crowd.

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches, a French-language film subtitled in English, is Lavoie’s latest work, loosely adapted from Quebec author Gaétan Soucy’s French novel of the same name.

The film, which has a rating of 18A, centers on the disturbing life of the Soissons, a family of three living in almost absolute isolation in 1930's Quebec.

The father, played by Jean-François Casabonne, is a drunkard prone to Carrie-esque fits of religious fanaticism who oppresses the household with a ramshackle paranoia that pervades every aspect of life. His children, played by Antoine L’Écuyer and Marine Johnson, are conditioned to fear and distrust any element of the outside world and are taught that their father formed them from clay.

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches lands its contorted focus on the young female child, Alice (Johnson), documenting her twisted upbringing at the hands of abusers, watching as she is forced to cut her hair and bind her chest, addressed only as “Brother” and “Son.” We follow along as one perverted disaster after another warps her youth, underscoring the film with the sense that femininity must equal pain.

This is not an easy film, nor is it a remotely pleasant film.

And yet somehow you stay magnetically attracted to the screen, observing incest, rape, torture, abuse, deformity, suicide and count after count of violence with the understanding that the inclusion of these acts is not gratuitous. This isn’t a jump-scare horror movie; instead, it brings up everything that you know is wrong and makes you sit in, consider it, and explore it, to the point that you almost feel disturbed.

Lavoie, who described the film as a “poetic period drama,” admitted that The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches was cinematographically influenced by the works of Pier Pasolini and a 1960's Czech film titled Spalovač Mrtvol or The Cremator. He said he wanted to create a “no compromises” film that stayed true to the “radical” nature of the original book by Soucy.

Filmed in black and white and woven through with tortured eroticism, The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches is visually both beautiful and raw. The lack of major dialogue allows the silence in the theatre to feel oppressive, broken only by moments of intense and orgasmic operatic symphony.

“Overwhelming” is the most apt word to describe The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches. Visually and emotionally, to watch this film is to sit wide-eyed in a room full of strangers that collectively exhale once the credits roll. It is 111 minutes of palpable disgust.

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches is no one-off from Lavoie, whose previous film Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves, co-directed with Mathieu Denis, won Best Canadian Feature at last year’s TIFF festival, also earning a spot in the 2017 Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival.

The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches and its forceful acting worms its way into your memory in a way I feel few “scary” movies have had the power to do. Its intensity andconsistent use of close-ups will leave Johnson’s panicked eyes burned into your mind long after you step out of the theatre.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rcH8cJ-PGo[/embed]

TIFF Review: "Black Cop" - A Morality Play Wrapped in Satire

by Ben Cohen

A Black police officer (Ronnie Rowe Jr.) seeks revenge after being egregiously profiled and assaulted by his colleagues, in this searing political satire by actor-director Cory Bowles (Trailer Park Boys). -TIFF description

Grade: A

William Faulkner once said that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself. Cory Bowles, known for his role as Cory in Trailer Park Boys, has written and directed just that: a raucous, stylish, vivid drama centred around a pariah in communities both blue and black, the titular Black Cop, who epitomizes internal conflict by virtue of his role in society.

Black Cop excels not just as a powerful political statement, but also technically, as a genuinely well-woven piece of cinema. The soundtrack is evocative, puissant and fresh. The score makes ironic use of minstrel songs, features “black spiritual death metal” (as Bowles referred to it after the show) and tempestuous, lyrical hip hop. One jarring scene in particular thunders with excellent musical pairing, wherein cacophonous jazz batters our brains into a state of alarm, tuning us into the main character’s frantic emotional state.

The cinematography, though occasionally borrowing techniques from other films (Bronson, 2008, in particular during recurring, creatively lit fourth-wall breaking asides), is intelligent, inspired and raw. The audience is exposed to police brutality in the film in the same manner as we are in real life, as the camera shifts from dashcam to body camera to smartphone recording during these troubling scenes. Though Black Cop was shot in only 12 days, one would never hazard to guess that.

Ronnie Rowe Jr. delivers a magnetic performance as the Black Cop. “Every moment [Rowe was] on camera, he moved me,” said Bowles in his introduction to the film at the Tuesday night premier – a statement I nearly agree with. Though I admire the skill with which Rowe navigated the emotional depths and complexities of his character, I couldn’t help but feel that his delivery of some of the more humorous bits of dialogue warranted a few more takes.

