“My face will be on the big screen? That’s terrifying!” I exclaimed to my friend Nisreen Baker as we discussed her latest project, Arab Women Say What?! It was 2018, and little did I know that I’d be going on a wild five-year ride with my friends, not expecting the profound impact this documentary would have on me (and, hopefully, on audiences). Nermeen Youssef is an Egyptian-Canadian health policy advisor and participant in Nisreen Baker’s latest feature documentary, Arab Women Say What?! Having known Nisreen personally and keenly watched her previous works, including Things Arab Men Say, I k ..read more

Uncovering family secrets is lonely work, especially if, like me, you happen to be the secret.    I met my father’s side of the family when I was 16. Some members didn’t know I existed until shortly before my first visit in 1993. They’d heard things, but they waited for my father to disclose me on his own time. When he finally did, I had nothing but questions about half of my family history.  The problem was, Dad had a hard time talking about his family. My grandfather, Dad’s father, had been a staunch alcoholic for much of his existence, and Dad was still sorting through h ..read more

Afterwards represents two years of my life. Two years in the shadow of violence. Two years of struggling with something I’m desperately trying to grasp, but will never understand: violence against women. This film has left an indelible mark on me. It has not only changed my perspective, but also my relationship with the world around me. During the process of making it, I committed my thoughts, my fears, and my worries to a notebook that traces my evolution over the course of the project. The entries below are a compilation of excerpts from this journal of the film’s creation. WATCH THE NEW DOC ..read more

To research this very piece I’m writing now, I watched The Spirit of the Tŝilhqot’in People Is Hovering Over the Supreme Court, one of the world premieres included in the new Alanis Obomsawin: A Legacy DVD box set, and found myself breathing a sigh of relief. In its short 18-minute run, we follow the Tŝilhqot’in Nation as they gain Aboriginal title and rights over their traditional territory in west-central British Columbia. The film’s slow pans over the territory’s lush valleys and regal mountains jolt you into the hopeful realization that this gorgeous landscape will never again be exploited ..read more

It’s difficult for many of us to understand how anyone could return to prison after being set free. Wasn’t freedom addictive? Wasn’t the threat of returning to prison a sufficient deterrent to committing punishable breaches? What the documentary Conviction makes clear is that we can’t possibly understand the cycle until we’re in it, so it shows us what “in it” means.  Conviction is a film by Nance Ackerman, Teresa MacInnes and Ariella Pahlke, but you could easily argue that it’s also by Treena, Caitlin, Laura and Bianca, four inmates from the correctional facility featured in the document ..read more

We interviewed filmmaker Marie Clements and artist Niall McNeil, the star of her film Lay Down Your Heart. They tackled the challenges of filming a people-centred film during COVID, the chosen families that often emerge within theatre communities, and the many ways art invites you to open your heart. What can audiences expect from Lay Down Your Heart? Marie: We are hoping that they’ll be introduced to Mr. Niall McNeil and his work. How he creates and how he has brought both his blood family and his theatre family together in this unique creation.  Niall: I think the audience will be ..read more

On the surface, the documentary Anything for Fame might seem like it’s observing what a handful of influencers and content creators will do for glory. But 10 minutes in, you begin to understand that this film is really about a business model that’s skewed heavily in favour of huge online platforms, while those who create the content that generates traffic to these sites struggle to reap any of the rewards. The sometimes-rough quality of videos that appear on social media can make it seem like this content magically happens with little effort, but the reality is that hard work goes into even th ..read more

Guest writer Alexandra Ouchev heaps praise and some playful shade on her distinguished dad, world-renowned animator Theodore Ushev. “Alex, my daughter, I love you!” is the message I receive from Theodore Ushev, the filmmaker.  “What do you want?” is what I reply. “NFB wants you to write a text about me?” I honestly don’t know why they would ask me to do this, because I will make fun of him, but I can only accept such a request. This is my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embarrass him in the most respectful way possible. But let me introduce myself first, before we make this all about my ..read more

I’ve been making my own ink for almost 10 years now as the founder of the Toronto Ink Company. This urban-foraged ink company began in my kitchen with an ingredient that literally fell from a tree. It was a black walnut. Black walnuts look a bit like limes and can be found on the ground in the autumn, at the base of a tree that’s common throughout North America and Europe. I knew that black walnuts could be made into ink because of a small bottle of the stuff that I’d bought years before, when I was living in New York, working as an illustrator. Jason Logan is an internationally recognized des ..read more

“You can smell the difference between smooth rock and jagged.” This is quintessential Tanya Tagaq—casually brilliant, sometimes playful, and effortlessly evocative to the point where almost every declaration and observation stops the listener in their tracks. It’s not so much a game of metaphor, lyric or poem, but rather another facet of Tagaq’s immutable, irrepressible artistry. Her creativity, her connection to the land, to nuna, is voracious and tender, embodied and whole, untameable and, as the film promises, ever deadly. Tagaq’s co-director and collaborator, Chelsea McMullan, didn’t exact ..read more