Part Two of The DVD Club interview with Grown Up Movie Star director Adriana Maggs.  

AH: The story is deeply personal and unflinchingly honest.  Was it challenging to write?  What was the original inspiration for the story?
 
AM: I get asked that autobiographical question constantly.  I never know what it means, like, "Is your Dad gay?"  A lot of the elements of the film are personal to me, but they are not exactly true, they are manipulations of scenes I've been confronted with in my life.  A lot of the conversations are true -- when the dad lights the magazine on fire when he's smoking in the house -- that's a true story.  There's a whole bunch of things I've actually heard people say.  When Susan's character is talking about how you can't change the name of your World Vision kid like you can your cabbage patch kid -- that is verbatim.  I can't tell you who said that, she'd kill me.  Be careful what you say around me!  When I was at York, I used to write screenplays by listening to my customers at the bar.  Sherri (White, best friend and collaborator) and I write stuff together, and you don't know how ridiculous you are until a friend points it out and wants to write about it.  Like I used to use underwear as coffee filter.  She picked that out as weird.  I was like, really, is that weird?  So it’s in our next project.

Comment (0) Read More...

I caught up with Adriana Maggs, just as she returned from a holiday in Newfoundland.  Amidst the bustle of her young family, she sat down to discuss making her first feature film.

AH: I find female directors so inspiring.  It's tough enough to get a movie made, but when there are less role models, it takes great vision.

Comment (2) Read More...

TIFF sent out an announcement this week celebrating Canadian content in this year's schedule.  Steve Gravestock, the Programmer of TIFF said, "It’s a testament to the creative minds and incredible talent in this country that we have such a diverse and exciting offering of Canadian films across all programmes in this year’s Festival.”

Our films are represented in four categories -- The Galas and Feature Presentations (look out for offerings from Denis Villeneuve, Jacob Tierney and Bruce McDonald), The Canada First!  Series for new filmmakers, and The Short Cut Canada series featuring 40 short films, as well as a presentation of Allan King's A Married Couple as part of Canadian Open Vault.  

Comment (0) Read More...

Tomorrow, Hugh Hefner - Playboy, Activist and Rebel opens in cinemas across Canada.  At the 7.15pm screening at the Cumberland in Toronto, Oscar-winning director, Brigitte Berman will be hosting a Q&A.  

Today, on CBC Radio's "Q," Terry O'Reilly, sitting in for Jian Ghomeshi, asks some interesting questions of Hef, such as:  Does he feel responsible for women's negative body image by celebrating the unatainable perfect female form?  And how did he become involved with the Civil Rights movement?  

Comment (2) Read More...

One of our partners, Alan Bacchus, Toronto-based filmmaker and writer, and creator of Canadian Film Dose, is launching a new series -- Great Cinematography in Revue, in partnership with the beloved Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles in Toronto.  

Look out for the screenings every two months, and check out some of the most beautiful films ever made. A post-screening Q&A with the films' Director of Photography will close each screening.  

Comment (0) Read More...