I’m tired of Gangnam Style. Especially so since Psy denounced his past anti-war performances in South Korea — presumably because criticizing the US military doesn’t jive with his newfound pop celebrity status in America. Even more exhausting are the endless Gangnam Style parodies and rip-offs, most of which are simply
Continue readingTag: Screen
Art Threat: War on Drugs doc launches for free – Friday Film Pick: Breaking the Taboo
It’s too early in the day for us to watch a documentary on the so-called “war on drugs,” so we’re not actually endorsing this week’s FFP, Breaking the Taboo, which has just been launched for free viewing on YouTube, but it looks like it will be an interesting hour of
Continue readingArt Threat: Scrap America – Friday Film Pick & Interview: Scrappers
An interview with one of the filmmakers behind the poetic documentary Scrappers.
Continue readingArt Threat: The imagination, art, and activism of Herman’s House
Last week I attended the Toronto theatrical premiere of Herman’s House, a thought-provoking documentary written and directed by Angad Singh Bhalla. This Canadian film tells the story of an artistic collaboration between Jackie Sumell and Herman Wallace. Sumell is a multidisciplinary artist from New York. Wallace is a Black Panther from Louisiana who has been […]
Continue readingArt Threat: Life in Gaza is no day at the beach – Beach by video artist Guli Silberstein
In this 2006 work by Israeli-born, London-based video artist Guli Silberstein, painful footage from the infamous Israeli shelling of a beach in Gaza is juxtaposed with scenes of a happy family relaxing on the sand in Tel Aviv. According to the artist, “the video work refers to the thin line between tranquillity and chaos, and […]
Continue readingArt Threat: Skyfall a great romp but a gender bust … not to mention the faint aroma of homophobia
The thing is, I like these films — for the gorgeous cityscapes of great metropolises (London, Beijing and Macau), for the eerie and yet fascinatingly glimpses into the slick and opulent interiors where the ultra-rich live and play, for the beautiful cars (the 1965 Aston Martin DB5), even for the craggy medieval landscape of Scotland where Bond finally retreats for his emphatically low-tech final showdown with Javier Bardem. I am a sucker for Bond’s supernatural fighting and survival skills. It all works for me. But that’s why the obvious gender stupidity and not so obvious homophobic taint are so irksome. There is intelligence at work in this script, and talent in the filmmaking, so why the vacuum of intelligence on this score? Why, like Bond’s suits and cars, do the gender and sexual politics have to be so thoroughly rooted in the 1960s?
Continue readingArt Threat: Una Noche a beautiful story of a challenging life
It’s rare to see depictions of Havana that don’t consist of the stereotypes: people playing music, someone sitting on the street smoking a cigar, old American cars, stunning old buildings. In fact, many films set in Havana (such as Our Man in Havana and even Die Another Day) are filmed
Continue readingArt Threat: Embedded with a West London Eco-village – Friday Film Pick: Grasp the Nettle
Filmmaker Dean Puckett is following up from his fantastic documentary The Crisis of Civilization with another doc from the front lines of the war on want. This time Puckett’s lens is set on squatters and eco-activists who set up camp and community in Puckett’s home turf of London, following the
Continue readingArt Threat: John Cameron Mitchell creates Sigur Rós music video about gay bullying
I’ve been a monumental fan of Hedwig and the Angry Inch since John Cameron Mitchell’s transexual punk rock musical first hit the small screen over a decade ago. I’ve introduced dozens of friends to the East Berlin queen, confused dozens of strangers by performing bluegrass-styled covers of Midnight Radio, and
Continue readingArt Threat: How to Make Money Selling Drugs – Documentary is part how-to video, part indictment of drug policy
Of the 372 film titles listed in the Toronto International Film Festival’s program this year, few are likely to raise more eyebrows than How to Make Money Selling Drugs, a documentary that surprisingly delivers precisely what it promises. From tiff.net: Stylishly shot and cheekily framed as a subversive educational film,
Continue readingArt Threat: Punk rock video conveys the energy of Quebec’s Carré rouge
A Montreal punk rock band recently released “>Carré rouge, a fast-paced music video inspired by classic punk sounds, and carried by collective chants from the massive street demonstrations sparked by the historic Quebec student strike. “Loi spéciale, refusé! À qui la rue? À nous la rue! Carré rouge! Carré rouge!
Continue readingArt Threat: Montreal-North stand up: part two – An interview with MC Emrical on the fourth anniversary of the death of Fredy Villanueva
While Chuck D’s famous phrase “Rap is CNN for black people,” has been quoted by countless ‘reality’ rappers, there are few artists who have embraced the concept as throughly as Emrical. The only difference is that in this case the Montreal-based emcee reports from the racially diverse low-income community of
Continue readingArt Threat: Friday Film Pick: Togetherness Supreme
Barack Obama was still just a U.S. Senator in 2006, but he was already spooling up for his presidential run. Seizing on his rising visibility and popularity, Obama made a mostly-business trip to Africa. The unprecedented buzz surrounding a senatorial trip culminated in his arrival in Kenya, the birthplace of
Continue readingArt Threat: In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing – The ROM displays photos by Larry Towell, Donovan Wylie and "Afghan Star"
Those interested in the reality of Afghanistan and located in Toronto can take in the photographic works of Larry Towell and Donovan Wylie at the ROM along with a showing of the film “Afghan Star” this Wednesday, June 20 at 7:00pm. The photographic works tell the story of the troubling
Continue readingArt Threat: Green among the grey – Friday Film Pick: Edible City
Edible City is a new documentary charting what for some, has become familiar non-fiction territory: that of food politics. In recent years a raft of films looking at organic growing, urban gardening, slow food, agricorps, seed saving and more have contributed to a wider understanding of the complex issues around
Continue readingArt Threat: A loud revolution – Friday Film Pick: Casseroles – Montréal, 24 Mai 2012
This week’s FFP is a lovely short film showing what has become the nightly ritual of taking to balconies and the streets of Montreal to bang on pots and pans, showing solidarity with the student protestors and registering disapproval of the draconian measures undertaken by by the Quebec government to
Continue readingArt Threat: Mobile app shows dirty side of making cellphones – Phone Story by Molleindustria banned by iTunes
Video games have permeated so deep into mainstream culture that they are now places of social activism and protest. Phone Story, a game designed by the Molleindustria collective in Italy, does just this. It turns the fancy screen and sleek design of a smart phone into the engineered system of slavery, inhumanity,
Continue readingArt Threat: Ghosts with Shit Jobs – Is this $4,000 “lo-fi sci-fi” the future of Canadian Filmmaking?
It is the year 2040. China is the world’s dominant economic power, while North America’s decline has forced most of its citizens into degrading and menial jobs. In Toronto, two “silk-gatherers” collect and sell “spiz,” the remnants of secretions from giant arachnoids. Other jobs of the future include “digital janitor,”
Continue readingArt Threat: More houses, less prisons – A review of the compelling documentary Herman’s House
It’s hard to make a house without materials, and even harder if you are in solitary confinement in a US prison and have been there for forty years. What is required in that situation is imagination and perseverance, mixed with a healthy dose of love and anger — all of
Continue readingArt Threat: A doc that makes you want to occupy – We Are Wisconsin at Hot Docs 2012
Yesterday we caught three political docs at Hot Docs, and before I race off to The Law In These Parts, here is the first of many more micro-reviews. We Are Wisconsin, directed by Aimee Williams, is the first film I’ve seen at the festival that champions activism and calls on
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