Every week, Establishing Shots offers some further enlightenment on the films that will be screening in-cinema at the VIFF Centre and online through VIFF Connect.
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
“Watching Street Gang is a largely joyous experience… Sesame Street mapped a vision for a future that we haven’t yet reached. It was so ahead of its time that we still haven’t caught up with it.” Stephanie Zacharek, Time
“Throughout the film’s run, there’s a sense almost of being there as it happens, as a cultural icon starts with the best intentions, then slowly finds its voice… For people with fond memories of the show, it’s an unbeatable chance to approach it as an adult, and understand their own childhoods a little better in the process.” Tasha Robinson, Polygon
In Pictures: The early days of Sesame Street – CNN
New Order
“Writer-director Franco and his co-editor, Oscar Figueroa, ratchet up the stakes notch by notch, so that by the end of the film’s 88-minute running time, we completely believe each step that has plunged the nation into horror. The script almost never makes us privy to information that at least one of the characters doesn’t have, so rather than present this shift into turmoil from the outside, we get a vividly unsettling ground’s-eye view of events.” Alonso Duralde, The Wrap
“I made New Order because of how divided society in Mexico is, how polarized it is, and I think we needed to talk about this to make things better. A movie that talks about this issue – which many people want to pretend isn’t happening – triggers the conversation, of course.” – Victor Moreno interviews Michel Franco for Metal
Undine
“As in all of Petzold’s films, Undine builds a world of liminal spaces—of lives in transition, always moving—of his characters shifting between realities, never quite sure where one ends and another begins. Like genre, like architecture, like history, like a love affair—at the heart of his work is the push and pull between where we are and where we want to be, between who we are and who we want to be and what we’ve done and what we’ll do, between what we dream and what we make happen.” Dom Sinacola, Paste Magazine
Christian Petzold on The Film Comment Podcast
Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl
“Kate Nash is a creative female artist who wants to make her mark doing what she believes in. Underestimate the Girl is an inspiration to all the girls out there who want to do the same.” Leslie Combemale, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
“The documentary presents a flattering view of Nash, but rather than indulging in hagiography, it finds its stride when it examines the business of being a workaday musician. It is endearing in its frankness: a profile of a star after her return from the firmament.” Teo Bugbee, The New York Times
Kate Nash’s VEVO video collection
Our VIFF+ members are currently enjoying free access to more than 30 films and talks on VIFF Connect. Joining the collection this week are a couple of absurdist comedies: Richard Ayoade’s The Double and Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers’ Fort Tilden. Memberships start at only $12 a month.
VIFF Blog 