This article was originally published at Art Threat. The 19th edition of North America’s largest documentary showcase and one of the world’s largest film festivals begins this week, running from April 26 to May 6 in Toronto. With Charlotte Cook replacing Sean Farnel as head programmer, new directions (fewer films,
Continue readingAuthor: Ezra Winton
Art Threat: Hot Docs 2012 – The good, the bad, the incomprehensible
The 19th edition of North America’s largest documentary showcase and one of the world’s largest film festivals begins this week, running from April 26 to May 6 in Toronto. With Charlotte Cook replacing Sean Farnel as head programmer, new directions (less films, more focus is the official line), new initiatives
Continue readingArt Threat: Cake art gets Kony’d – Social media facilitates another political misunderstanding
The Swedish Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, was presented a cake at an event that many have decried as racist – understandably when one takes a first glance at the thing. The story and ensuing outrage has gone viral, with accusations of racism flying faster than homophobic comments from
Continue readingArt Threat: Killed by Canada’s Oil & Gas companies? – Doc subject & eco-activist Wiebo Ludwig succumbs to cancer
Wiebo Ludwig, Canada’s controversial anti-oil patch activist died of esophageal cancer yesterday, leaving behind a legacy of resistance against this country’s dirtiest industry and greediest corporations. The Albertan had his share of scuffles with the law (and a shamefully demonizing mainstream media), and was accused (and charged once) of eco-terrosim
Continue readingArt Threat: Of Waves, Bears and Oil – Friday Film Pick: Tipping Barrels
Tipping Barrels (Ben Gulliver, 2012) is one part surfing movie, one part wildlife documentary, one part guy flick and one part political commentary. It’s for parts two and four that I include it as this week’s Friday Film Pick. The short doc, running at 18 minutes, gazes in on British
Continue readingArt Threat: The studios are killing independent film – A fantastic Q interview with filmmaker Alex Cox
Yesterday’s Q show on CBC Radio One had a great interview with the director of REPO MAN and SID AND NANCY, Alex Cox. An outspoken critic of the studio system and of government and corporate efforts to crackdown on “illegal” downloading, Cox argues that the corporate studio system continues to
Continue readingArt Threat: Education versus war – Friday Film Pick: War Made Easy
As students wage a massive strike in Quebec, over proposed tuition hikes that will nearly double rates in a few years, and with police responding like violent fascists—blinding the eye of one young student only two days ago—it seems an apt time to reflect on the hierarchy of values, matched
Continue readingArt Threat: Debunking the “asking for it” myth – Scottish anti-rape PSA tackles sexist attitudes toward women
I know I know, this is sooooooo 2010 – but there is a chance you didn’t catch this snappy little PSA by Rape Crisis Scotland as it was circulating way back when. If that’s the case, watch it now, one day after International Woman’s Day.
Continue readingezra winton: Let’s Do This – Book review of Making is Connecting by David Gauntlett
The optimism in David Gauntlett’s Making is Connecting (published by the fantastic UK outlet polity) is difficult to escape. Much like the plethora of networks, groups, clubs and civil society manifestations he describes, the book is largely held together with positive attitudes about culture and communication combined with a philosophy
Continue readingArt Threat: Farmers fight back against Honduran elite – Friday Film Pick: Resistencia
Produced by Amy Miller, the documentarian behind MYTHS FOR PROFIT and her much-anticipated follow-up THE CARBON RUSH, this week’s Friday Film Pick is the film-in-progress RESISTENCIA. Directed by Jesse Freeston, the documentary follows the land-and-rights struggle by farmers against Miguel Facussé, the richest man in Honduras. Freeston is a committed
Continue readingArt Threat: The dirty truth as visual essay – Canada’s govt continues aggressive pro-Tar Sands campaign
In the face of all evidence to the contrary, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government continues to shake the shoulders of critics, eliciting the lonely, pitiful cry: “The Alberta Tar Sands are clean and friendly!” Now the Canadian government is even going up against the EU, the newest Tar Sands nay-sayer, and
Continue readingArt Threat: The power of citizens media at Vancouver Olympics – Friday Film Pick: With Glowing Hearts
This week’s Friday Film Pick is a documentary about the power citizen’s media has to diversify representation, tell under-represented stories, and contribute to community. With Glowing Hearts looks at the flurry of alternative media activity that took place in the lead-up to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. With corporate media
Continue readingArt Threat: Swedish beats and archival treats – Friday Film Pick: The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
One of the best documentaries to emerge from 2011 is the incredibly inspired, polished and dreamy The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975. A treasure trove of hundreds of hours of 16 and 35mm footage shot by Swedish journalists and filmmakers during that tumultuous and very eventful period in the US has been
Continue readingArt Threat: Little pink blenders for you and me – Friday Film Pick: Pink Ribbons Inc
This week’s Friday Film Pick is a fantastic new NFB documentary opening in theatres across Canada (rest of the world: you’ll have to probably wait a little). Pink Ribbons Inc goes behind the scenes of the breast cancer campaign (the pink ribbon campaign) and reveals the absolutely grotesque levels of
Continue readingArt Threat: Gasland director arrested in Washington – Politicians have acclaimed filmmaker hauled away from hearing
Josh Fox is an American video artist who rose to critical acclaim for his 2010 documentary feature breakthrough, Gasland. The creatively funky, seriously personal, and lively-paced film chronicles Fox’s investigation into hydraulic fracking (where deposits of natural gas are extracted from the earth leaving poison and destruction behind) resonated with
Continue readingArt Threat: Historical truth is in the outtakes – Friday Film Pick: A Film Unfinished
A Film Unfinished (2010, Germany-Israel) had so much festival hype that when I couldn’t get my hands on a screener, I feverishly pre-ordered the film from Amazon – a practice I seldom initiate. When the handsomely designed DVD package arrived I watched it instantly, and as soon as the film
Continue readingArt Threat: And the Oscar goes to…another white guy – Academy Awards #84 give middle finger to women, again
The above video demonstrates how, waaaaaay back in 2009, most movies didn’t pass the Bechdel Test for women in movies, a simple three-part process to determine whether women are afforded positive representation in any given film or not. Not only does the latest batch of Oscar nominations miserably fail the
Continue readingArt Threat: Two films show effects of uranium mining – Friday Film Pick: Don’t Mine Me & Uranium
Continuing with our new initiative of highlighting at least one Indiegogo project each month, one of this week’s Friday Film Pick is Don’t Mine Me – a doc looking at the history of uranium mining on a Navajo Indian Reservation in the US. Since you can only watch the trailer
Continue readingArt Threat: Let’s do this – Book review of Making is Connecting
The optimism in David Gauntlett’s Making is Connecting (published by the fantastic polity) is difficult to escape. Much like the plethora of networks, groups, clubs and civil society manifestations he describes, the book is largely held together with positive attitudes about culture and communication combined with a philosophy that triumphs
Continue readingArt Threat: Five free films for the next two days – Doc Alliance offers Israeli docs for Jan 16 & 17
For a limited time—today and tomorrow (Jan 16 and 17) only—Doc Alliance has reduced streaming prices to zero (yes that means free) for five Avi Mograbi documentaries. Mograbi is an Israeli filmmaker best known for his deeply personal and thoughtful mediation on the hypocrisy and mendacity involving Israel’s recounting of
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