The Essay Film

Stories We Tell-Tues. Nov. 15, 2022

This feature documentary is an inspired, genre-twisting film directed by Oscar®-nominee Sarah Polley. Polley's playful investigation into the elusive truth buried within the contradictions of a family of storytellers paints a touching and intriguing portrait of a complex network of relatives, friends, and strangers. (NFB website)

This is Not a Film-Tues. Nov. 22, 2022

On December 20, 2010, internationally renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (The White Balloon, The Circle, Crimson Gold, Offside) was convicted of "assembly and colluding with the intention to commit crimes against the country's national security and propaganda against the Islamic Republic." Sentenced to six years under house arrest and a 20-year ban on filmmaking or giving any form of interview, Panahi responded with this purported non-film, made entirely within the confines of his Tehran apartment. Analyzing scenes from his previous films on DVD, blocking out scenes that he will not be allowed to film on the floor of his living room, and spending downtime with his daughter's pet iguana, Panahi and his co-director Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (who was himself arrested in 2011) offer a master class in filmmaking, a philosophical reflection on the making of art, and-in the film's gradual accruing of narrative layers and intra-cinematic references-a remarkable artwork as well. Fascinating, moving and masterful, This is Not a Film is one of the best (and bravest) films of the last decade. (TIFF website)

Koyaanisqatsi-Tues. Nov. 29, 2022

An unconventional work in every way, Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi was nevertheless a sensation when it was released in 1983. This first work of The Qatsi Trilogy wordlessly surveys the rapidly changing environments of the Northern Hemisphere, in an astonishing collage created by the director, cinematographer Ron Fricke, and composer Philip Glass. It shuttles viewers from one jaw-dropping vision to the next, moving from images of untouched nature to others depicting human beings' increasing dependence on technology. Koyaanisqatsi's heterodox methods (including hypnotic time-lapse photography) make it a look at our world from a truly unique angle. (The Criterion Collection website)

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance-Tues. Dec. 6, 2022

In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien'kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin-at times with a small crew, at times alone-spent 78 days behind Kanien'kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protestors, the Quebec police and the Canadian army. Released in 1993, this landmark documentary has been seen around the world, winning over a dozen international awards and making history at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it became the first documentary ever to win the Best Canadian Feature award. Jesse Wente, Director of Canada's Indigenous Screen Office, has called it a "watershed film in the history of First Peoples cinema." (NFB website)