Canada

The creative team of We Stand on Guard does a stellar job of introducing a premise that seems like it could be yet another false poke at Canada as a joke but it appears that the great white north is being approached with careful consideration. The Canadian easter eggs are abound with Tim Hortons and the CBC but there are some great sensible additions such as the French speaking character named Les LePage and even having a member of the freedom fighters question Amber when they first meet to validate her identity in the form of a hockey question. It just makes sense that a fellow Canadian would ask another who won the Stanley Cup in 2011 to make sure they are who they say they are. All in all, We Stand on Guard has a very promising start that can really dive deeper into the political conflict.

The Highway of Tears refers to a section of Highway 16 in British Columbia where 18 official and at least 40 unconfirmed women have gone missing or been found murdered. The majority of them have been indigenous women, and the area itself reflects a dark history of abuses and systematic racism. It is 724 km stretch of road with countless gravel roads in different states of disrepair shooting off of it like small tributaries. Without a car this area is treacherous, and few of the towns along the huge stretch of country have doctors, schools or opportunities for employment. There is barely any transit for those without cars (and with high levels of poverty, many don’t have them), leading many to resort to hitchhiking.

There is such a thing as “pre-critic” movies. These are the films that had a major psychic impact on a writer or thinker way before they have even considered (or even imagined) the possibility of having cinematic sensibilities or intellectual engagement with movies as art-objects. These movies tend to be pop culture touchstones; movies like the first Star Wars film or Ghostbusters or Pulp Fiction are common ones in part because of their ubiquity. But as with all generalizations, there are always outliers and oddities. One of my pre-critic movies, which I saw as a young man of fifteen on Canadian cable on a sunny Saturday afternoon, was Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 sci-fi horror film Cube. To this day, it remains one of my very favourite films, a scrappy little piece of government-funded genre weirdness that gets by on crack direction, weird acting choices, and spectacular sound design.

Le Chat Dans Le Sac Written and Directed by Gilles Grouix Canada, 1964 A movie that is difficult to find but well worth the effort, Le Chat Dans Le Sac captivates moviegoers through its hand held camera usage, John Coltrane soundtrack, twenty-something characters struggling with the world around them. You don’t have to be familiar …

The dark unforgiving waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the mouth of the St. Lawrence river provide the backdrop to Les Loups, a beautifully crafted melodrama. Set in a small island Quebec town during the spring thaw, a stranger arrives during the height of the controversial seal hunts. Vibrant and mysterious, many suspect that Elie, the young woman from Montreal, is not who she says and is likely a reporter or an activist bent on portraying the townsfolk in a bad light.

Heartbeat Written and directed by Andrea Dorfman Canada, 2014 The struggle to find oneself is painfully real. Such pilgrimages of discovery are made more difficult by uncertainty, anxiety, imposing friends, and lingering exes. You can find yourself stuck in a habit that isn’t quite unbearable, that teeters so near comfortable complacence that you don’t realize …

While Festival du Nouveau Cinema is not known for showcasing a large number of world premieres, the Focus section is always the exception. Taking a look at Quebec and Canadian features, films large and small are allowed space to find an audience. The section consistently features a large number of adventurous first time filmmakers, making …

When looking at horror films, there’s something about Canadian horror that helps it stand out and apart from its American counterpart. While most of the blockbusters out today depend on cheap thrills and scares alone, Canadian horror aims to make you think while trying to scare the pants off you. Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral (2012) is one such film that doesn’t try to scare you by having monsters jump out at you at every turn, but lets the audience’s imagination do all the work.

Montreal actor, writer and director Xavier Dolan’s fifth film Mommy is without a doubt one of the best of the year. Although thematically similar to his 2009 debut J’ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother), which won three separate awards at Cannes that year, Mommy follows the mother’s perspective of the relationship instead of that of the son’s. It is interesting, despite their many parallels, how very different the two films actually are. With Mommy, Dolan not only seems more assured of himself as a filmmaker but appears to have developed into quite an auteur as well. Creating a film so close in theme to his first can be seen as somewhat of a gamble, for many individuals might fear the film to be repetitious, a carbon copy, yet here is where Dolan demonstrates his disturbingly instinctual talent. Because he revisits the mother-son leitmotif in his works, he is strengthening both his storytelling as well as his understanding of the unique relationship. In the five years since his introductory film, he has grown from adolescent to adult, resulting in a shift from youthful intuition to a certain maturity on the subject. The result is downright brilliant.