Politically, Black Cop occupies a space so relevant and contentious and finishes – after quickly doing away with the first act’s faux-passivity – with such vibrant, furious and unapologetic moral certitude that it seems almost fated to exist, like the word of God blaring across a silver screen, commanding everyone in attendance to champion the importance of black lives and to acknowledge the undeniable systematic oppression they face. In the end, Black Cop is an allegory carved from the same marble as Everyman. The lesson is that, in these divided times, to ignore is to encourage, to deny aid is to abet and that racial profiling and police violence can’t just be wished away.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RiOirLKtQM[/embed]

Ryerson University Hosts Screenings To Analyze Memory In Film

The Screening Memory film series aims to explore the history of memory representation in film, said Hudson Moura, programmer of the film and debate series that ran through March at the Image Arts Centre at Ryerson University. The series was created in partnership with the Centre for Memory and Testimony Studies at Wilfred Laurier University in Toronto. The centre studies how memory and forgetting are represented in Canada and compares those findings to representation in art and culture.

“We tried to explore how film actually presents and shows memory through image and sound,” Moura said. “Cinema is a way to revise history.”

The films series at Ryerson is intended to be a lead up to the main conference and film series taking place in October at the University of Toronto called Americas Remember, Americas Forget. 

The series on March 24 presented two films, however, most of the attention during the subsequent debates was focused on the feature film, The Colour of Pomegranates. 

Written and directed by the late Sergei Parajanov, the Soviet/Armenian film depicted the life of the American poet Sayat-Nova.

Although the film proved too abstract for some in the crowd to follow, as they later admitted, a handful of people really grasped the messages the movie attempted to portray.

Teimuraz Keshelashvili, a PhD candidate and psychotherapist, said his Georgian background gave him a deeper understanding about the symbols and allegory Parajanov used throughout the film.

“He really showed us the suffering of the poet and the emotional dynamics of his biography. There are a lot of nuances, some of which are almost impossible to understand from a contemporary perspective, but I think it’s a great movie,” Keshelashvili said.

Film enthusiasts, like new media student Jay Zhuang, found the film compelling because of its unique mise en scene and camera techniques.

“I feel like it’s experimenting with the film language itself. The director perceives differently than most narrative films that we have seen,” Zhuang said. “I think the camera moved once during the film, but what’s so interesting that there is always motion within the frame.”

The Ukrainian, Georgian, and Armenian film director was highly scrutinized by the Soviet regime because his films did not fall under the accepted category of social realism, and he faced constant film bans, as well as imprisonment.

Shahram Tabe, research scientist at the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Iranian filmmaker and critic, concluded the night with a debate. Tabe explained how the film’s vagueness is symbolic of memory, specifically the interpreted memory of Sayat-Nova’s life through Parajanov’s eyes.

“It’s just like a flash of memory, something that you remember from your childhood but you don’t exactly know what it was or what it means,” Tabe said.

Tabe said that although the film is challenging and requires context, it is still beautiful and appealing to the audience.

“You have to let yourself drown in the pictures, light, imagery, and scenery,” Tabe said. “You can’t fight the film.”

This piece was edited by Luke Elisio, film editor of CanCulture. 

Movie-Goers Pay Tribute To Late Director, But Not Admission Fees

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te5MeQUX4kk[/embed] In honour of the late director Rob Stewart, Cineplex Odeon theatres across Canada screened his award-winning documentary Sharkwater on Feb. 25.

Rob Stewart passed away Feb. 3 during a deep dive off the coast of Key Largo, FL. He was 37 years-old. Stewart was a Toronto-born activist, biologist and documentary film-maker.

His 2006 documentary Sharkwater addresses the common misconceptions of sharks and casts a spotlight on the corruptive industry of shark fin fishing.

As a tribute to Stewart, theatres screened Sharkwater in exchange for donations to the World Widlife Fund  (WWF) Canada. Donations will help to continue the work Stewart was doing in the conservation and protection of sharks.

Pat Burnet, a retired social worker, came to the event after hearing about the death of the director and to support WWF. Burnet said the film was impactful and eye-opening.

“I said to myself, ‘is this who we’ve become?’ just thinking about all the horrible things today that we are doing to the planet. But it was also hopeful. I thought he did a brilliant job on the film and getting the message across. I was quite impressed,” said Burnet.

