Meeting the Beatles in India (Canada, 82 min.) Dir. Paul Saltzman Paul Saltzman grew up during a magical time, the Sixties, when the civil rights movement and the music of rock stars like The Beatles and Bob Dylan exemplified the insurrectionary attitudes of the baby boomers, who were ready to take on the world. Saltzman
Being that Palestine is under occupation by the disreputable settler-colonial state of Israel, protecting and limelighting the multifaceted dimensions of Palestinian culture in its own land as well as across the international diaspora, one must recognise that one tactic of occupation is erasure.
Coral Ghosts (Canada, 90 Min.) Dir. Andrew Nisker Climate change is damaging the globe at an alarming rate. One just needs to observe the rapidly deteriorating coral reefs in the oceans for an example of this threat. As Andrew Nisker’s Coral Ghosts notes, coral reefs build the foundation for marine life. When they die, so do the eco-systems
Last and First Men (Iceland, 71 min.) Dir. Jóhann Jóhannsson A highlight in the great world of parody Twitter accounts is the now tragically defunct handle @NotTildaSwinton. This take on the eccentric Oscar-winning actress perfectly embodies the thespian’s signature brand of cool strangeness. @NotTildaSwinton’s tweets are poetic ramblings about wigs made of yak wool or affectionate
Company Town (Canada, 2020) Dir. Peter Findlay Less than two years ago, in late November 2018, General Motors announced the closing of their automotive plant in Oshawa, ending a century-long commitment to Canadian workers and the company town that sprang up after the establishment of the auto factory. Canadians responded with anger and consternation to
There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace (Canada, 75 min.) Dir. Lulu Wei When I first tried moving to Toronto, I enjoyed an extended temporary stay on my twin brother’s couch. He lived on Markham Street, just steps from Mirvish Village. The first time we celebrated our birthday with friends in the city, it was
Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack (USA, 75 min.) Dir. Deborah Schaffer and Rachel Reichman Deborah Schaffer and Rachel Reichman’s Queen of Hearts: Audrey Flack offers audiences a retrospective look at the career of the eighty-eight year old American artist, most known as an early photorealist painter of the 1960-70s. This is a documentary portrait of a metamorphosing
Epicentro (Austria/France, 109 min.) Dir. Hubert Sauper “Cinema is witchcraft,” says one participant in Epicentro. The latest doc from Hubert Sauper (Darwin’s Nightmare, We Come as Friends), Epicentro confronts the power of images—how they lie, how they shape history, and, most significantly, how they cast spells over viewers’ minds. If cinema is indeed witchcraft, then Sauper wears his pointy
John Ware Reclaimed is an engaging and insightful film that brings Ware’s legacy to the forefront—where it should have been in the first place.
Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue (China, 112 min.) Dir. Jia Zhang-ke Faces are the recurring interest of Jia Zhang-ke’s Swimming Out Till The Sea Turns Blue, the director’s third film in a “trilogy” of arts based documentaries that began with Dong (2006) and Useless (2007). The reminiscing, reciting, emoting, boring, or thinking face becomes a site of great