Kevin Smith’s early work, guerilla-style films about disenfranchised geeks and losers, helped gain him a strong and dedicated audience. While many of his most dedicated fans seem to find the best in even his weakest films, Smith has never found the same success in critical circles. The negative critiques of his films has only been exasperated by Smith himself, who seems to struggle with dissenting takes on his work, leading him to withdraw into podcasting. Though this was not a strategic choice on Smith’s part, it seemed to pay off as his audience only grew and he is now among the most influential people in the ‘Twittersphere’. This allowed Smith to distribute his 2011 film Red State himself. He described the entire process as “Indie Film 2.0.”; it was no longer about just making the film yourself but distributing it as well.

The 42nd Edition of Montreal’s Festival du Nouveau Cinema is just days away and the weight of an incredibly diverse and exciting program can intimidate even the most weathered cineaste. Combining the very best of big name and upcoming filmmakers, the festival has built its reputation on giving attention to groundbreaking and avant-garde cinema. Though sometimes …

Antisocial is the feature length debut for directing and writing team Cody Calahan and Chad Archibald. In spite of their youthful appearances, they are not new to the Canadian film industry or Fantasia, having produced over ten short and feature length films – including Fantasia fan favourite Monster Brawl which screened at the fest in …

5) Julian Lynch “Northline” Directed by Richard Law First this week is a video for all you dog lovers out there, think Houses’ “Beginnings” but with dogs. 4) Hodgy Beats “Alone” Directed by Ian Flanagan & Hodgy Beats Another Odd Future rapper releasing another EP means another cool video. Once again, it’s very Odd Future-esque; …

War Witch Directed by Kim Nguyen Written by Kim Nguyen Canada, 2012 The new film War Witch, Canada’s submission into the Best Foreign Language Film category in this past year’s Oscars (and one of the eventual nominees, though it lost to Amour), sidesteps a number of the pitfalls that crop up when any filmmaker tackles a …

Saudade Written and Directed by Yasmine Ghorayeb Canada, 2012 It’s been said that the short film is the director’s medium. Free of studio politics and overbearing financiers, the short film allows the auteur to fulfill his or her vision without the constraints of committee. But what happens if one’s ambition exceeds the limits of its …

Margarita Directed by Dominique Cardona and Laurie Colbert Written by Margaret Webb and Laurie Colbert Canada, 2012 In the Canadian dramatic comedy, Margarita, the titular character (Nicola Correia-Damude) is a Mexican maid, illegally working in Canada for a posh couple, Ben and Gail (Patrick McKenna, Claire Lautier) and their tenacious teenage daughter, Mali (Maya Ritter). …

Cloudburst Written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald Canada, 2011 The story of a gay couple battling against social stigma has become an old, tired genre, so it’s only appropriate that in Thom Fitzgerald’s lesbian road trip film, Cloudburst, the two leading ladies share a combined age of about 140. Although it’s initially humorous and deeply …

Miss Judy Directed by Eyal Tavor Israel, 2011 Judy Feld Carr, third from the right, with her family Judy Feld Carr is a Toronto housewife, mother of six. She is a musicologist and a president at her local synagogue. But what many people may not know is that, for 28 years, she’s been helping Syrian …

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea Directed by Thierry Binisti Written by Thierry Binisti and Valérie Zenatti France/Canada/Israel, 2011   Friends who want to stay friends don’t discuss religion or politics. Contentious and divisive, discussions about these hot topic issues tend to lead to fiery debates, with interlockers entrenched in their predisposed ideologies. Verbal disputes …

Herman’s House Directed by Angad Singh Bhalla Canada, 2012 Today is April 24th 2012. Last week marked the 40th anniversary of Herman Wallace’s initiation to a punitive epoch in solitary confinement. This commemoration is made even more lamentable when we learn that he’s been there ever since. In a documentary shot over five years, Toronto …

Buzkashi! Directed by Najeeb Mirza Canada, 2012 For centuries, shepherds in Central Asia have been driving their flock to greener pastures under the constant threat of attacking wolves. To protect their herd, men on horseback would chase the wolves, and pick them right off the ground. Over time, this practice evolved into a sport, where …

China Heavyweight Directed by Yung Chang Canada, 2012 In 1959, Chairman Mao banned Western-style boxing for being too American and too violent. Thirty years later, the ban was lifted. Although symptomatic of China’s ameliorating progress, Canadian director Yung Chang, in his documentary, China Heavyweight, exhibits how the country has yet to purge itself of Mao’s …

The Corridor Directed by Evan Kelly Written by Josh MacDonald Canada, 2011 Tackling a difficult premise is often the kiss of death for first-time filmmakers. Many get lost in their “high-concept” vision, losing track of the human element that is needed to engage an audience. Though not impervious to the flaws symptomatic of these kinds …