Our second day – and third film – of TIFF20 is reserved for Nicole Riegel’s debut feature ‘Holler’. Riegel, winner of Palm Springs Festival’s “Directors to Watch”-award, channels some serious gritty ‘Winter’s Bone’-vibes, including a promising young lead and a look at a small community living far beneath the poverty line, trying to survive in …
Category Archives: festivals
TIFF20 Review – ‘Tove’
Toronto International Film Festival is off to a great start with Zaida Bergroth’s ‘Tove’, a biography on Tove Jansson’s life, showing both her personal relationships and the creation of the popular Moomin books. Helsinki, 1944. The end of the war brings a new sense of artistic and social freedom for painter Tove Jansson (Alma Pöysti …
Fantasia International Film Festival Short Film Review – ‘Who Goes There?’
Astrid Thorvaldsen’s graduation film from the National Film & Television School in the UK, western/horror ‘Who Goes There?’, was shortlisted for this year’s Student BAFTAs and had its world premiere at Indy Shorts International Film Festival this July, where it won both the Heartland Horror Award and the Heartland Horror Audience Choice award – and …
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Fantasia International Film Festival Review – ‘Sanzaru’
Sanzaru, Japanese, noun – three wise monkeys (who “see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil”), a concept that one can interpret as a denial of unwanted truths. Xia Magnus’ debut feature intertwines spirits from the past and the now, transcending beyond Western borders. Evelyn (Aina Dumlao – ‘Introverts’), a young Filipina caretaker, …
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Fantasia International Film Festival Review – ‘Dinner In America’ & Short Film ‘You Wouldn’t Understand’
‘Dinner In America’ Fantasia International Film Festival has a killer line up this year. ‘Dinner In America’ is by far one of the best films on their 2020 program and will definitely end up in my top 10 films of the year. This is for the misfits! Simon (Kyle Gallner – ‘Ghosts of War’) and …
Darwin International Film Festival 2020: TAKE ONE Announces September Program
‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’ From Australian classics, to Academy Award-nominated flicks and experimental gems, the Darwin International Film Festival (DIFF) returns with DIFF 2020: Take One this September 18—27. Taking place at Darwin’s glorious outdoor venue, Deckchair Cinema, the DIFF 2020: Take One program is made up of 17 films, with 10 curated from the last decade of DIFF, a …
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Fantasia International Film Festival Short Film Review – ‘Doppelbänger’
Character driven sci-fi short film ‘Doppelbänger’ grabs your attention by throwing a sex-scene-gone-wrong at its audience, before delving into the ethical aspects of changing the primary functions of robots in our society. George’s Sia-wig wearing sexbot starts malfunctioning mid-coïtus, which forces him to contact its creator, Pria. Reluctant to pick up the phone, in case …
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Fantasia International Film Festival Review – ‘Sleep’
Marlene, a woman plagued by horrific dreams, suffers a breakdown in a remote village. As her daughter Mona follows, she comes upon a well-kept family secret and an old curse that ultimately threatens her life – a never-ending nightmare. ‘Sleep’ has a serious ‘Twin Peaks’-vibe, with some interesting ideas that feel like a darker version …
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Fantasia International Film Festival Review – ‘Fried Barry’
‘Fried Barry’ is a South African film, based on the 2017 short film of the same name. When lousy dad/husband and heroine junkie Barry gets abducted by aliens, he finds his body taken over by an extraterrestrial entity, who’s ready to explore Cape Town in the wildest way possible. Sex, drugs and violence take center …
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Fantasia International Film Festival Review – ‘Lapsis’
In a parallel present, delivery man Ray Tincelli is struggling to support himself and his ailing younger brother. After a series of two-bit hustles and unsuccessful swindles, Ray takes a job in a strange new realm of the gig economy: trekking deep into the forest, pulling cable over miles of terrain to connect large, metal …
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