You have to doff your cap to the folks at TIFF Bell Lightbox for bringing one of the leading directors in all of world cinema to have a chat. Just $22.75 (for non-members) will get you in the door.
The Iranian maestro of toying with perspective and director of acclaimed work like Close-Up, Taste of Cherry and Certified Copy will discuss his work with TIFF CEO Piers Handling Nov. 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Obviously, you only get these type of guests when they’re out stumping for some new bit of fancy, which in this case is the art installation "Doors Without Keys" that is opening Nov. 21 at the Aga Khan Museum. Apparently it’s a compendium of photographs taken over two decades of “doors" from Italy, Morocco and France.
This also serves as a lead-up to two separate Kiarostami retrospectives in 2016, one at TIFF Bell Lightbox and another at the aforementioned Aga Khan Museum.
Frederick Wiseman talks about In Jackson Heights (via Skype)
Speaking of masters, one of the true institutions of American documentary cinema is joining attendees via the interwebs to talk about his new film In Jackson Heights at Bloor Hot Docs Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Frederick Wiseman’s work may seem startling spare to some. That might be because he’s no Ken Burns. His films don’t guide the viewer with narration, talking heads or other tropes you see in most docs today, but he has been able to pinch unforgettable drama out of raw footage for decades. No one explores how institutions affect the lives of their constituents like Wiseman in films like Titicut Follies.
In Jackson Heights is a long film but it’s garnering a lot of positive buzz. It adds voices and stories, the ones you might not get to hear often enough, to the impact of gentrification on a neighbourhood.
Screening Roundup
A month late for Halloween but, Rainbow Cinemas Market Square has a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s early, low-budget Roger Corman horror flick Dementia 13 Nov. 21 at 11:15 p.m.
Its reputation, such as there is one, stems from a murder scene that took it up a notch from Hitchcock’s Psycho. By today’s standards it’s not much more than a curiosity.
Everyone loves Audrey Hepburn right? Well, Brentwood Public Library has a free screening of Breakfast at Tiffany’s Nov. 22 at 10 a.m. if you’re so inclined to start your day with teary-eyed romance.
Toronto Screengrab of the Week
Last week was the god awful Eddie Murphy space comedy The Adventures of Pluto Nash. This week is a middling flick starring Bo Svenson before "Walking Tall", and The Inglorious Bastards.
