Weekly Roundup: DOXA lineup announcement, Canadian Screen Awards Winners, and Luc Moullet on the Duke

Your handy one-stop-shop for cinephile news, articles, and videos from the week that was.

News Roundup

• The DOXA Documentary Film Festival announced the lineup for their 2020 festival, which will be held online June 18-26.

• The Venice Film Festival will go ahead, the region’s governor confirmed. “Evidently, organizers — who were expected to take a decision in late May — are now confident the fest is able to go ahead as planned, although the look of the event will be different this year, as public health safeguards must be taken into consideration. The festival has not yet commented on plans for September.”

• After being delayed earlier this year, the Canadian Screen Awards have now revealed their slate of 2020 winners. Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone took home Best Canadian Film while VIFF 2019 standout The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open was awarded the Achievement in Directing prize.

Reading Roundup

• For IndieWire, Anne Thompson reports on how Netflix is changing their release strategy in light of the recent announcements that the Golden Globes and Academy Awards will allow streaming titles to qualify without having a theatrical release.

• Still doing the Lord’s work, Seventh Art continues to translate the great French film critic Luc Moullet’s book Politique des acteurs. The latest chapter is all about the Duke. “We can’t think of a better beginning for a mythification [John Wayne’s entrance in Stagecoach]. What’s curious is that it’s for a square almost unknown to the big studios, a handsome, scrappy giant, a sharpshooter trapped in Z movies of Republic Pictures where he had made forty mid-length features in six years. Ford seems to have wanted to create a star, his star, since they were to make fifteen films together in twenty-five years. The most faithful duo in the history of cinema. Amazing intuition, when none of the earlier films helped foresee Wayne’s abilities.”

• “As opposed to other American movies that might frame [his characters’ transformations] as a kind of rapid maturation or personal breakthrough, Sallitt’s film shows how change has a way of maintaining a merciless neutrality.” For the VIFF Blog, Michael Scoular analyzes Dan Sallitt’s Fourteen, which is now playing on our online cinema.

Viewing/Listening Roundup

• Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which appears to still be set for a release on July 17, now has a trailer. 

• After being shelved for the last six years, Hong Sang-soo’s Hill of Freedom, among the Korean director’s finest (and funniest) films, will finally get a stateside release through various virtual cinemas. A must-see in yours truly’s opinion. 

• On the latest episode of the VIFF Podcast, hip-hop producer, director and leader of legendary group, The Wu-Tang Clan, RZA discusses the influence kung-fu classics had on his music, his master-apprentice relationship with Quentin Tarantino and what happened to the four-hour cut of The Man With The Iron Fists.

Brishkay Ahmed on embracing identity, and what we can learn from Afghan women – VIFF Podcast

Growing up, Ahmed felt at odds with her Afghan identity. She describes herself as a rebellious child, not understanding the need for a head scarf, often finding herself "irked" by assumptions about her, before she even knew herself. Perceptions about Afghanistan perpetuated by "breaking news" from CNN certainly didn't help. In her latest work, In The Room, Ahmed sets out to change the conversation.Today, Ahmed is proud of her identity. But the journey to this place of embrace was not linear. In In The Room, Ahmed interviews five women who in their own right, have taught her something about herself, and the many complexities, beauties, and struggles Afghan women face on their own unique paths.In this episode of the VIFF Podcast, Ahmed reminds us that in a time where women's rights are under siege, you, with your story in hand, can be an agent of hope.This podcast is brought to you by the Vancouver International Film Festival.Presented on the traditional and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations.

1. Brishkay Ahmed on embracing identity, and what we can learn from Afghan women 46:32
2. 'The Track' Director Ryan Sidhoo on the stories that haven't been told, and getting those movies made 35:25
3. 'Foreigner' Director Ava Maria Safai talks the horrors of growing up, and what filmmaking teaches you about yourself 29:11
4. Mayumi Yoshida on her debut feature, 'Akashi,' and the power that comes from existing in the in between 41:36
5. Ari's Theme" documentary filmmaker, Jeff Petry, on how to capture a legacy 36:56

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