I enjoyed the films seen in the second half of TIFF much more, in general, than those I reported on in my previous postOverall at TIFF this year I went to 29 screenings comprising 17 shorts, 3 TV episodes, and 26 features. (That includes one walkout.) I don't have time to write about everything; below are some comments on my favourites from what I ( Read more... )

My experience at the Vancouver International Film Festival this year was terrific; 2014 is already an amazing year for world cinema, as far as I'm concerned. At VIFF I saw 54 feature-length films and 11 shorts. (That might seem like a lot, but there were more than 150 other feature films at VIFF that I did not see!) Kudos to the festival ( Read more... )

Before VIFF starts I want to say something about what I saw at TIFF. Of the 26 screenings I attended there, most were excellent. Here's my top ten.

1. Who Am I-No System Is Safe [Who Am I - Kein System ist sicher] (dir. Baran bo Odar, Germany)
2. The Dark Horse (dir. James Napier Robertson, New Zealand)
3. Wild Tales [Relatos salvajes] (dir. ( Read more... )

Here is the list of my ten favourite 2013 narrative films that were not eligible for the Oscars. I am excluding documentaries; will probably do a separate list of those. Most of these were foreign films that I saw at VIFF.

1. I Belong / Som du ser meg (dir. Dag Johan Haugerud)

2. The Lunchbox (dir. Ritesh Batra)

3. A Hijacking / Kapringen (dir. ( Read more... )

This is my roundup of the 26 films I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. First, here are my five favourites:

1. Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuarón). I generally avoid the Hollywood blockbusters at TIFF (because why waste a film festival ticket on something that will be released within a few weeks) but this year I admit, ( Read more... )

TIFF 2012 had a great start for me yesterday; I went to three films in the TIFF Cinematheque programme, which is entirely free of charge at the festival this year.

The procedure at Bell Lightbox (which last night was subject to information picketing by CEP, whose workers were locked out by Bell) was as follows: a TIFF staff member would begin ( Read more... )