Festival Daily






September 6, 2021
Artistic Innovation at Its Finest: A glance at this year’s Wavelengths Programme
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
File under: Wavelengths
By Neil Karassik An energetic celebration of the medium of cinema, this year’s Wavelengths programme offers a remarkable collection of films devoted to formal rigour and sheer experimentation with the medium. This past June, however, Andréa Picard, the Festival’s astute Wavelengths curator, had a lot to be nervous about. Viewing over 500 experimental films can certainly make one’s head spin, and the intensely subjective nature of such works adds pressure to an already daunting position. But if anyone is capable of gracefully tackling the burden, it’s Picard, who recognizes the need to step back and let it all sink in before...

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A Round with... Sima Urale
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
File under: Directors
By Eleni Deacon Who: Sima UraleWhat: Two spring waters with a twist of lemonWhere: Brassaii, 461 King Street WestWhen: Sept. 4, 6pm Samoa-born, New Zealand-raised director Sima Urale sits down for a drink with the Daily’s Eleni Deacon to chat about the making of her first feature film, Apron Strings. ED: What first attracted you to the Apron Strings script? What launched you into the project? SU: The writers, Shuchi Kothari and Dianne Taylor, worked on it for several years by themselves with no director or producer. They came knocking on my door and basically said, “Sima, can you please read this?” I had...

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Fear Factory: Horror seeps into regular programming at TIFF
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
By Jason Lapeyre The horror genre cuts a deep and bloody swath through the Festival lineup this year, and not just in the Midnight Madness programme.  Filmmakers as diverse as Bruce McDonald and Barbet Schroeder give us their take on horror with the films Pontypool and Inju, la bête dans l’ombre (based on a novel by infamous Japanese horror author Edogawa Rampo). Also, young directors like Fabrice Du Welz (Calvaire) and Antti-Jussi Annila (Jade Warrior), among others, are pushing horror into new territory while sticking to the basics of the genre – gore, darkness and fear. Horror has always been something...

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Child’s Play!
Posted By Festival Daily At 9:01 AM
By Emily Wexler Actress Kelly O’Neill sits inside her trailer on the set of the Irish film Kisses, refusing to come out. She’s been in there for eight hours, communicating with director Lance Daly only by text message. The reason? Her jelly beans have been taken away. In his frustration, Daly considers replacing her but decides against it. O’Neill, he feels, is magic on screen. Besides, her behaviour seems downright normal for a 10-year-old acting in her first role. Daly has come to realize that when kids are involved, the rules of the game change completely. Kisses is one of several...

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