The death of the director has been a shock to many Canadians and Toronto locals in attendance.

Soumen Karmakar is an IT consultant involved in animal activism with various organizations. He heard about the event through Facebook.

“It’s very sad that he died. He brought a lot of publicity to the act of shark killing. It’s just sad because he was a local too. He did a lot for sharks and hopefully it doesn’t end there,” said Karmakar.

Stewart studied at the University of Western Ontario to earn his biology major. After his studies, he worked as an underwater photographer for a number of years before embarking on his journey to create the film, joining Paul Watson and the Sea Shepard Conservation Society. They worked together with governments to prevent the illegal long-line fishing of sharks in places such as the Galapagos Islands and Costa Rica.

President of the Peoples Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Kimberly Heys, was in attendance. PAWS is a charity dedicated to helping abandoned and abused animals.

“I met Rob years ago and supported all of his work including the fight for the Bala falls. I think (this event) is incredible and absolutely necessary,” said Heys.

A public funeral was held in Toronto for Stewart on Feb 18. to allow all who loved Stewart a chance to say their final farewells.

Prior to his death, Stewart was working on a sequel to Sharkwater called Sharkwater: Extinction. Currently production is paused, but the crew is still accepting donations on Indiegogo to help finish the documentary and carry on Stewart’s vision and legacy.

The work Stewart has done as an advocate for the conservation of sharks has set the stage for many documentaries to come. Even after his death, Stewart’s work continues to be an inspiration for many.

“It’s world changing,” said Heys, “not just life changing.”

This piece was edited by Luke Elisio, Film Editor of CanCulture.

Movie Review: Last Night

It is Dec. 31, 1999, and at 12 a.m. the world is going to end. Last Night is the ‘90s action movie, written and directed by Don McKellar who also plays the main role. He is trying to find an answer for the teasing question that most of us have probably asked ourselves: What would you do if you knew that this was your last night on earth?

The terrifying news was announced two months before the movie’s action starts, and we see in the first scene that everyone got used to it.

The film links together a group of different Canadians living in Toronto during the last few hours before a mysterious catastrophe. Various individuals distinctly react to the end of the world. Patrick (Don McKellar) wants to spend the final moments of his life alone at his apartment. Some people, like his sister and her fiancé choose to go downtown where people gather for a New Year’s Eve countdown, which is in fact, oddly, the end of the world. Others, live life to the fullest until, literally, the end.  

When you watch this kind of catastrophic movie with everyone being passive about the current situation, you expect someone to resist. Sandra (Sandra Oh), who does not want to let the world kill her, promised herself and her husband that they would take each other’s lives away before midnight. She tries to get across the city to her husband, who spends his last night at work, but crazy people damaged her car. She runs into Patrick who tries to help her get back home, unfortunately, without any success.  Chaos errupts in Toronto– everything is destroyed, cellphones do not work, streetcars are out of service and people get insane on streets.

Sandra and Patrick are stuck at his place alone. Since she cannot be with her husband, she asks him to shoot her before the world ends (as we later find out her husband was shot by a psycho from the street). The most touching scene is when these two strangers share with each other their secrets to ‘fall in love in each other’ and die with a beloved one.

In the last few seconds on the earth, they both hold guns to each other heads, which seem like a modern version of Romeo and Juliet. The camera is spinning around them for a good moment to build up tension. When their lives are about to end they suddenly drop the guns and start kissing each other.Unfortunately, we do not get to see what force destroyed the world.

Both Oh and McKellar performed with great acting skills throughout the whole movie. Oh’s facial expressions and body language clearly expressed her aching anxiety for the current situation. Yet, McKellar invisibly assimilated with his character’s despair and stoicism.

One of the biggest achievements of Last Night was when it won the Award of the Youth at Cannes Film Festival in the foreign film category.

Buffer Festival screens new YouTube documentary “Vlogumentary”

The 2016 Buffer Festival broke ground in Toronto last month by premiering Vlogumentary, a new documentary about the world of Internet vlogging.

Held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the fourth annual festival is the event of the year for aspiring filmmakers, creators and of course vloggers, who use YouTube as a platform to jumpstart their careers in the entertainment, beauty and gaming industries. For the creators in attendance, this is an opportunity to share their art with like-minded artists.

The documentary, directed by Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame, is undoubtedly intended for the young people growing up in the digital age. However, Spurlock insists that the film is capable of reaching another audience: Their parents, the ones who may be unable to grasp the concept of putting one’s life online for millions of people to view.

