PINSENT DOC TRACKS ACTOR’S RISE TO FAME
The River of My Dreams: A Portrait of Gordon Pinsent: One of the country’s most beloved performers gets the tribute he deserves in a new film that opens at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema this weekend. The River of
My Dreams traces Gordon Pinsent’s trajectory from his Newfoundland boyhood to his rise to prominence on Stratford’s stage, to his times in Hollywood and back in Canada, where films like The Rowdyman and his TV miniseries John and the Missus fostered a sense of confidence for English-Canadian screen drama. Pinsent and filmmaker Brigitte Berman will both attend the Q&A following the showing on Friday. The film’s run continues to Tuesday. The8fest: Digital devices may have long since replaced the Super 8 camera as the go-to tool for home movies, but there’s no question about which was the coolest way of preserving family BBQs for posterity.
Now in its 10th year, the8fest is Toronto’s annual showcase for new and old works made on Super 8 and other small-gauge film formats. Among the special events in the three-day program are a screening and artist’s talk by Saul Levine, a filmmaker who’s been key figure in the American avant-garde since his days as a camera-toting student radical in the ’60s. An artist and programmer based in Saskatoon, Alex Rogalski also gets some screen time during the8fest, as does the Super 8 handiwork of Reid Diamond, the late Toronto artist and erstwhile Shadowy Man on a Shadowy Planet.
The8fest runs Friday to Sunday at SPK Polish Combatants’ Hall (206 Beverly St.).
Volcano: The Films of Anna Magnani: TIFF Cinematheque celebrates one of the preeminent stars of Italian cinema’s golden age with a new retrospective. Volcano: The Films of
Anna Magnani includes 24 features and one short starring the Romanborn actress who first achieved fame with her heartbreaking performance in Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open
City, the opening salvo for Italian neo-realism. Another classic that plays the retro’s first weekend, Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Mamma Roma (1962) is powered by Magnani’s magnificent turn as a prostitute who’ll do anything for a better life for her son — it plays on Saturday. The series continues to March 11 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
The Love Witch: American artist and filmmaker Anna Biller has a forte for creating feminist spins on exploitation movies of yesteryear. Whereas her 2007 feature Viva explored the tropes of ’70s soft-core sleaze, her new film The Love Witch delves into the sexual and gender dynamics of Hitchcock thrillers and campier tales of femmes fatales. Biller is just as fastidious when it comes to replicating the sumptuous look and feel of her inspirations. Biller’s film continues to cast its spell on Sunday, Feb. 4 and Feb. 7.
The Settlers at Doc Soup: The Settlers traces the past and present of the Occupied Territories in the West Bank via a combination of archival footage and new interviews with supporters and critics of the settlements. Filmmaker Shimon Dotan will be on hand to discuss his take on the subject after The Settlers screens at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on Wednesday and Thursday.
In brief:
The European Union Film Festival launches a monthly series of free screenings at the Royal with a matinee of Jacques Tati’s Jour de Fete on Sunday.
The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema’s arts-centric Doc Soup Sundays program continues with Gabo: The Creation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a portrait of the Mexican literary titan. It plays Sunday with a post-screening Skype Q&A by director Justin Webster.
The final film by Polish director Andrej Wajda before he died last October, Afterimage plays the AGO’s Jackman Hall Wednesday to Feb. 4.
Cineplex’s Flashback Film Fest presents digital screenings of perennial faves at participating theatres Feb. 3-9. jandersonesque@gmail.com