Interviews
I’ve been a fan of Fifth Column‘s music since a friend introduced me to their song “All Women Are Bitches” many years ago, while I was a student. What self-respecting young feminist wouldn’t be curious about an all-girl punk band with a song title like that? When I found out that they were from Toronto, I was even more intrigued. But there’s more to Fifth Column than just being a ‘girl band’, as Kevin Hegge told me while we chatted about his documentary She Said Boom: The Story of Fifth Column, which is premiered at Hot Docs April 27. When I...
When I first read the synopsis for Bob and the Monster, a documentary that chronicles rocker Bob Forrest’s meteoric rise to fame with punk band Thelonious Monster, his descent into drug addiction and subsequent recovery, I honestly rolled my eyes. Isn’t that a little over done? Hasn’t everyone seen at least three of these docs? Despite my hesitation, I slipped it into my DVD player. For the next 85 minutes, I sat riveted as the story of Bob, punk-rock, drug addiction, and recovery unfolded on the screen. What could have been a cliched story was instead both a brilliant rock...
There is a moment when everyone falls in love with the music of Ron Sexsmith. For director Douglas Arrowsmith it was 1994, when he heard a radio broadcast of Sexsmith live from the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Quebec. “I had kind of been on a search for a contemporary who possessed lyric and melody and guitar the way he did. I hadn’t found it until then.” Six years later, Arrowsmith finally met Sexsmith after a show at the Jazz Cafe in Camden, UK. “Even just in talking with him there was more confirmation that this story wasn’t going to...
For the past 18 years, the Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival has provided the city of Toronto the opportunity to delve into the mysteries of the mind by presenting a festival that takes a in-depth look at mental illness and addiction, two issues that are a part of the human experience and affect many – if not all – of us. Understanding that film and visual art present a unique platform to look at and discuss these issues, festival Co-Founder Lisa Brown and her team strive to present films that will inspire and educate their viewers. I had the opportunity...
Director Ingrid Veninger’s previous film, Only, starred her son Jacob Switzer, but she insists casting her daughter, Hallie Switzer, in the lead role of her next feature, Modra, was not a matter of being fair. “It was like: I want to make a film which explores being 17 and travelling to Europe for the first time; and I have a 17-year-old daughter and I wanted to have a final adventure with her before she went into her life as an adult.” Veninger asked Switzer if she was interested in the project and when she said yes, the film was born;...
I want to know which one of you is responsible for this. You’ve clearly hurt Quebec filmmaker, Xavier Dolan’s feelings and I for one am not going to stand for it. He is only 21 years old and already he knows what it is to be tossed aside by critics who once purported to be his biggest fans. You built him up and just because he didn’t do exactly what you wanted him to do, you declared him a disappointment and your earlier proclamations of genius to be premature. While I applaud your ability to admit your faults (even though...
Allow me to introduce you to three experimental filmmakers who aren’t pretentious: Aaron Manczyk, Efehan Elbi, and Zak Tatham are the modest founding and current members of Family Contact, a film collective based in Toronto. All graduates of OCAD’s Integrated Media program, they possess a perfect combination of creativity, and talent in all aspects of design, animation and editing. At a deep-frying party hosted at the home of two of the members, I attempted to interview them for this very article. Perhaps I should have picked a different day or venue, because trying to interview these boys was like trying...
Everything I know about Dolph Lundgren from my childhood, I know because of my brother. It was my brother who watched and rewatched action classics like Universal Soldier and Masters of the Universe over and over again. I merely caught whatever was on when I stumbled into the living room out of pure boredom. For years, fans like my brother have been waiting to see a contemporary action star emerge that could blow the crap out of everything without calling in their stunt double to do the real dirty work. I say, why wait for one though when you can...
Nelofer Pazira is a tour de force – journalist, actress, author, as well as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador and former president of PEN Canada. Now Pazira, an Afghan-Canadian, has turned her focus to the director’s chair in her feature Act Of Dishonour, a film about a young woman’s struggles with the conservative nature of a village and the glimmer of freedom she is exposed to through a young Canadian film crew. Pazira not only directed the film, but she also wrote it, and shot it on location in Afghanistan. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Nelofer about her...
In the upcoming film Holy Rollers, actor Justin Bartha (National Treasure 1 &2, and The Hangover) plays the role of Yosef Zimmerman, a reformed Hasidic Jew whom the community views as a member who has lost his way. In light of his reformation Yosef has taken to working for ectasy dealer Jackie Solomon (Danny Abeckaser) aiding in the smuggling of the drug from Amsterdam to New York. Eventually Bartha brings Sam Gold (Zombieland and Adventureland‘s Jesse Eisenberg) into the fold of being a mule and the two forge a brotherly relationship over the course of their dealings with Jackie....
Holy Rollers, the film based on the true story of young Hasidic Jews being duped into being drug mules for the burgeoning ecstasy scene in New York City in the late ’90s serves as the backdrop for director Kevin Asch to make his feature directorial debut. Working with a cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Bartha as well as a small crew, Asch’s set was plagued with the difficult nature of New York in the middle of winter. However, everyone endured and the resulting product is providing a great break in the onslaught of big budget productions this summer....
