New York Comic Con finally gave us the first look at Pacific Rim: Uprising, and it looks brighter, louder, and larger than Guillermo del Toro’s iteration.
The Women Of Auteur Film: A Chat With Sherilyn Fenn
What is an Auteur? Well the technical definition is a simply a filmmaker who has a singular recognisable vision, though you can guarantee they’ll also be a man as no women have been deemed important or visionary enough to become members of this elite club. As we all know, the singular vision of men is…
Disobedience Is A Slow-Burning Portrait of Grief, Love and Community
Disobedience Sebastián Lelio (director), Danny Cohen (cinematographer), Nathan Nugent (editor) Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola (cast) Adapted from the Naomi Alderman novel Disobedence by Sebastián Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz September 10, 2017 (TIFF) Sebastián Lelio made two films this year about women being denied access to the formal grieving process of their society. In…
Backlight: Harassment Ain’t Cool
Content warning: sexual abuse Well, it’s been another bleak week for sexual harassment in film and TV, but don’t lose all hope! Upcoming projects from diverse creators showcase the originality, creativity, and inclusivity that creators of colour and female creators can bring to our screens. Harry Knowles Accused Of Sexual Assault And Harassment Harry Knowles…
Fantastic Shorts by Women at Fantastic Fest
With everything that’s gone down with Fantastic Fest these past few weeks, there’s been a hyper focus on how we can make the film industry more welcoming towards women. At the festival itself, only 11 feature length films out of over 80 were directed by women; three of those films were co-directed with men, meaning…
Women In British Animation: Gillian Lacey
“When the Leeds workshop started there was very little challenging animation being done and as a result there was always an excited audience waiting to see what the next films would be.” —Gillian Lacey
Jailbreak is a Gorgeously Shot Ode to Cambodia’s Martial Art
Jailbreak Jimmy Henderson (director), Godefroy Ryckewaert (cinematographer), Amit Dubey, Jimmy Henderson (editors) Jean-Paul Ly, Dara Our, Tharoth Sam, Céline Tran, Savin Phillip, Dara Phang (cast) September 23, 2017 (Fantastic Fest), October 6, 2017 (London Film Festival) Jailbreak is an ambitious, kinetic, and wildly enjoyable action film hailing from Cambodia, a country whose film industry is…
Good Manners Is a Romance Film Seeped in Magical Realism
Good Manners (As Boas Maneiras) Marco Dutra, Juliana Rojas (directors), Rui Poças (cinematography), Caetano Gotardo (editor) Isabél Zuaa, Marjorie Estiano, Cida Moreira, Miguel Lobo (cast) Released September 24, 2017 (Fantastic Fest), October 11, 2017 (BFI London Film Festival) “Lady, beware, quicken your pace…all kinds of creatures hide in the night,” a woman sings as the…
Backlight: Emmys and Fantastic Fest
This week we saw a range of diverse creators receive the recognition they deserve. We also saw further repercussions around Tim League quietly employing Devin Faraci; the whole ordeal has been revealing and frustrating, and serves as a reminder that this industry still has a long way to go before it’s fully inclusive and safe…
The Villainess Delivers Bloody Action and an Overstuffed Plot
The Villainess (Aknyeo) Byung-gil Jung (director), Jung-hun Park (cinematographer), Sun-mi Heo (editor) Ok-bin Kim, Ha-kyun Shin, Jun Sung, Seo-hyeong Kim (cast) Released September 8, 2017 (USA), September 12, 2017 (Vancouver) Lethal women given a second lease on life figure prominently in the action thriller genre. Sometimes the women play major supporting roles in these films. Other times, as…
Death Wish, Death Note and the Dangerous Myth of the Heroic White Vigilante
There are many things wrong with the current cultural phenomenon of constant reboots, remakes, and reimaginings, with a lot written about almost all of the facets of that wrongness. But with the release of the (abhorrent) new trailer for Eli Roth’s Death Wish remake coinciding with Netflix’s awful Death Note remake, I was inspired to…
Black Cop Engages Canadian Audiences on Police Brutality & Black Lives
Black Cop Cory Bowles (director and writer), Jeffery Wheaton (cinematographer), Jeremy Harty (editor) Ronnie Rowe, Sophia Walker, Simon Paul Mutuyimana (cast) Released September 11, 2017 (Toronto International Film Festival 2017) It seems like the best was left for last because I thoroughly enjoyed watching Black Cop on the final day of the Toronto International Film Festival. In…