Category Archives: Canadian

2022 Canadian Screen Awards update

April 11, 2022 flawintheiris

The big winner at this year's Canadian Screen Awards — which celebrates film, documentary, television, and shorts — was Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s Scarborough, which brought home eight Canadian Screen Awards over the course of the week of awards, including Best Motion Picture, Best Achievement in Direction, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Scarborough recently screened…Read More

Night Blooms review — Local indie a sterling debut

April 8, 2022 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Stephanie Joline | 98 min | ▲▲▲▲△ Stephanie Joline, formerly Clattenburg, has been making waves in the local film and music scene for years. She's served as a drummer in rock bands, worked as an actor in Andrea Dorfman's Heartbeat, on various local productions in the camera department, made short films,…Read More

Tin Can review — Homegrown sci-fi horror chills to the core

March 18, 2022 flawintheiris

Tin Can | Directed by Seth A Smith | Written by Smith and Darcy Spidle | 99 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | VOD A version of this review appeared during my coverage of the FIN Atlantic International Film Festival in September 2021. Tin Can is a compelling, claustrophobic sci-fi thriller from Smith, whose South Shore-set ghost…Read More

Wildhood review — Indigenous coming-of-age picture a unique pleasure

March 11, 2022 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Bretten Hannam | 100 min | ▲▲▲▲△ | Crave Plus A version of this review first appeared on FITI during the FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival in September 2021. Bretten Hannam is a Two-Spirit L’nu filmmaker. Their first feature was called North Mountain, a wintry thriller that was also a Two-Spirit drama,…Read More

Dawn, Her Dad and the Tractor review — A heartfelt homecoming

March 4, 2022 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Shelley Thompson | 90 min | ▲▲▲△△ | Crave Plus A version of this review first appeared during the coverage of the FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival in September, 2021. Dawn (Maya V Henry) is trans, returning home to the Nova Scotia farm where she grew up. It's a community where…Read More

Halifax Black Film Festival 2022 has arrived!

February 24, 2022 flawintheiris

Starting today is the 6th Annual Halifax Black Film Festival, running from through Sunday, February 27th. https://youtu.be/RaeVddI1nwg Expect a deep and broad selection of short films, features, and documentaries from Canada and around the world, all available to be watched online over the coming days. Individual tickets are $12 and an all-access pass $49. I…Read More

CODA review — A superb slice of tear-jerking dramedy

February 7, 2022 flawintheiris

Directed by Sian Heder | Written by Heder, based on the film La Famille Bélier, written by Victoria Bedos, Stanislas Carré de Malberg, Éric Lartigau, and Thomas Bidegain | 111 min | Apple TV + | ▲▲▲▲△ CODA is an acronym, Child Of Deaf Adults. That's teenager Ruby Rossi (Emilia Jones) who in her family…Read More

Violation review — An empty effort at art house horror

January 25, 2022 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer | 107 min | Shudder and VOD | ▲△△△△ I had a discussion and disagreement with a fellow film reviewer recently. They admitted to not being a fan of high-brow scares, the arthouse-invading "elevated horror" pictures like The Babadook or Hereditary or Saint Maud. Instead, they…Read More

Top 10 Films of 2021

January 10, 2022 flawintheiris

I wouldn't say 2021 was a stellar year at the movies, even as the backlog of pandemic-delayed Hollywood features piled up at the year's end, but it did feature a number of quality independent and international films, as is reflected by the number of them on my list. I hope this is useful to you,…Read More

Night Raiders review — Indigenous science-fiction channels the real world

October 12, 2021 flawintheiris

Written and Directed by Danis Goulet | 97 min | Crave Plus Niska (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) and her daughter, Waseese (Brooklyn Letexier-Hart), live out in the woods in a converted bus. While hunting Waseese injures her ankle. It's especially bad timing as later that evening they're detected by a hunter drone and have to go on…Read More