Returning with my In The City series with a personally curated list of various arts and culture offerings across Toronto.
As always, you will notice some favourite venues. I am sharing a mix of music, film and exhibitions that should appeal to many of you.
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival returns this year with 113 documentaries representing 47 countries across 11 diverse programs and will feature 35 world, 14 international, and 26 North American premieres.
As it has become my custom, I have sharing some of my personal picks for you to add to your Hot Docs lists.
On April 16, Canadians will unite in a massive, celebratory, elbows up explosion of Canadian film, as part of the world’s biggest film festival and Canada’s largest cultural celebration.
Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban returns with PÁRVULOS, a blend of dystopian horror and emotional introspection. Set in a forested post-apocalyptic world, the film follows three young brothers – Salvador (Felix Farid Escalante), Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes) and Benjamin (Mateo Ortega) – living alone in a remote cabin, guarding a dark secret in their basement.
Canadian Film Fest (CFF), the indie-spirited festival dedicated to celebrating Canadian filmmakers, today announced its lineup for the 2025 edition of the festival. Celebrating its 19th year, CFF continues to champion and support our country’s creatives and homegrown talent, bringing Canadian stories to Canadian audiences.
Costume design is more than just dressing actors; it is an intricate art of storytelling, world-building, and character development. Few understand this better than Anne Dixon, a designer whose work spans film, television, opera, dance, and theatre. With a career that has brought countless characters to life across multiple genres and time periods, Dixon’s designs have been seen internationally, from feature films to acclaimed television series.
As VP, Music Supervision & Library at Raedio, Sarah Bromberg handles music supervision for a myriad of film and television projects in addition to pitching a growing in-house library. Her career encompasses experience as not only a music supervisor, but also as a label manager and professor in between working on high-profile movies and series such as Starz’ P-Valley, Netflix’s film Someone Great, HBO’s Rap Sh!t more.
Simon TaufiQue is a British Indian, Emmy-nominated and multiple award-winning composer and producer, known for the HBO/Max award-winner, Land of Gold, the Emmy-nominated documentary, The Interpreters, The Weight of Gold (HBO), and Berlinale-winner, She’s Lost Control, and recent Sundance award-winning selection, Ricky.
T. (Todd) Griffin, is a Sundance festival mainstay with 16 consecutive years at Sundance, returns with two projects: MIDDLETOWN, a documentary with a nostalgic score reflecting the early 1990s, and FOLKTALES, a haunting, atmospheric soundtrack for a Norwegian coming-of-age film.
Over the past three decades, KUUMBA has become one the most highly anticipated events to celebrate the creativity and artistic expression of Toronto’s Black diaspora through the multidisciplinary fields of music, theatre, dance, spoken word and more.
