The problem with having a vibrant cinematic landscape in your city is that you literally cannot keep up with what’s on offer. There are not enough hours in the day to watch everything that’s available on Toronto’s screens this weekend, especially once you factor in the special presentations and one-offs.
Tonight (Friday, October 17), for example, you can catch the latest TIFF Free Screen presentation down at the Lightbox: Far From, a collection of experimental works which “reflect on the weight of time and the significance of place.”
I’ve only seen two pieces from the evening’s program – Barbara Sternberg’s eponymous short, shot on 16mm film, and Clint Enns’s The Everden, which uses the antiquated PixelVision video format – but they’re both really striking and immersive, using juxtaposed, degraded images to emulate memory and generate nostalgia, and I’m curious to see what the Free Screen programmers have lined up to complement them.
The screening starts at 6:30 pm tickets will be available at the Lightbox on a first-come first-served basis as of 4:30 pm. And both Sternberg and Enns will be present to introduce the evening, so that should make it worth your while.
If you’re looking for something a little less evocative and more immediate, there’s the Re-Framing Porn evening up at the OISE auditorium at 8 pm. The University of Toronto Sexual Education Centre and Good For Her have united to screen “our favourite clips” from a decade of submissions to the Feminist Porn Awards. Admission is $15 at the door U of T students get in free with student ID.
There are a couple of microfestivals in town this weekend. BRAFFTV – the Brazilian Film & Television Festival of Toronto – is back at the Carlton Cinemas this weekend with a dense program of Brazilian features, shorts and documentaries, including tonight’s (Friday) 9 pm screening of City Of God: 10 Years Later, which revisits the favelas of Rio de Janeiro a decade after Fernando Meirelles made them famous in his acclaimed drama.
And then there’s the Buffer Festival, a weekend of screenings devoted to putting YouTube content on the big screen – specifically, at the Lightbox and Scotiabank theatres, on the John St. corridor. Most of the screenings will be followed by two-hour “meetups” in which audience members can interact with the creators. The full schedule is here tickets are available at the Lightbox. Sounds like a great opportunity for networking.
normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner
