An excerpt from my forthcoming book, Buying In to Doing Good: Documentary Politics and Curatorial Ethics at the Hot Docs Film Festival (tentative title), to be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press When considering the liberal festival experience, agnostic curation sidesteps what I call screen ethics, an approach to media or
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ezra winton: What is Screen Ethics?
Below is an excerpt from my manuscript Buying In to Doing Good: Documentary Politics and Curatorial Ethics at the Hot Docs Film Festival , to be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2020. When considering the liberal festival experience, agnostic curation sidesteps what I call screen ethics, an approach to
Continue readingezra winton: 20 Questions for Film Curators
This past winter I taught a graduate seminar course at Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema (Concordia University) entitled “Curatorial Labour and the Politics of Programming.” It was a fantastic and meaningful experience and I was fortunate enough to have 13 really great students, all of whom suffered along with me as I attempted to make sense of my overly-ambitious and brand new syllabus. A few weeks in me and the students came up with a list of questions that someone curating or programming film might want or ought to ask themselves….read more
Continue readingezra winton: 20 Questions for Film Curators
This past winter I taught a graduate seminar course at Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema (Concordia University) entitled “Curatorial Practices and the Politics of Programming.” It was a fantastic and meaningful experience and I was fortunate enough to have 13 engaged students, all of whom suffered along with me as I attempted
Continue readingezra winton: Hot Docs 22: CanCon and BrandCon
North America’s largest and most sweeping doc-deluge, the Canadian International Hot Docs Festival, is once again in full swing, and the moment wouldn’t be complete, for me at least, without some form of commentary that assesses this institutional giant as it marks another year. In that spirit and as with past “taking stock” previews (2014 is here, 2013 is here and 2012 is here) of Hot Docs, I humbly present my take on this year’s fest, divided into three Sergio Leone-inspired sections: what’s promising, what’s looking like a fixer-upper, and…read more
Continue readingArt Threat: Just For Laughs: Jerrod Carmichael, Nikki Glaser & Adrienne Truscott’s Asking For It
The Just For Laughs Festival is taking place in Montreal, and Art Threat’s Kristi Kouchakji is there to review the politically-tinged humour for us. Adrienne Truscott’s Asking For It: A One-lady Rape About Comedy Starring her Pussy and Little Else With a title like “Adrienne Truscott’s Asking For It” and
Continue readingezra winton: Strategies and Tactics – April Speaking Event
I’ll be speaking at this roundtable on April 9th in Montreal. Looking forward to it!
Continue readingArt Threat: Ai Weiwei brings 1200 bicycles to Nuit Blanche Toronto
Chinese dissident and artist Ai Weiwei will create a new edition of his Forever Bicycles sculpture at this year’s Nuit Blanche festival in Toronto. The eighth annual event will take place between sunset and sunrise on October 5, 2013 and feature more than 110 contemporary art projects scattered across the
Continue readingMelissa Fong: Why you should choose Sound in Motion for your EDM fix in Toronto
I’m not gonna lie. I’m pretty excited that Toronto is getting it together with more electronic music festivals. Last year was the first mainstreaming of multi-day electronic music festivals with pretty big names coming to entertain hundreds. Digital Dreams and VELD are the big ones. And I’m glad they exist.
Continue readingezra winton: Hot Docs turns twenty – Five tips on making a great fest better
IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY It was a year like any other – the ceremonial swap between less liberal and more liberal leader of the US took place when Clinton picked up where Bush left off (launching a cruise missile attack on Iraq just half a year into his
Continue readingezra winton: Russian LGBT Film Fest pushes ahead despite attacks – A conversation with the founder of the Side By Side Festival
It is an extreme act of bravery and commitment to put on a queer film festival in many parts of the world, where the cultural politics of film festivals play out in ugly and often violent manifestations of hatred and ignorance. Homophobia is rampant the world over, but in countries
Continue readingezra winton: Hot Docs 2012 – The good, the bad, the incomprehensible
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,
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