The Mind Reels at TIFF 40

Sue and I were lucky enough to be invited to the TIFF press conference for this year’s look at the Canadian films being showcased in the festival’s 40th year! It looks to be an amazing season, and we got to meet and chat with some amazing people, as well as catch up with some friends,…

Toronto Youth Shorts 2015

  One of the things I love most about Toronto is that it is rife with Film Festivals, there is always so much creativity and excitement to this town, and filmmakers from all over come to shoot here, and showcase their creations. Well, here’s another cool one to check out! Celebrating it’s 7th year, the…

Niagara Filmalicious – Little Big Master (2015) – Adrian Kwan

  My Filmalicious screening at the Niagara Integrated Film Festival, which took place at the gorgeous Peller Estates Winery (and allowed me to sample their smooth and delicious 2013 Baco Noir (which may in fact be my new favorite red)), was this entertaining film from Hong Kong. Based on a true story, the movie follows…

Niagara Integrated Film Festival 2015

  Against the backdrop of wine country with the dull thrum of the falls imaginable at the farthest edge of earshot, members of the film and wine industry gather to make connections, share experiences and celebrate the finer things in life – film and a good vino. And I was fortunate enough to be invited…

Hot Docs 2015: The Visit – Dr. Michael Madsen

If alien life landed on our doorstep, would we be ready? Would we know how to handle it? Are there procedures in place? The simulated experience of an alien’s (the audience) arrival on Earth is put up onto the screen by Madsen, as he puts the United Nations in the spotlight, as the only body in the…

Hot Docs 2015: Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi – Neal Broffman

Screening today at the ROM theatre at 7:00pm is this amazing, important, and emotionally involving film that introduces us to the Tripathi family. In the early months of 2013, their youngest son, Sunil, a Brown University student left his home in Providence one night, and disappeared. The family was distraught, but organized, and welcoming the help of friends and volunteers…

Hot Docs 2015: The Nightmare – Rodney Ascher

Eschewing objectivity, or any real investigation into the phenomena and instead focussing on sharing the experience, The Nightmare is quite possibly the first true horror documentary. Director Rodney Ascher sits down and chats with 8 people, Jeff, Ana, Kate, Korinne, Stephen, Chris, Connie and Forrest, people who suffer from the terrifying phenomena of sleep paralysis. I’ve been…

Hot Docs – The Messenger – Su Rynard

The Messenger is a beautiful, thought-provoking film which takes a look at the rapidly-depleting global population of songbirds, and what that likely means not only to the planet, but to our survival as a species, as well. Director Su Rynard deftly takes us all over the world, speaking with various birders and ornithologists about bird…

Hot Docs 2015: Possessed by Djinn – Dalia Al Kury 

  Hot Docs is well underway, and today, I got a look at this intriguing offering, Possessed by Djinn, which screens at the ROM Theatre today at 6:00. Director Al Kury takes us inside the dark superstitious corners of the Islamic faith, that no one seems to talk about, but innumerable people believe. One could…