Gimme Some docs

Whew!! Writing from extremely cold cold cold Winnipeg where snow is on the ground and chill is in the bones. I’m here for the Gimme Some Truth documentary project – a film festival and conference happening in the city between November 6th and 9th. Myself and Tom Waugh were asked to come and speak about Challenge for Change as we approach the final editing stages of our book on the same subject. It’s been nice to see some of the people from the IMAA conference I attended in Kelowna last…read more

Help my friend Rajesh make an important documentary

A friend of mine, Rajesh Thind, is a UK-based documentary filmmaker who is making a documentary about the socio-political challenges faced by rural people in India. Below is an excerpt from his description of “Twelve Acres,” after you read it, please consider helping him out by donating a few bucks through the Chip In widget above. Thanks all. Twelve Acres — that’s the amount of Punjabi farmland that I will inherit from my 70 year old father when he dies. The film will document my attempt to figure out what…read more

The year of Grant

Posted by ezra in Cinema Politica, Doc Side

Svetla’s friend’s seaside camping neighbours in Bulgaria called me “Hugh” secretly because they couldn’t pronounce my name and I apparently reminded them of Hugh Grant. Well recent news has got me convinced that they should have been calling me “Grant” in keeping with the likeness but also by reflecting this summer’s spat of excellent news. I’m back in Montreal now and yesterday I checked the PO Box for Cinema Politica and found what has ominously lain there twice before: a large white and cream envelope from the Canada Council for…read more

On the RIDM 2008 Pre-selection Committee

Yesterday I had lunch with the incredibly experienced and calm André Paquet (at right), who has been programming Montreal’s Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM) for the last three years. In Canada, RIDM is second only to Hot Docs in size, but in my books (and André’s) it has resisted the hyper-market business zeal that other large fests like TIFF and Hot Docs tend toward (who do for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is pressure from funding agencies) in favour of a more nuanced cultural…read more

A documentary decade

It’s reading break, and between Svetla’s birthday, a roudy trip to Quebec City for Carnival, and some recent private screenings with friends and drinks, I am trying to clear the cobwebs before the reading begins. The film we recently previewed over a few beer was Terror’s Advocate, worth checking out, but not a great doc to wade into without a truckload of a priori knowledge. The film covers so much historical ground that I was often lost and need of rest stops with a bit more clarification. Still, a very…read more

My book review on Zoë Druick’s “Projecting Canada”

Nouvelle <<vues>> sur le cinéma québécois has published my review of Projecting Canada: Government Policy and Documentary Film at the National Film Board, published by McGill-Queens University Press, in 2007. The review appears to have one grammatical error, and I’m not sure if that’s my fault or has happened later in the process, but it’s up and waiting to be read. The one problem with the journal’s site is that it is in php, and is a bit frustrating to navigate while also not allowing direct links to parts of…read more

December Snow

It’s a beautiful evening in Montreal, a light dusting of snow is muting our street and probably the city. I’ve been snowed in here for the last two weeks writing two papers to finish up my term. The first one, on cinematic representations of female suicide bombers, is done and sent to the prof. The second one, on the history of cultural industry theory, is about to envelope me. Sound exciting? At least it’s snowing… Also, Wal-Town The Film was just broadcast twice on Canada’s third largest broadcast network, TVO…read more

RIDM Festival Wraps Up

This year’s tenth anniversary of the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM) has come and gone and I am quite pleased to have been asked to be involved as a jury member. I sat on the Caméra au Poing (Camera at the Ready) Jury with Francoise David and Sylvie Lardinois (pictured with me at the left in a St Denis café at one of our three meetings). It was a great experience to sit and discuss 20 films with two other enthusiasts of film and politics. Francoise is the co-founder…read more

Wal-Town is number two!

Just a quick hurrah: it seems that right now the documentary on the project I helped create – Wal-Town – is the number two most purchased/ordered NFB film in the educational division. This means that across Canada, teachers and librarians are ordering many, many copies of Wal-Town The Film. This is amazing news, both for Sergeo Kirby, the director, and for the gang of us who put the project into action. We always thought the film was an important aspect of reaching a wider audience, and now it seems we’re…read more

The Revolution Will Not Be Funded (But it will be fun)

I’m writing this from the bus to Ottawa, which left Montreal at 8 AM this morning. I’m on my way to Carleton for my PhD orientation. Can’t believe it was only a week or so ago that I was finishing my MA thesis…wow. In fact, just last Friday Svetla and I celebrated my handing in my final draft of my thesis to the Graduate office and Svetla mailing her 5 kilos of immigration documents. Last night we had two visitors arrive from my hometown, Courtenay: Jim and his daughter, Lisa….read more