“As a hardcore fan, it’s the type of thing you show your parents. You show your friends who don’t get it, you show the people who make fun of you, you show the people who are like, ‘why does anyone watch this crap? What’s a YouTuber? That sounds dumb,’” says Corey Vidal, one of the co-founders of Buffer Festival.

Vlogumentary was first announced in 2013 and is the product of a joint collaboration between Vidal and fellow YouTube star Shay Carl Butler, both of whom are daily vloggers. Part of Spurlock’s inspiration in his direction for the film was showing that vloggers are ‘documenters’ and the struggle it takes to balance something that for these creators, is both a passion and a business.

“I feel like this movie is the greatest primer for you to give to everybody who asks what vlogging is, because it lets them suddenly understand that these people are great storytellers,” says Spurlock.

Mike Falzone, a vlogger and stand-up comedian who is one of the stars of Vlogumentary, was in awe of the validity of the project.

“When I first heard that they were doing a project like this, I was like, ‘it’s all starting to become a little more legit.’ People started to take it a little more serious or at the very least they’re making a movie about it now,” says Falzone.

YouTube stars have achieved varying degrees of mainstream success in the last year, one of the most notable examples being Miranda Sings landing her own Netflix series, Haters Back Off. However, the talented individuals responsible for the viral videos, tutorials and vlogs, realize that they have always been successful. Vlogumentary stands as a testament to the mark YouTubers have made on the entertainment industry.

“We knew the power of YouTube and the power of the YouTubers and it’s only now that traditional media is seeing it and recognizing it, hopefully not exploiting it and for us it’s like, ‘this is old news,’” says Vidal.

Vlogumentary is now available for streaming exclusively on YouTube Red.

Luke Elisio is the film editor of CanCulture.

Flashback Film: When Night is Falling

When Night is Falling is a Canadian romantic drama featured around the beauty of a same sex relationship between a deeply religious woman and a free-spirited circus performer.

The film takes us through Camille Baker’s (Pascal Bussières) heartbreak, loss and inner turmoil as she struggles to make sense of her fascination with Petra (Rachel Crawford), a girl from the other side of the tracks.

Directed by Patricia Rozema, the two women first meet when Baker is crying in a Laundromat after finding out her dog has died. Petra, is immediately intrigued by Baker and tries to comfort her.

In an attempt to see Baker again after their intimate yet brief encounter, Petra intentionally mixes up their laundry, drawing Baker to the outskirts of town to where she is living with the circus.

Their second encounter reveals Petra’s intentions for the mix up and her attraction towards Baker. Ultimately surprised by her forwardness, Baker flees from Petra`s trailer.

Wanting to apologize for her forwardness, Petra tracks Baker down at her house and the encounter leads to the two kissing for the first time. Baker is a college teacher at a highly religious institute and is in a long-term relationship with another professor is conflicted with her feelings for Petra. The film continues on with Baker's struggle to balance her beliefs and her growing desires for a woman.

When Night is Falling is a love story that proves love has no bounds. It is a perfect movie to watch while spending time with your significant other, it’s a film that reaffirms the bonds that tie one another together.  

This 1995 film has several sex scenes that captures the intimacy between two people and it maybe just the film to spark intimacy in your own love life this February.

Baker throughout this film, fights her attraction for a woman and in doing so sleeps with her male partner. The contrast between the love scenes with Petra, and Baker’s male lover illustrates the difference between sexual attraction and love.

Rozema does more than grasp the intimacy between lovers, she  also grasps the struggle that same-sex relationships face from their community; and the battle with accepting who you really are and coming out.

Not only that but the film challenges the views of those who are afraid of the unknown and how humanly imperfect love is, no matter the shape or form that it comes in.

Flashback Film: Meatballs

Meatballs, a 1979 Canadian comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman, is the film that started Bill Murray’s successful comedic career as a leading actor. This coming of age story centres around a summer camp, Camp North Star. It is about a group of  adolescents who are dropped off by their parents for the duration of the summer. Comedy genius, Bill Murray, plays the head counsellor, Tripper Harrison.

Harrison, leads a group of new counsellors in training, also known as CITs, for various age groups. Harrison throughout the film frequently enlists the help of the CITs in pranking the camp's director Morty Melnick (Harvey Atkin) as he sleeps. Thus, strapping him to his bed and placing him various areas of the camp during the night. Some places are a little more creative and difficult to execute with poor Morty waking up in his bed suspended up in the tree line or on the side of the road.

