TIFF Bell Lightbox does the eighties, Japanese-style
We should all see more Japanese films – and TIFF Bell Lightbox’s massive Spotlight on Japan series of programmes makes this easy. A few years ago, my brother broadly introduced me to Asian cinema. We...
View ArticleLetter from the Editor: hooray for women in film!
As I was watching the Academy Awards just a little over a week ago, it struck me yet again just how vast the discrepancies are in how the media represents gender. While the pre-show coverage of the red...
View Article5 worst female film characters…written by women
Have you ever pondered this phenomenon? I’ve often had the occurrence that, after watching a movie and thinking to myself, “there’s no way a woman could have written this, it’s absolutely ridiculous”...
View ArticleMeet the TFS Writers: Meaghan MacInnis
For three years now, I’ve had the privilege of working with the TFS team. It’s certainly been a uniquely fun experience for me to share my love of film and Toronto with this team of amazing individuals...
View ArticleSpotlight On: Women in Film and Television Toronto
It seems bizarre that even now in the second decade of the 21st century, women are still underrepresented in film. At the 2012 Genie Awards, of the five directors nominated, only one of them was a...
View Article5 great female film characters written by men
The male dominance in the film industry often gets blamed for the reason why there are so few great roles for actresses and films that the female movie-going demographic can relate to. Well, here are 5...
View ArticleBeauties, babes and bombshells in Canadian film
It’s easy to dismiss the idea of the “Canadian bombshell” because our film industry is relatively young, and perhaps we don’t have the Greta Garbos, Marilyn Monroes or Ava Gardners of Hollywood’s...
View ArticleCinema Revisited: Who is Lina Wertmüller?
Lina Wertmüller is a conundrum. The Italian filmmaker (she gets her umlauts from aristocratic Swiss descent) was the first woman to be nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for her masterful 1975...
View ArticleThe TFS List: female buddy films
The genre of the “buddy film” is historically male dominated, and has continued to be male dominated with films like Wedding Crashers and The Hangover being hugely successful. A lot of female...
View ArticleInterview with Blood Pressure Director Sean Garrity
Sean Garrity’s body of work is marked by constant change. His latest film, Blood Pressure, is proof positive of that, wandering far from the broad sex comedy of his previous film My Awkward Sexual...
View ArticleChick Flicks Guys Can Watch
When it came time to write an article about chick flicks that guys could enjoy, my name quickly found its way to the top of the list. Who better to write an article such as this one than the guy who...
View Article21st Century Pickford: women in film who live up to Mary Pickford’s legacy
When we think about a woman’s place in the world in the dawning of the twentieth century we don’t often think of them as having a lot of power over their own circumstances. Without the ability to vote...
View ArticleTFS Essentials: Dirty Dancing, feminism and the female gaze
I was in my early teens when I was first introduced to the unbelievable phenomenon that is Dirty Dancing. It was the early ’90s, about five years after the film actually came out in 1987. I watched it...
View ArticleTFS Essential Canadian Cinema: I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing
Patricia Rozema’s debut film I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing is one that seems omnipresent when people begin making lists of classic Canadian films. The story centres on the ever-whimsical Polly...
View ArticleWho is she? Hollywood and the 1990s femme fatale
Look at her: she’s dangerous, sexy, probably lying to you, and lookin’ good doing it. Who is she? Well, she’s probably Sharon Stone or Demi Moore, and it’s most likely around 1994. I’ve never quite...
View ArticleThe peculiar world of wedding comedies
Alright-y then, this blog post shall be about everyone’s favourite topic: weddings. Rather, movies about weddings, or rather, female-oriented wedding comedies. I’ve only just realized how hilariously...
View ArticleThe woeful underrepresentation of women in directing
When I saw Zero Dark Thirty, the same thing happened to me as when I saw The Hurt Locker: I wanted to watch the movie on an infinite loop. Since that wasn’t possible, it being in theatres and all, I...
View ArticleTFS Questions: Liane Balaban, Jenna Wright and Vanessa Matsui, Founders of...
Getting a visit from Aunt Flo, that time of the month, riding the crimson wave: you’d think that something experienced monthly by 53% of the world population would be something that’s more openly...
View ArticleHer Story: where did the rom com go wrong? (and rom coms that get it right)
Much has been written recently about the state of romantic comedy films, or more specifically, the downfall of the “chick flick”. There are many out there who take issue with that term because it...
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