Film Critic Calum Cooper reviews one of the many offerings from this year’s London Film Festival; a documentary that uncovers the cultural richness of Haiti. Continue reading LFF2022 Review: Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters
Year: 2022 Runtime: 11 minutes Director: Bára Anna Stejskalová By Caelyn O’Reilly “Love is Just a Death Away” is a beauteous little film about finding love in unlikely places. It’s also about corpse-puppeteering brain parasites. Stop-motion animation seems to always have a fascination with the macabre, the misunderstood, and societal outcasts. From Burton-produced features like “The Nightmare Before Christmas”(1993) and “Frankenweenie”(2012) to the entire filmography … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Love is Just a Death Away
Year: 2022 Runtime: 25 minutes Director/Writer: Chloé Léoni Actors: Salomé Dewaels, Nade Dieu, Noé Englebert, Anae Romnys By Dominic Corr Discussions around class and inequality are often relegated to the conversations of the ‘adults’ in the room – as far as the political landscape is concerned at least. And yet, the harshest impacts of its existence ripple to the young, both as a generational issue … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Gold Plated (Plaqué Or)
Year: 2022 Runtime: 10 minutes Director/Writer: Sophie B. Jacques Actors: Sophie B Jacques, Jason Roy-Leveillee, Marianne Farley, Marc-Andre Doucet-Beauchamp By Caelyn O’Reilly “Cimetière” is a comfortingly Halloweeny short from French-Canadian writer/director (and in this case, actor) Sophie B Jacques. It follows two people sneaking into a graveyard before beginning a probing conversation about life and death that gets very personal. I love the film’s pumpkin-flavoured … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Cimetière
Year: 2022 Runtime: 19 minutes Director/Writer: Cansu Boguslu Actors: Latvinya Ünlüer, Cansel Elcin, Özlem Conker By Valerie Kalfrin The short film “Down from the Clouds” opens with a sobering definition of love: “Giving someone the power to destroy you, and trusting them not to,” according to the title sequence. Su (Lavinya Ünlüer, Kefaret), the young girl at the center of this story, is full of trust, telling her … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Down From the Clouds
Year: 2022 Runtime: 118 minutes Director: Kensuke Sonomura Writer: Hitoshi Ozawa Cast: Hitoshi Ozawa, Masanori Mimoto, Akane Sakanoue, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi, Tak Sakaguchi, Lily Franky, Katsuya, Dan Mitsu, Masaya Kato By Harris Dang Action maestro Kensuke Sonomura is back once again! Showcasing memorable stuntwork alongside genre norms is his bread and butter and in the case of “Bad City” (2022); Sonomura has made his biggest and … Continue reading Fantastic Fest Review: Bad City
Year: 2022 Runtime: 18 minutes Director/Writer: Annie St-Pierre Actors: Lilou Roy-Lanouette, Steve Laplante By Caelyn O’Reilly “Like the Ones I Used to Know” (or “Les Grandes Claques”) is the latest short film from Quebecois director Annie St-Pierre. An emotionally hard-hitting tale of a distant father and daughter at Christmas. First off, I love the way the two titles each use their different connotations to hit … Continue reading Mini Review: Like the Ones I Used to Know
Year: 2022 Runtime: 30 minutes Director/Writer: Elvira Lind Actors: Oscar Isaac, Alia Shawkat, Brian Petsos, John Douglas Thompson, Kenneth Heaton, Eileen Galindo By Rosa Parra “The Letter Room” (2020) is a short film directed and written by Elvira Lind. Starring Oscar Isaac this film follows a correction officer who is assigned to the letter room where he must inspect every letter. Then suddenly he becomes … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: The Letter Room
Year: 2022 Runtime: 9 minutes Director/Writer: Paule Beaudoin Actors: Benjamin Déziel,Olivia Leclair By Juli Horsford “On My Way”(Neige) begins with some stunningly beautiful shots of snow falling on a street. Snow is piled on the road and director Paule Beaudoin manages to capture an intensity in the snowstorm that keeps these early scenes interesting. Then suddenly we’re inside a home with a man who has … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: On My Way (Neige)
Year: 2022 Runtime: 20 minutes Director/Writer: Marianne Farley Actors: Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, Chantal Baril, Kent McQuaid By Valerie Kalfrin A woman stands on a snowy street, tugging her hood over her head to hide her face from the passing police cars more than the cold. Within moments, a meat truck pulls over, the driver asking what she ate that morning. “Water lilies,” she says. Satisfied, he … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Frimas
In Their Own League 