Ithaka chronicles the campaign to free WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as his father John Shipton and fiancée Stella Morris remind audiences of the implications for the free press at stake in their fight.
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Review: ‘My War’
My War (Canada, 98 min.) Dir. Julien Fréchette Programme: Canadian Spectrum (World Premiere) Does the fog of war also cloud over a war documentary? That seems to be the case with My War, Julien Fréchette’s jumbled, uninsightful documentary about Western volunteers who signed up to fight ISIS in the Syrian conflict. The film opens with the funeral service for William Savage, a 27-year-old American who died in Syria fighting alongside Kurdish forces against the Islamic State in Syria. It bounces to a group of Kurdish soldiers in the field in Syria, arguing whether killing is a religious obligation or
Review: ‘Behind the Curve’
Behind the Curve (USA, 96 minutes) Dir: Daniel J. Clark Programme: Special Presentations. (World Premiere) In Behind the Curve, director Daniel Clark could have gone for savage mockery in the depiction of people who believe that planet earth is not a “spinning ball flying through space.” Instead, Clark’s amiable doc is affectionate toward its characters, who have devoted their lives to the proposition that the world is flat, sometimes conducting elaborate experiments to prove it. Clark’s tone, enhanced by witty animation, recalls Jonathan Demme’s humane approach to American nuttiness as he presents us with a gallery of West Coast
Review: ‘Don’t Be Nice’
on’t Be Nice (USA, 96 min.) Dir. Max Powers Programme: Artscapes (North American Premiere) Filmmakers, programmers, and critics often credit documentary subjects for speaking truth to power. This turn of phrase describes a person who stands up and says what’s right in defiance of the establishment. The subjects of Don’t Be Nice don’t just speak truth to power—they slam it. Slamming truth to power is far more effective, emotional, and empowering. This invigorating film by Max Powers profiles the members of Brooklyn’s Bowery slam poetry team as the group vies in the national competition. The team features five members—Ashley,
Review: ‘The Silver Branch’
The Silver Branch Ireland, 75 Minutes Dir. Katrina Costello. Programme: International Spectrum (International Premiere) Patrick McCormack is an Irish farmer and poet who lives in an area in the west of Ireland called the Burren (from the Irish word “boíreann” meaning “rocky place”), a famously picturesque area of lunar-like limestone landscapes, which includes a natural park that has Iron Age and pre-historic sites. If McCormack were a rapper, you’d say he had great flow: The rhythm of his sentences matches the editing of Katrina Costello’s lush natural images, while dreamy music is supply interwoven. The film, The Silver Branch,
Review: ‘Eternity Never Surrendered’
Eternity Never Surrendered (Mexico, 93 min.) Dir. Daniela Rea Gómez Programme: Made in Mexico (International Premiere) This review means no disrespect to the dead, but spare yourself 73 minutes of intolerable pain and skip this documentary. Eternity Never Surrendered, which inexplicably took the #1 spot in the Hot Docs Audience Award rankings on the fourth day of the festival, is a tedious exercise in pain and misery. The doc has its heart in the right place, but it’s one of several examples at the fest this year for the argument that subject matter alone cannot carry a film. This
Review: ‘Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground’
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground_ (USA, 78 min) Dir. Chuck Smith Programme: Nightvisions (World Premiere) “Meet the woman who introduced Andy Warhol to The Velvet Underground! Beloved by Ginsberg, Dylan and Mekas! Her only film —_Christmas On Earth_ — is the wildest ride this side of Flaming Creatures! It’s Barbara Rubin!” That’s the gist of If you’re into that scene, the film’s trove of archival footage and anecdotage, rehashing familiar stories while inserting the suggestive, shadowy figure of Rubin, is like candy. Barbara Rubin—artist, muse, scenester, creature of passions—is certainly a worthy subject. And the ’60s New
Review: ‘Women of the Venezuelan Chaos’
Women of the Venezuelan Chaos France, 83 Minutes Dir. Margarita Cadenas. Programme: Silence Breakers (North American Premiere) A centrepiece of five mothers in the midst of the current Venezuelan socio-economic catastrophe, Women of the Venezuelan Chaos was directed by French-based Caracas-born filmmaker Margarita Cadenas and funded through an American non-profit founded by a Venezuelan émigré. Political pundits on the left and right may debate in op-ed pages whether Venezuela’s socio-economic collapse is the fault of a blinkered socialist ideology or an economic war waged by the anti-democratic opposition and international allies, but Cadenas’ film, from the ground’s eye perspective, has
Review: ‘Our New President’
Our New President (USA, 77 min.) Dir: Maxim Pozdorovkin Programme: Special Presentations .(Canadian Premiere) With its relentless montages of 21st century Russian propaganda, Our New President plays like a fever dream of how the Kremlin hyped its take on the 2016 American presidential election. According to the doc, a barrage of “fake news” won over Russians and in the USA, influenced the result. The mocking title “Our New President” implies that Russians, swayed by the propaganda, elected Trump. The movie focuses on RT (Russia Today), the government run news channel, which has built huge viewership at home and internationally.
Review: ‘The Beksinskis: A Sound and Picture Album’
Stopping short of offering any insight extrinsic to the Beksinskis’ own, the film ends up the exact kind of dark joke they understood their existence to be.
Review: ‘Exit Music’
Exit Music (USA, 75 min.) Dir. Cameron Mullenneaux International Spectrum (World Premiere) A young man has to help lead his family accept that he is ready to die in the simple, but sensitive Exit Music, which addresses the end of life as a collective experience. Given a last-minute change from its more flippant original title,_ How Do You Feel About Dying?_, this debut documentary from Cameron Mullenneaux mixes almost three decades worth of home video footage with material shot by the filmmaker as she became involved with the Rice family—parents Ed and Edith and older brother, Devlin—in the last