Michal Wiets uses her great-grandfather’s diaries as the basis for her film Blue Box. (image courtesy) At press time, the Vancouver International Film Festival lineup had not yet been announced. But the Independent received the names of some of the…
In Bayla’s Issues, the title character is plagued by the travails of aging and anxiety, and a desire for acknowledgement in the art world. Bayla’s Issues, a 2020 animated short based on the comic strip Bayla’s Comics by Vancouver artist…
Left to right: Lydia Okello, Shana Myara and Joanne Tsung. (photo from VQFF) The 2021 Vancouver Queer Film Festival, which runs until Aug. 22, includes the screening of local feature documentary Well Rounded, directed by Jewish community member Shana Myara.…
A still from Max Shoham’s animated film Sophie and Jacob. The Future of Film Showcase, an annual short film festival and professional development conference dedicated to fostering the future of emerging Canadian filmmakers, features 11 shorts from Canada’s most promising…
Rick Tash is the primary caregiver of his wife, Bambi Fass, who is dying of cancer. (still) A new short film by Dr. Jessica Zitter and Kevin Gordon gives an intimate look at the toll involved in caring for a…
Michael Douglas stars as Sandy Kominsky in The Kominsky Method on Netflix. (photo by Anne Marie Fox / Netflix) I admit to watching movies and television series on Netflix, kanopy.com, Amazon Prime, TIFF, VJFF and any other website that offers…
Lance Henriksen, left, and Viggo Mortensen in Falling. (photo from indiewire.com) In February 2016, the Jewish Independent published my column “Dementia, cinema’s darling,” in which I reviewed seven films about people struggling with dementia. Well, here we go again! This…
Kamil Whaley-Kalaora stars as the title character in Malka Martz-Oberlander’s David Michael Frankel Feinstein-Goldberg and the Unbarmitzvah. (screenshot) It was a rainy day near the beginning of the pandemic. Sourdough was in the oven, Zoom was new and fun and…
Seu Jorge, left, and Noah Schnapp in a still from Abe. (image from Reel 2 Real) The upcoming Reel 2 Real International Film Festival for Youth is not just for youth, though younger viewers are its target audience. There are…
Illusionist Vitaly Beckman in the midst of fooling Penn & Teller on the March 19 broadcast of Penn & Teller: Fool Us. (screenshot) Illusionist Vitaly Beckman has done it again – he stumped Penn & Teller a second time. The…
