When climate change first started showing up in the news, people feared Canada’s North would literally melt away. As scientists debate and differing opinions—and confusion—abound, that initial panic seems to have ebbed. Amongst nearly everybody, of course, but the Inuit. After a lifetime of observation and generations of knowledge, Inuit elders say the melt is […] More »

Just two days ago, we were telling you about a This feature appearing in the just-launched Best Canadian Essays 2010. Here’s another This feature taking flight: We were pleased yesterday to find Patricia Bailey’s feature on the new wave of Québécois cinema, from the May-June 2010 issue, reprinted (with permission, natch) in Courrier International, the prestigious […] More »

Around the corner from This’ offices the Toronto International Film Festival has set-up its Director’s Lounge. Orange-shirted volunteers stand at the doors and, peering in, I see uncomfortable-looking but fashionable furniture, backdrops emblazoned with government sponsorships and, just maybe, a star or two. Oh, and cameras. Lots of cameras. For 10 days, playing host to […] More »

Young Québécois filmmakers are rejecting the commercially successful nostalgia movies of recent years in favour of suburban ennui, substance abuse, and suicide. Get ready to get gloomy! The title of Quebec director Stéphane Lafleur’s Continental, un film sans fusil (Continental, A Film Without Guns) is not only a playful warning to viewers seeking the adrenaline […] More »

The epic wars of the past between filmmakers and critics—Vincent Canby’s mano a mano with James Toback, James Cameron going cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs on any critic who looks at him funny, or the minor dustup that happened at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, in which a producer’s rep was punched in the face by […] More »

Once upon a time, saying a film looked “Canadian” meant that it looked “low budget.” Gone are those days. Take for example, The Trotsky, one of the latest Canadian films to fall into the national and international spotlight after doing the rounds at various film festivals. Starring Canadian Jay Baruchel as Leon Bronstein, a 17-year-old […] More »

Tell someone you like science fiction, fantasy or horror films and you might get “the look.” A look that says, “Are you silly, immature or, worse, pervy?” Fans of genre cinema—the term applies to many different categories of film but is most commonly applied to sci-fi, fantasy and horror—have long had a bad rep as […] More »

As part of our partnership with Toronto’s Images Festival, we’ve got a week of free tickets to give away for festival screenings and other events. Every day this week we’ll have a pair of tickets to give away to some lucky winner, and all you have to do to be that person is correctly answer […] More »

This Magazine is pleased to offer, as part of our partnership with Toronto’s Images Festival, a week of free tickets to festival screenings and other events. We’ll be giving away a pair of tickets every day this week, and all you have to do to win is correctly answer our skill-testing question of the day. […] More »

If ever there was a conspiracy theory that had every likelihood of being true, it’s that a shadowy cabal of billionaires are meeting at some remote location in the Swiss Alps (perhaps the Hotel Mont Pelerin, or the latest Bilderberg stronghold) to plot how to most effectively screw the rest of the world. Michael Moore’s […] More »

With shoe-polish smeared across his eyes, and a duct-taped “D” insignia across his chest, the simple minded Arthur Poppington(played by Woody Harrelson) transforms himself into an unconventional, but heroic vigilante: Defendor. The film takes place in the seedy underbelly of an unnamed industrial town—in reality, a not-at-all-diguised Hamilton, Ont.—an unlikely setting for the unlikeliest of super-heroes.  […] More »