Despite being played by over 40 million players worldwide, the board game Go has yet to reach the same level of obsession in the West as in the East where it originated. Created in ancient China, and currently the oldest board game to be played in its original form, Go is known for its meditative […]
Tag Archives: Festival
June
08
CSFF 2017: Olympic Pride, American Prejudice
posted by Courtney Small
The 1936 Olympics in Berlin will always be remembered for Jesse Owens’ four gold medal performance which was viewed as a triumphant defiance to Hitler and his ideology on race. Though he captured much of the media’s attention, Owen was not the only African-American to make waves at the games. In her latest documentary Olympic […]
June
07
CSFF 2017: Crossing The Line
posted by Jay
Danny Lee Harris, 1984: an American track and field athlete who ran the 400-meter hurdles and won silver medals at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He was the guy who always finished behind Edwin Moses, a track and field phenom, known as the guy who never loses – and he never did; he had […]
June
07
CSFF 2017: Hillsborough
posted by Derek Jacobs
The worst sports disaster in the history of England occurred on April 15th, 1989 in Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield during a semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. During the match, overcrowding in a pen lead to an alarming number of deaths. Daniel Gordon’s documentary Hillsborough recounts the story of this disaster, its causes, and […]
June
06
CSFF 2017: Keepers of the Game
posted by Jay
High school funding for sports, and girls’ sports in particular, is on the decline, but fundraising isn’t the only issue for the members of the Salmon River High team. As the first all-Native girls’ lacrosse team in their section, they’ve got something to prove, and not just to their rivals, but to their own community […]
June
06
CSFF 2017: The Boy Who Learned to Fly
posted by Courtney Small
Usain Bolt’s athletic ability and undeniable charm has made him one of the most popular Olympic athletes in recent years. While he exudes confidence on the track, Limbert Fabian and Jake Wyatt’s animated short The Boy Who Learned to Fly shows that this was not always the case. Commissioned by Gatorade, working in conjunction with […]
May
28
Inside Out 2017: Picture This
posted by Courtney Small
Andrew Gurza and Stella Palikarova may be in wheelchairs, but they refuse to be confined. The brains behind Deliciously Disabled, a company designed to breakdown the traditional stereotypes of disability in pop culture, the pair gained international attention when they decided to throw the world’s first sex-positive party for people with disabilities. Though their intent […]
May
28
Inside Out 2017: I Like Girls
posted by Courtney Small
Diane Obomsawin’s delightful short film I Like Girls finds four women sharing their experiences around when they first discovered that, as the title suggests, they liked girls. Ranging from funny to sad to whimsical, and conveyed through colourful animation, the tales offer an intimate portrait of key moments in each woman’s life. Whether it is […]
May
26
Inside Out 207: Hold Me Like Before (Abrazame Como Antes)
posted by Courtney Small
Verónica (Jimena Franco) and Greta (Natalia Porras) are transgendered sex workers and roommates living in Costa Rica. Spending their evenings working on street corners and hanging out in clubs, their peaceful existence is disturbed by the presence of Tato (Camilo Regueyra). Tato is a homeless teenager who they literally run into, when the car they […]
May
25
Inside Out 2017: The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
posted by Courtney Small
Listening to Armistead Maupin recount prominent moments in his life, it quickly becomes clear that he is a natural storyteller. Achieving fame for his celebrated column Tales of the City in the San Francisco Chronicle, Maupin has been a key documentarian of life in San Francisco and the changing face of America’s political climate for […]
May
25
Inside Out 2017: A Date for Mad Mary
posted by Derek Jacobs
Darren Thornton’s A Date for Mad Mary is a charming coming-of-age romance featuring incredible performances, unpredictable plot turns, and immense directorial skill. Thornton co-wrote the film with his brother Colin, based off of a play written by Yamine Akram that Darren also directed. A Date for Mad Mary appears to be your standard young adult […]
May
24
Inside Out 2017: Bad Girl
posted by Jay
Amy (Sara West) is a teenager, a “bad girl” who’s just returned home after some shadowy shenanigans to her adoptive parents who are willing to give her “one last chance.” They’re pretty sure she’s going to hate the new home they’ve bought in rural Australia and they’re right; she’s out the door and doing a […]
May
24
Inside Out 2017: Signature Move
posted by Jay
Zaynab is a Pakistani-American immigration lawyer who is: a) learning wrestling moves from a former pro wrestler who went by the name Jolt; and b) keeping a new relationship with Alma secret from her conservative Muslim mother who doesn’t know she’s gay. “Mothers and daughters aren’t friends in our culture,” Zaynab tells Alma. “That’s a […]
May
24
Inside Out 2017: Mansfield 66/67
posted by Derek Jacobs
The documentary Mansfield 66/67 trades in the same camp as its iconic subject: “Blonde Bombshell” Jayne Mansfield. The film focuses on the last two years of the starlet’s life, reveling in the rumors that swirled and the legends that the papers saw fit to print. The film is built from celebrity interviews, discussions with cultural […]
May
23
Inside Out 2017: Free Cece
posted by Courtney Small
On one horrific night in June 2011, Cece McDonald was violently attacked while walking with her friends. Attempting to defend herself, Cece, a transgendered woman, accidentally stabbed one of her attackers. Her incarceration sparked an international outcry as it once again highlighted the injustice that the transgender community endure when it comes to the criminal […]
May
23
Inside Out 2017: Sebastian
posted by Jay
James Fanizza writes, directs and stars in Sebastian but does not in fact play him. He plays Alex, the guy who meets Sebastian (Alex House) and initiates a fling – this despite that he has a boyfriend, a boyfriend who just happens to be Sebastian’s cousin. They both agree to feel bad about what they’re […]
May
23
Inside Out 2017: Handsome Devil
posted by Derek Jacobs
Writer-director John Butler’s Handsome Devil favorably compares to other boarding school coming-of-age dramas like School Ties and Dead Poet’s Society. Butler’s film packs more irreverence than those films, and has a kind of tongue-in-cheek sensibility, but a lot of the elements are the same. Much of the drama is focuses on a pair of roommates, […]
May
17
TJFF 2017: Mandala Beats, Harmonia
posted by Courtney Small
After another successful year, the 25th Toronto Jewish Film Festival wrapped up this past weekend. Over at In the Seats, I took a look at two films that played the festival: Harmonia and Mandala Beats . I have included the TJFF synopsis of both films and links to my reviews below: Mandala Beats TJFF synopsis: […]
May
02
Hot Docs 2017: Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower
posted by Courtney Small
To say Joshua Wong is a remarkable individual would be an understatement. Already gracing the cover of Time magazine, as “the face of protest,” at age 18, he displayed a gift from a young age for sorting through complex issues and finding concrete solutions. Wong is living proof that a clear message and resilience can […]
May
02
Hot Docs 2017: Integral Man
posted by Derek Jacobs
Writer-director Joseph Clement’s subject for Integral Man is the modern renaissance man Jim Stewart. Stewart is a brilliant concert-level violinist with a contagious passion for music, but he is also an accomplished teacher of mathematics. Spurred on by some students who told him that his notes on the chalkboard were clearer than the textbook they […]
