Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival has announced that it will offer students currently enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution and seniors over 60 years-of-age a selection of films to watch for free during this year’s online festival, available to stream nationwide.
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The Queen of DIY in film, Ingrid Veninger, has made another wonderfully touching film, WISH. The film is an intimate portrait of a mother, daughter and father during the first lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Director, art director, animator, and script writer of animated films Bára Anna Stejskalová has a specialization on stop-motion animated films.
In her latest film Love Is Just a Death Away (Jsme si o smrt blíž), love comes to worms in an animated short from the Czech Republic. Brutal and dark, yet whimsical amid the dystopia of its setting. I was truly captivated by this charming story about finding love even amid utter decay.
Stejskalová was gracious enough to take part in my 5 Questions With… series after the film’s premiere at SXSW.
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Andrew Chung‘s first feature, White Elephant, offers a fresh perspective based on many 1990s high school rom-coms.
Set in 1996, in a majority-minority neighbourhood in Scarborough, 16-year-old Pooja (Zaarin Bushra) finds herself torn between her crush on Trevor, a white boy (Jesse Nasmith), and her friends Manpreet (Gurleen Singh) and Amit (Dulmika Hapuarachchi).
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Crisis is the latest crime thriller film written, produced and directed by Nicholas Jarecki. The film aims to present an overview of the opioid epidemic that countries like the US and Canada are currently experiencing.
Jarecki aims to present the complexity of the epidemic by including all involved and affected by it, from the substance user, their loved ones, the police fighting the ‘war on drugs”, those who sell and profit from the sale of these substances, and the large corporations that manufacture and distribute the substances while ignoring conflicting scientific evidence to their addictive properties.
Artist Kelly McCormack drew heavily from her own experiences as an actor and writer when she wrote Sugar Daddy, which is an intimate and honest look into the life of a young female artist named Darren.
McCormack wrote this film as a “love letter to the dark ages of my early twenties and the last stand of my “girlhood”, when things were less clear and the power I wanted I was giving away to men to get by.”
The Pendance Film Fesitval’s returns this year with its virtual edition. This year’s programming includes feature and short films including some festival award winner. Pendance is also presenting panels and workshops available to aspiring and established filmmakers.
Below I share my list of recommendations of films and panels for you to partake at this year’s festival.
As a genre filmmaker, Elle Callahan uses her art to call attention to the world around her. Her latest feature film, Witch Hunt, is a reflection on witchcraft, magic and a smart commentary on the state of today’s world.
Synopsis: In a modern America where witches are real and witchcraft is illegal, a sheltered teenager must face her own demons and prejudices as she helps two young witches avoid law enforcement and cross the southern border to asylum in Mexico.
Mickey Keating is no stranger to the SXSW Film Festival nor to many genre fans. He returns to the festival circuit this year with his latest feature, Offseason.
Synopsis: After receiving a mysterious letter, a woman travels to a desolate island town and soon becomes trapped in a nightmare.
The Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival (TOsketchfest) returns March 24 – 28, 2021 with TOsketchfest21 – Screen Time Edition, an online sketch comedy festival with over 100 titles from around the world. The five-day online comedy festival will celebrate the vast creativity of sketch comedians in the COVID era with comedy shorts by powerhouse rising stars and Canadian comedy legends both behind and in front of the camera.
TOsketchfest21 – Screen Time Edition will include 15 online shorts programmes and live stream events, post show “lobby parties”, the Learning and Fun Professional Development Program and more.
