TIFF Next Wave: There’s most definitely no cooler (or cheaper) way for movie-obsessed teens to spend Family Day Weekend than making the most of the action at TIFF Next Wave. From Feb. 17-19, the TIFF Bell Lightbox hosts its sixth annual festival of films and events for viewers and aspiring auteurs aged 14 to 18. And if you’re 25 or under, you get free admission to all regular screenings and to the five titles in the fest’s day-long “Freaks and Geeks” movie marathon. (Note to teens: please don’t gloat when you see older patrons shelling out for tickets – they’re sensitive enough about their age without you having to remind them of their decrepitude.)
Among the fresher fare at TIFF Next Wave are two strong new Canadian features that focus on young characters. The first feature to ever be shot in the Atikamekw language, Before the Streets is a powerfully stirring and visually distinctive drama that director Chloé Leriche made in collaboration with youngsters in the Atikamekw communities north of Montreal. It plays Feb. 18 followed by a Q&A with Leriche and actor Kwena Bellemare-Boivin, whose performance garnered one of the film’s six Canadian Screen Award nominations. Quebecois actor-filmmaker Yan England also presents his debut feature 1:54 – a coming-of-age tale whose cast includes Sophie Nélisse of Monsieur Lazhar and Mean Dreams — on Feb. 19.
In addition to the screening slate, TIFF Next Wave presents such popular events as the Battle of the Scores, in which teams of high schoolers play their original scores for short films live for an audience of peers and judges on Feb. 17. Newbie filmmakers can also connect with industry professionals (and each other) at the Young Creators Co-Lab, thereby bringing levels of youthful enthusiasm at the Lightbox to possibly dangerous levels.
My Scientology Movie: A British journalist with a wry wit and a boundless interest in the weirder corners of society, Louis Theroux is not the first skeptical investigator to turn his attention to the Church of Scientology but he may be the funniest. A Hot Docs favourite that returns for a run at Bloor and Bathurst this week, My Scientology Movie depicts Theroux’s efforts to discover more about the mysterious inner workings of the church made famous by Tom Cruise. His quixotic quest includes many strange encounters with present and former high-ranking members and several twists that no screenwriter could concoct. (The cameo by Paz de la Huerta is a real doozy.) My Scientology Movie plays the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema Feb. 17-23.
Fanny’s Journey: In 1943, a 13-year-old girl named Fanny Ben Ami was living with her younger sisters in a foster home for Jewish children in Nazi-occupied France. When their situation worsened, it was up to her to lead a group of kids on a perilous trip to safety in Switzerland. Ben Ami’s extraordinary true-life tale became the basis for Fanny’s Journey, a French-Belgian drama by director Lola Doillon that plays the Toronto Jewish Film Festival’s Chai Tea and a Movie program – it screens twice on Feb. 19 at Cineplex’s Empress Walk location.
How Heavy This Hammer launch: A recent finalist for the Toronto Film Critics Association’s prize for the best Canadian film of 2016, Kazik Radwanski’s drama How Heavy This Hammer arrives on iTunes on Feb. 21. To mark the occasion, the film plays the Royal on Feb. 18 in a program that includes a cast and crew Q&A and shorts by three more of the Canadian film scene’s most impressive new talents, including recent TFCA prize-winner Ashley Mackenzie and Kevan Funk, whose debut feature Hello Destroyer opens in Toronto on March 10.
In Brief:
- The Royal launches a new series on campy black cinema with the 1974 martial-arts/blaxploitation classic Black Belt Jones on Feb. 17.
- Local film artist Kelly O’Brien presents a program of works and a live performance at CineCycle Feb. 18.
- A profile of the first African-American animator ever hired by Disney, Floyd Norman: An Animated Life plays the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema’s Doc Soup Sundays on Feb. 19 with a Q&A with Norman and the filmmaker to follow.
- Cineplex’s Exhibition On Screen program gets Impressionist-ic with the new doc I, Claude Monet on Feb. 22 and 26 at participating locations.
- Warren Beatty, Julie Christie and Robert Altman prove just how sad a western can be when McCabe and Mrs. Miller plays the Royal’s Ladies of Burlesque night on Feb. 22. (Their trick: fill the soundtrack with Leonard Cohen songs.)
jandersonesque@gmail.com
jandersonesque@gmail.com
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