ezra winton

Back from the dead and in BC

Posted by ezra in Dispatches, Personal Travails

A lot has happened in the five or so weeks since my last post: I suffered an evil sinus infection that laid me out for about a month and reminded me of just how much Quebec’s health care is in the dumpster; I applied a third time to the Canada Council for the Arts for Cinema Politica (hoping the odds of being turned down three times in a row are, well too unlucky for even us); I wrote my end-of-first year comprehensive PhD exams; I found out I passed (wooohoooo!!);…read more

May.27

I’m sick..

Posted by ezra in Personal Travails

Folks: I’ve been very sick with a sinus infection for over two weeks, and right before my PhD exams to boot! I will return to posting at the end of May.

May.07

Good news comes in…ones?

Posted by ezra in Academix, Personal Travails

While suffering the blow from the Canada Arts Council (for the second time, a jury didn’t rank Cinema Politica high enough to receive funding) and going to Hot Docs to discover, um, filmmakers narrowly focused on their own projects (I can’t blame them), I am delighted to report some good news. Last Thursday, April 17th, 2008, I received word from some faculty and profs at Carleton that I had been awarded the SSHRC (apologies for the instructive graph above – I did it for Michael) Doctoral Fellowship – meaning I’ll…read more

Apr.25

On the RIDM 2008 Pre-selection Committee

Posted by ezra in Doc Side

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

Apr.16

Svetla and yours truly try to explain what it is we do at Cinema Politica

Posted by ezra in Cinema Politica

Concordia prof, activist, filmmaker and friend Liz Miller recently finished her documentary on the privatization of Highland Park’s water services in Detroit, Michigan, called The Water Front. We screened the film this past February 4th at the Concordia Cinema Politica. As the 600 or so audience members filed into the H-110 Auditorium, Liz and her assistant interviewed Svetla and myself on grassroots organizing of cinema screenings. The resulting short video actually makes it seem like we know what we’re talking about, so yes, we’re proud.

Apr.11

Apr.08

What is radical pedagogy?

Posted by ezra in Academix, Pedagogy

I don’t usually post other articles or essays in their entirety, but this one is a solid introductory effort seeking to answer the above question, and it’s very concise. I’ve been interested in radical pedagogy off and on, throughout my scholarly meanderings and find this particular text useful. I’ve lifted it from the ICAAP Radical Pedagogy site. Pictured above is one of the “founding figures” of radical pedagogy, Paulo Freire. What is Radical Pedagogy Timothy McGettigan The concept, “radical pedagogy,” has many different meanings. For some, a discussion of radical…read more

April 4th, snow

Posted by ezra in Personal Travails

For all of you reading this in parts of Canada that aren’t experiencing snow – take a look at the view from my apartment this morning and remember how good you have it!! It’s snowing for god’s sake it’s snowing!!!! I want spring, please someone deliver spring to Montreal! To keep me sane while I’m blogging away and writing papers, I’ve been tapping the following online podcasts for entertainment, inspiration, and bits of imagined sunshine… + Democracy Now! (one hour daily podcast with Amy Goodman) + Film School (weekly 20…read more

Apr.04

Opting out of phone spam just got easier

Posted by ezra in Mediactivism

I was as thrilled as anyone else when the Canadian government announced their proposed bill to dampen phone spam (unsolicited phone calling) to Canadians a couple of years back. I was then very disappointed, but not all that surprised to learn that there was a loophole allowing many companies to be “exempt” from the opt-out list, effectively taking much of the wind out of the legislative sails. Then along came Michael Geist. Media activist and newspaper columnist Geist has created a new website where Canadians can, in three simple steps,…read more

Mar.29

A Simple Curve

Posted by ezra in Broadsides

I recently had the pleasure of watching a Canadian fiction feature that has come out on DVD in the last year. Thank the film gods that there are independent video stores like Montreal’s Boite Noir, or I may have never discovered the little gem called A Simple Curve. The fim’s plot is suggested in the title – a tidy little arc about a father and son living in British Columbia’s absolutely stunning Slocan valley. The son, played by Kris Lemche, is growing increasingly testy with both his business relationship with…read more

Mar.23

In the dead of the night on a Greyhound bus, there’s always Deadwood

Posted by ezra in Personal Travails

Greyhound bus, 9:30 PM, somewhere between Ottawa and Montreal. Long bus trips are trying at the best of times, so making a two and a half hour sojourn twice a week between Montreal and Ottawa seemed a natural site for some intervention in the form of distraction. Every Wednesday evening after a long day of classes and TA discussion groups my colleague Michael and myself hurry our exhausted bodies and brains to the Greyhound bus station in Ottawa to barely make the 9PM run to Montreal. Once in our seats,…read more

Mar.09