ezra winton

Bottled water and a new blog look

You’ve probably noticed by now that I’ve switched my blog over to WordPress, and the snazzy digs have inspired me to get back into posting. Right now I’m concerned about submitting my finished thesis to the Graduate Studies Office of Concordia, but soon after that, I’ll be setting aside time to post the odd rant here. For now, I’d like to point you in the direction of a great article I’ve just found on line. I’ve been doing some research for Liz Miller’s documentary film The Water Front, and well…read more

Aug.28

Thesis successfully defended – Woop!

Posted by ezra in Academix, Doc Side, Personal Travails

After a long, long hiatus I’m back to report that yesterday I successfully defended my MA thesis (picture on the left is me after defense with my profs)!! I have a few minor revisions to make, but basically I’m all set to start my PhD. I had charged my cell phone and waited for calls last night, but alas, defending a thesis seems to not measure up to getting married or having a baby. Speaking of which, congratulations to my niece, Sarah, who has just had a baby girl and…read more

Aug.17

Wal-Town Tour take THREE

Posted by ezra in Doc Side, Projects

It’s true, it’s true. In the midst of end of semester insanity, the crew at überculture has decided to be even more insane and launch a third tour across Canada to kick some Wal-butt. If you’re reading this you probably already know about the Wal-Town Tour 2007 and our project, but if you’ve just stumbled here then you should really read about our initiative at our Project Site. Basically four of us characters from the film are going to split up with two going west to BC and up to…read more

Dec.13

Digimart and the Curse of the White Male

Posted by ezra in Doc Side

Last week I attended Digimart, the “Global Digital Distribution Summit,” here in Montreal. I went because, well, my research for both my current MA thesis and my (hopefully) future PhD thesis involves digital networks as the vehicle for delivering documentary film to movie theatres here in Canada. After shelling out 225 beans for my three day pass, (and after unsuccessfully begging for a “media pass”) I headed over to the marvellously fascistic (accoring to my colleague Brett, who I agree with on this one) Excentris theatre on St. Laurent to…read more

Oct.25

Fragmenting Iraq

Posted by ezra in Doc Side

Tonight we decided to rest here in Utrecht and save our energy for tomorrow night in Amsterdam. After dinner we put on Iraq in Fragments by James Longley, director of Gaza Strip. The film hasn’t been released, and we (Svetla, Bram, Ilke et moi) previewed it for a possible screening at ConU in the fall as part of Cinema Politica. After seeing it, we are pretty much in agreement. Fragments, much like Gaza, is a poetic masterpiec of sound, image and story. The camera seems to only capture incredibly breathtaking…read more

Aug.02

The World of Doc Will Miss You

Posted by ezra in Doc Side

Garrett Scott, director of Occupation: Dreamland died while swimming in a municipal pool in California near where he lived yesterday. He was only 37 years old. I had the pleasure of working with Garrett when we brought his film to Concordia for Cinema Politica last year and screened it along with Let Them Stay – a film about US war resisters. Some of the war resisters featured in the film are seeking asylum in Canada and were at the screening to speak. Garrett’s film added to the event with a…read more

Jul.30

First Wal-Town screening

Posted by ezra in Doc Side, Projects

Last night in the bunker at 80 St Viatuer East, about one hundred bodies packed into the small underground space to sweat like we were in the tropics and watch the first public offering of the Wal-Town documentary. Serge and the Loaded Pictures crew were trying to pay rent by selling drinks to the sweaty crowd, and capacity was shoulder-to-shoulder. In the end it was a great grassroots screening, and the film seemed to elicit an overall positive response. Many people kept coming up to me and congratulating me on…read more

Jul.30

Doc Blog Take One

Posted by ezra in Doc Side

It is here that i wish to outline my gory plan for world domination by political cinema. Hopefully, the bored, disillusioned and bitter will all stumble upon this section of my site and read my psychofanatic wordplay on the topic of political cinema. Here i will talk all about film and video that moves people, or at least should move people that a) have a pulse, or b) are not neoconservative hacks looking for more entertainment to justify their empty and destructive lives. But alas there is hope for the…read more

Jul.19