Mina Shum’s taut and accomplished documentary The Ninth Floor is an extremely important film about racial discrimination in Canada. Not only does it retell a crucial part of Canadian history that never made it into the history books I studied in school, but the incident it depicts has continued relevance today. The title refers to the […]
Women Directors
In honour of #52filmsbywomen, we've collected all of our reviews of films directed by women and interviews with female directors all in one place.
NFB short Rock The Box **1/2: unclear intentions in promising feminist short
Rhiannon Rozier has a degree in political science and Latin American history, but her true passion is connecting to people through music. She is a DJ and creates electronic dance music (EDM), but she’s also a woman, working in a male-dominated genre. Katherine Monk’s National Film Board of Canada documentary short Rock the Box begins with […]
TIFF15 interview: Ninth Floor director Mina Shum discusses Canadian racism
Ninth Floor director Mina Shum: In Canada, “We’re racist but we like to apologize about our racism.” Shum discusses Canadian racism and her new documentary.
The Diary of a Teenage Girl is about more than sex
When you’re young, there’s a fine line between horseplay and sex. Horseplay is familiar and safe; sex is new and scary. And play fighting is the easiest way to get physically close enough to another person to even put sex on the table. It’s how Minnie’s (Bel Powley) sexual exploits begin in Marielle Heller’s wonderfully […]
Kris Swanberg on Unexpected, her female-driven pregnancy film
Kris Swanberg’s Unexpected is a quiet film full of small, wonderful revelations about what women go through during pregnancy. Swanberg maintains the perspective of the female characters throughout: the men come and go, but the women are always on-screen, often dealing with pregnancy alone.
What Happened, Miss Simone? is all about the passion
Liz Garbus’ new documentary, What Happened, Miss Simone?, consists mainly of rousing historical footage of Simone’s concerts and interviews, while paying tribute to Simone’s achievements and illuminating the struggles in her life. Nina Simone wanted to become the first black female classical pianist to perform at Carnegie Hall. She had to settle for becoming a […]