Meatballs, provides an entertaining and lively experience for the whole family. Also, it is the definition of a timeless piece that despite its aged date is still relevant to this day. It is an embodying film about what it's like to grow up and make new friends and fall in love. While exercising our own adolescent milestones and the free, adventurous spirit of a youthful soul.

Summer camp cannot be without a healthy dose of competition and in this case Camp North Star faces off against their much more wealthier opponent, Camp Mohawks, who are situated from just across the lake. Camp Mohawk participants pay on average of $1000 a day and has a cliche of better experiences and practices that rival those of a spa retreat. The Mohawks have subsequently beat Camp North Star 12 times in a row and appear to be well on their way to making it a13th time unless Camp Northstars band of flawed misfit CITs can come together successfully.

Faced with insurmountable odds, Harrison delivers a motivational chant that obliterates the fear of losing, because as Harrison puts it, “it doesn't matter whether we win or lose, because even if we win, all the pretty girls will still only go out with a Mohawk because of their money!” Once a loser always a loser, doesn't mean you can't do it with style. Needless to say with no other outcome but total failure, I guess it does take out the stress of winning.

This is the first film that Bill Murray appears as the starring role, and you can see from his performance that the actor we know and love today was just as goofy and hilariously outrageous as he was at the start of his career.

Meatballs made a grand total of approximately $43 million in the box office, which was nearly 29 times the amount of the films budget for production ($1.6 million).

Flashback Film: The Keeper

The Keeper a 1976 mystery film directed by T.Y. Drake, is garnered around a psychiatric asylum, Underwood. Its patients tend to be wealthy heirs and heiresses. The man in charge of Underwood is a greying cripple known as the Keeper (Christopher Lee). Lee is a famed and renowned actor known for playing popular bad guys such as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Count Dooku in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, and in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Just as in those big box office hits, Lee played his part as a “bad guy” so well that goose flesh is a common reaction to the sound of his voice.

However, despite being graced by the presence of “bad guy royalty,” the movie seemed to fall flat in all other aspects. In all honesty, the majority of the film comprised of repetitive scenes of flashing colourful lights, and the spinning white and black pattern normally associated with hypnotism. It was a visual effect used to help the audience understand that the characters on screen were being hypnotized, but it really hypnotized the audience into a state of perpetual boredom.

The method of hypnotherapy doesn’t quite fulfill those expectations of what we all have seen on TV to look like. The patients of Underwood Asylum were brought into a small white room with an electric door that had no handle with nothing inside but a chair. Instead, it came off as more of a weird torture mechanism, which includes the patients being placed onto a seat that is electrified. These scenes do formulate sympathy and an unsettling feelings, for the characters having their genitals zapped now and again as the camera films close ups of their squirming and pained facial expressions, while being asked a series of probing questions by Lee.  

To continue this low budget film’s descent into a burning pit of ‘nope’, the film's plot and characters  were badly set up and introduced right from the beginning. I admit I was confused for a third of the actual film, not knowing what exactly was happening. Normally, mysteries have audience members wanting to find out what happens next, with them sitting on the edge of their seats gleefully watching as it unfolds on the screen before them. However, the Keeper, was more effective in helping me perfect my list making skills, of all the things I would much rather have been doing than watching that movie.

The Keeper and the Underwood Asylum are being investigated by private investigator Richard Driver (Tell Schreiber), and the town’s police force because of a number of mysterious deaths surrounding the relatives of the patients who attended Underwood. When the reasoning behind all those mysterious deaths and the Keeper’s overall scheme is revealed, disappointment was inevitable. It turns out that the whole reason as to why he was hypnotizing these insanely rich people and causing the deaths of their relatives was so he could be “the richest and most powerful man in the world.”

History tends to repeat itself; the Keeper, like all mad geniuses, nearly met his own demise by the hands of the very device he created. The film ends (thankfully), on a small cliffhanger, with the audience wondering what exactly happens to the inspector as well as the keeper himself. The final scene is a weird close up of Christopher Lee’s face, with his black soulless eyes staring into yours through your screen.

This movie was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia on a budget of $135,000 and over the course of only 23 days. The film was never actually theatrically released but made its television premiere on December 19, 1985.