After years of threatening, I’ve finally started a podcast: Re-Creative. Actually, that’s not really true. My co-host, Joe Mahoney, is really the one to credit… The post Introducing Re-Creative, a podcast about creativity and the art that inspires it appeared first on mark a. rayner.
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PostArctica: News From Home – a film by Chantal Akerman
How long is a long take? That’s the question I was asking myself as I began watching this mesmerizing film which is basically a lot of long takes in New York City while the director reads letters (with English subtitles) her mother had sent her from Belgium when she had
Continue readingPostArctica: I Yam What I Yam
A film by Bryan Konefsky TRT 16.5 minutes, Bryan Konefsky 2005 In 1929 monocular vision was not limited to the gaze of telescopes (Edwin Hubble) or movie cameras (Dziga Vertov). 1929 was also the year that the one-eyed, “strong to the finish” sailor named Popeye was first introduced to the
Continue readingezra winton: What is Screen Ethics?
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
Continue readingezra 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 readingThe Political Road Map: Politics in Cinema
May the fourth be with you and May you enjoy this post and share it throughout the galaxy! To say that cinema has become a favorite past time of people is to greatly under appreciate its impact on our society and our lives. I always find it interesting how the
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: Padre – Inspired Political Animation
I love this short Argentine animation film Padre, and I think you will too. If the film piques your interest into animation production, then check out the wonderful making-of short the filmmakers have so generously provided here (https://vimeo.com/886…
Continue readingezra winton: Padre – Inspired Political Animation
I love this short Argentine animation film Padre, and I think you will too. If the film piques your interest into animation production, then check out the wonderful making-of short the filmmakers have so generously provided here.
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 readingezra winton: My Programmers Rant – 2014
I’ve watched over 50 documentaries in the last two weeks (and many more over 14 years of programming), and here’s what I’m thinking: The first point is so important that I’d like to just put it up front and center, then get on with the lesser evils of contemporary documentary
Continue readingezra winton: A new class, a new city
This just in! NSCAD University has informed me that they will indeed offer my class, “Cinemas of Globalization” this summer. I’m thrilled to be heading to Halifax for May and June to teach this intense, around-the-world course on the cultural, social, historical and political context of non-mainstream and non-Western cinemas!
Continue readingezra winton: Old and new political satire
These two short political satires (above) are from different eras (1986 and 2013, respectively) and tackling totally different issues (colonization/racism and sexuality/homophobia, respectively), but watching the newer of the two, Love Is All You Need totally reminded me of BabaKieuria, a classic that has been long-forgotten in the canons of
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: Appreciating B-Movies
It drives Susan to distraction that I love B-flicks. She squirms and fidgets if I put one into the DVD player and can seldom sit through an entire movie. They get cut off mid-film, and saved for me some time … Continue reading →
Continue readingArt Threat: Bowling for Columbine turns ten
Editor’s note: Art Threat has launched a cultural archaeological project that involves digging up previously published but now inaccessible film reviews and cultural musings from Montreal-based writer and teacher Matthew Hays. We’re calling it The Hays Files, and to get things rolling, we’re republishing a review Hays wrote of Bowling
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