ARTS
Oh, How The Plot Thickens
The Duality of Attitudes and Portrayals of Surveillance in Media and Art When we think of fictitious depictions of surveillance on the silver screen or spy chases in between the pages of a novel, normally one of two visuals come to mind: a calm, cool spy wearing a tuxedo with ...
Stitches, a tale of beauty and hope
Interview with Toronto Palestinian Film Festival Director Deena Alsaweer The 16th annual Toronto Palestinian Film Festival (TPFF) takes place from September 25 to October 2. The organisation was founded in 2008 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Nakba. One of the filmmakers of this year’s festival is Deena Alsaweer, ...
We will read until Palestine is free
Abdurraheem Desai discusses the goals of the Watermelon Coalition, and the importance of reading in Occupy for Palestine Abdurraheem Desai – co-leader of the Watermelon Coalition and organiser of the Occupy for Palestine (O4P) reading circle and library – interviewed with The Strand to discuss the kinds of discourse spurred ...
Oh, Canada – TIFF Review
Where is the line between a film’s self-indulgence, and camp? I wanted to like this film. I tried to like this film. As a cinema studies student, I was primed to enjoy this film’s premise: a director sharing his life through an on-camera interview, as the complications of his character ...
Anora – TIFF Review
The rise and fall of a northeast princess In a cinematic environment where many audiences feel they can only be entertained by big-budget blockbusters, Anora explodes into the landscape reminding viewers of the medium’s power to make individual stories into large-scale epics. Anora was written, directed, and edited by Sean ...
Riff Raff, The Last Showgirl, and Saturday Night – TIFF Reviews
Families forged out of ensembles Riff Raff: Families are… complicated. The messiness which arises from poor communication has produced numerous comedies through time. However, the experience you get when combining family comedy with a bunch of assassins is uniquely felt in Dito Montiel’s new film Riff Raff. The film features ...
What to watch at TIFF 2024!
The Strand gives previews for our most anticipated films at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is back this year to transform the city into the global centre of film from September 5 to 15. The Strand will have full coverage of the film ...
Deja vu media: same story, different day?
An inquiry on the nature of remakes/reboots in media from history to now Can you remember the last time you went to the movie theatre and not a single remake or sequel was playing? I certainly can’t. Why do the same stories keep coming back, and why do audiences eat ...
Revenge of the hipsters
It didn’t die with millennial flannel in Brooklyn: thrifting has been gentrified all over by us Thrifting is here with a vengeance As much as I’d like to blame Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” for the price of secondhand clothes, I know that it’s not really Macklemore’s fault. The song’s release in ...
It is not the thought that counts
How nostalgia trumps our culture’s demand for progressive narratives As the saying goes, times are a-changing, and that includes our media. Yet some things do not change, such as our love for Gossip Girl (2007) and Sex and the City (1998). In 2020, there was a major resurgence of interest ...