Theater Camp is less of a satire on community theatre nor is it a snide comedy towards theatre dorks. In fact, Theater Camp is actually quite sincere with its representation of people who are very enthusiastic about the performing arts – kids and adults alike. Through that sincerity, there are still self-aware moments that will make this moviegoing demographic laugh at themselves but, still, Theater Camp is all in good fun.
Directed by Lucy Harvey and Danielle Kummer, Alien on Stage is an unexpectedly heartwarming documentary about an amateur theatre group comprised of Dorset bus drivers who set out to produce a stage adaptation of Ridley Scott’s classic sci-fi/horror Alien. Though their initial adaptation is serious, they are given the opportunity to take their show to London’s West End as a comedy.
By: Jolie Featherstone Johnny Ma’s latest feature film, To Live To Sing, is an ethereal love letter to traditional Sichuan opera troupes and to the indefatigable drive of artists protecting their vision, legacy, and family.
In Mouthpiece, two women play the lead character. Not with strategic editing or a duel Sliding Doors-esque narrative, but simultaneously on-screen. While this may sound like an excuse for the filmmakers to showboat and earn arthouse cred, the results couldn’t be farther from being just a fancy trick.
By: Jessica Goddard Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened is a documentary that operates largely like a moving, speaking scrapbook, and for this reason it is both preciously poignant and guilty of some (ultimately forgivable) navel-gazing.
Have you ever felt like just watching a film wasn’t enough? For movie lovers desiring to get a bit more out of a night at the cinema, The Movie Experience is an immersive film event presented by The Secret Sessions designed to bring audiences into their favorite cult classic films. Though the first event of its kind hosted by this organization, similar fusions of film and theatre having been popping up in the Toronto social…
There should be something in Robin and Mark and Richard III for nearly every CanCon-loving Canadian; be it directors Martha Burns and Susan Coyne, Mark McKinney of Kids in the Hall fame, or the slew of Canadian theatre royalty – not even including the subject, theatre legend Robin Phillips.
By: Addison Wylie TIFF’s short film programmes have always featured creative work made by gifted people. This year, Peterborough born filmmaker Zack Russell is one of those people. She Stoops to Conquer marks Russell’s filmmaking debut, but he couldn’t be farther from being a beginner. His sweeping theatre experience has allowed Russell to gradually learn how to communicate with actors, how to block a scene, and how to understand the emotions behind a playwright’s work. After watching…
By: Addison Wylie For those looking for a seasonal flick, Getting to the Nutcracker may hit the spot. Serene Meshel-Dillman’s documentary about the conception of The Nutcracker at Los Angeles’ Marat Daukayev School of Ballet is a eloquent film. If you’re a theatre enthusiast and are already humming Tchaikovsky, Getting to the Nutcracker will have you grinning throughout its entirety. Dillman documents each phase as best as possible leading up to the big show (which…
By: Addison Wylie Last year, I caught a humbling documentary called André Gregory: Before and After Dinner. Cindy Kleine’s candid look at Gregory’s life and multi-talented career stole my heart and made me very interested in what the artist had to offer for the future. In the doc, Gregory and his close collaborator Wallace Shawn are working on their latest work – an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. You may remember Shawn for his…