Tag Archives: AIFF2017

#AIFF2017 Finale and Wrap-Up: Call Me By Your Name, The Florida Project

September 22, 2017 flawintheiris

Thursday night's films were number 23 and 24 for me at this year's Atlantic International Film Festival, not counting the shorts program. I've seen a collection of strong Canadian and independent American films and some of the year's best international fare, and somehow managed not to get sick, though it was a little touch and… Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 7: Geek Girls, Novitiate

September 21, 2017 flawintheiris

Geek Girls Here's a message to documentary filmmakers: Your project may not be entirely feasible if you make yourself the centre of it and not once, but twice, you show footage of yourself calling possible interviewees, while your voice-over says something like, "Many experts and celebrities I'd hoped to speak to bailed out at the… Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 6: Loving Vincent, How To Talk To Girls At Parties

September 20, 2017 flawintheiris

Loving Vincent An animated film that boasts (in its opening crawl) 100 artists hand-painted the thing. I'm not sure what the point is knowing that up front unless to direct viewers to the visuals rather than the somewhat less impressive script. Loving Vincent uses a mix of actors on sets, rotoscopic animation, and CGI to create… Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 5: Lucky, Small Town Crime, and God’s Own Country

September 19, 2017 flawintheiris

Lucky The death of Harry Dean Stanton barely 72 hours ago made Monday afternoon's screening of his final starring role that much more poignant, and even more so because the film is an old man's rumination on life and his own mortality. It reminded me a little of Paterson, without the poetry or twin iconography,… Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 4: Reel East Coast Shorts Gala, A Fantastic Woman

September 18, 2017 flawintheiris

The collection of regional films at this year's Reel East Coast Shorts Gala was pleasantly solid, a good range of genre pieces, drama, and documentary. Standouts for me: Kevin A. Fraser's Invading Giants, about people in Newfoundland who love icebergs. The drone cinematography is breathtaking. The whole thing could've been about the French graduate student… Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 3: The Square, Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Sweet Virginia

September 17, 2017 flawintheiris

I tend to be impressed by film doing a single thing well and managing to do that one good thing through its running time. Ruben Östlund's Palme d'or-winning The Square manages to be good at doing many things simultaneously, to the point where it's hard to collect all those things in your head at once. I… Read More

#AIFF2017 Day 2: The Child Remains, Mary Shelley, plus The Crescent

September 16, 2017 flawintheiris

The comfortably full Cinema 8 at Park Lane was the site of the gala premiere of Michael Melski's The Child Remains, his long-gestating supernatural thriller, on Friday evening. It was clearly an emotional event for the writer-director, and he had many kind things to say about his crew and cast. Unfortunately, we also had to put… Read More

#AIFF2017 Opening Gala: Long Time Running review

September 15, 2017 flawintheiris

The gala red carpet premiere of the Atlantic International Film Festival took place at the Rebecca Cohn on Thursday evening, a lovely venue, especially for the music-filled launch film chosen: Long Time Running, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier's documentary of the Tragically Hip's 2016 tour. I still had a twinge of regret we weren't… Read More

#AIFF2017 Preview + CTV + The Coast!

September 14, 2017 flawintheiris

September is here, and so is the AFF, or FIN, or AIFF. Whatever you call it, the local film festival is a bonanza for the Haligonian film lover, a chance to see local, Canadian, and international features and shorts, many of which won't ever find their way to a big screen near you. Last weekend… Read More

Atlantic International Film Festival 2017 Picks

September 10, 2017 flawintheiris

I've been attending the Atlantic Film Festival—as either a film fan or a film writer—since 2003. I've seen it grow to a 10 day event with more than 200 films, and I've seen it shrink back down to a more manageable 120 screenings. I've seen red carpet sell-out events at the Oxford Theatre and the… Read More