The weight of Canada’s sesquicentennial is being felt across a range of cultural manifestations and CONTACT, Toronto’s month-long photo festival, is no exception. The 20 primary exhibitions and 17 public installations all spotlight Canadian artists, as well as most of the 40 featured shows. “We did think about the anniversary when we were putting together
Human Flow (Germany, 140 min.) Dir. Ai Weiwei “The more immune you are to people’s suffering,” says Princess Dana Firas of Jordan in Human Flow, “that’s very dangerous. “It’s critical for us to maintain this humanity.” Firas speaks with filmmaker and artist Ai Weiwei for his exceptional documentary Human Flow. The film calls attention
Bowhead Whale Hunting with My Ancestors (Canada, 40 min.) Dir. Zacharias Kunuk, Carol Kunnuk Zacharias Kunuk took audiences on a riveting hunt in the Arctic with 2001’s Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Deemed the best Canadian film ever made in a 2015 poll conducted by the Toronto International Film Festival, Atanarjuat endures as a landmark
Holy Angels (Canada, 14 min.) Dir. Jay Cardinal Villeneuve Number 34. That is the name that Lena Wandering Spirit recalls receiving upon arriving at Holy Angels Residential School. Not an Anglicized name or a colonial name, but a number. A cold two-digit label that defined her in the eyes of her teachers, like something
Globalization and Its Discontents is Knowledge Network's 10-week programme of documentaries from Canada and around the world.
Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing discuss One of Us, an urgent docu-thriller about individuals facing the life-altering decision to leave their conservative Hasidic community.
West of the Jordan River (Israel/France, 88 min.) Dir. Amos Gitai In 1982, a renowned Israeli director Amos Gitai visited the occupied territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to film Field Diary, a documentary that chronicles the region’s escalating tensions. At the time, Gitai and his crew were deeply concerned about
Bosch: The Garden of Dreams (El Bosco, el jardín de los sueños) (Spain/France, 90 min.) Dir. José Luis López-Linares Earlier this year, Alexandre Philippe devoted an entire feature documentary to analysing a single sequence in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Critics called Philippe’s 78/52 the biggest film geek movie ever made for unpacking all 78 set-ups
Last week, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, unveiled her long-awaited cultural industries policy titled Creative Canada. While there are some good bits in the announcement, such as top up money for the publicly administered Canada Media Fund, it fell short of the coherent strategy that was anticipated. Unfortunately, there are some very troubling parts to
School Life (Ireland, 99 min.) Dir. Neasa Ní Chianáin, David Rane It’s fall and the kids are back to school. For John and Amanda Leyden, the season brings about their 46th year at Headfort, an Irish boarding school for primary-aged students. Set in Headfort’s grand 18th century estate surrounded by sprawling lush woods and