UNARMED VERSES SHOWS THE RHYMES AND THE REASONS
French-language and foreign films vie with horror for your movie-going time
Unarmed Verses: A moving new documentary by Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer that won the Best Canadian Feature award at Hot Docs last spring, Unarmed Verses returns for a run at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema this week. Looking for fresh takes on the experiences of Black youths in the wake of the Trayvon Martin shooting in the U.S., Officer ventured deep into the lives of the young residents of Villaways, a public housing community in Toronto’s north end that has since been demolished (a new complex is now under construction). At the centre of Officer’s film is Francine Valentine, a sensitive adolescent who tries to voice her innermost feelings and fears in the form of the hip-hop track we see her develop and perform as part of a neighbourhood Arts Starts program. The value of the arts, the pressures of gentrification, the fragility of communities and the realities of race and class in contemporary Toronto are just a few of the themes that Unarmed Verses explores with great intelligence and grace. The film plays Friday until Wednesday, with producer Lea Marin on hand for a post-screening Q&A on Friday — while Officer will be at theshowing on Monday along with special guests.
Cinefranco: Toronto’s annual showcase of French-language cinema returns with a generous selection of 16 features and six shorts from France, Quebec, Belgium, Morocco, Portugal, Germany and the Ivory Coast. The program at the Carlton begins Friday with 9, le film, an adaptation of the hit play by Stephane E. Roy as mounted by nine of Quebec’s foremost directors, including Erik Canuel ( Bon Cop Bad Cop). Roy will be in attendance for the movie’s Ontario premiere. Other highly anticipated titles in Cinefranco’s 20th anniversary edition include R.A.I.D. Special Unit (Saturday), the latest by French comedy superstar Dany Boon, and
Rock’n Roll (Monday), a cheeky pseu- do-autobiographical effort by actordirector Guillaume Canet co-starring his real-life partner Marion Cotillard. Cinefranco runs Friday to Thursday.
Reelworld: Continuing its strong resurgence in recent editions, the Reelworld Film Festival returns this week with a wide variety of new work highlighting and promoting social change around the globe. The 17th annual festival begins on Wednesday with the Toronto premiere of Abu, director Arshad Khan’s doc about his struggles with his sexual identity and its impact on his relationships with his devoutly Muslim family. The filmmaker will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening at the Glenn Gould Studio. Reelworld continues with more docs, features and shorts at Famous Players Canada Square, plus VR and video game demos at the Toronto Reference Library.
It wraps up on Oct. 15 with a screening of In Jesus’ Name: Shattering the Silence of St. Anne’s Residential School, a new 42-minute doc about the site of some of the worst abuses in the shameful history of Canada’s residential schools. The evening also includes an acceptance ceremony for Jesse Wente, winner of Reelworld’s inaugural Reelworld Reel Activist Award.
Toronto After Dark: Last but not least in this week’s flurry of fall film fests, Toronto After Dark gets the jump on Halloween by presenting its 12th annual bounty of horror, sciencefiction, action and cult movies Oct. 12-18 at the Scotiabank Theatre. The opening-night slots go to two intriguing new genre flicks. Adapted by John “Derf” Backderf’s autobiographical graphic novel about the time he spent in high school with the budding serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer,
My Friend Dahmer stars former Disney Channel heartthrob Ross Lynch as a troubled youngster whose propensity for violence is just beginning to emerge.
A Canadian thriller making its world premiere on Thursday, Sixty Seconds
of Midnight is the story of a construction worker who becomes a very reluctant contestant on a murderous version of Big Brother. Look for more picks from Toronto After Dark in next week’s Projections.