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Film Fests & Special Screenings Movies & TV

What The Film Fest lets you wallow in weird films

WHAT THE FILM FESTIVAL 2016 Thursday (June 30) and Saturday (July 2) at the Royal (608 College), and Friday (July 1) at Dundas Video (831 Dundas West). Rating: impossible. laserblastfilmsociety.com.


There is something truly special about a film festival that dares you to properly appreciate trash cinema. Like, literally dares you.

The brainchild of Toronto programmer and producer Peter Kuplowsky (full disclosure: we’re friendly), the What The Film Festival is not about ironic appreciation. Peter doesn’t believe that “so bad it’s good” is a thing. Instead, he embraces the separation of art and trash, genuinely loving the trash on its own terms.

The festival, then, is his genuine celebration of the weird shit he loves, with the hopes that you’ll love it, too. He’s really happy to open this year’s festival Thursday (June 30) at 7:30 pm with a screening of Dragon Hunt, a forgotten Canadian actioner starring kickboxers Martin and Michael McNamara, who enjoyed brief VHS stardom as the Twin Dragons. The McNamaras will be in attendance, for extra nostalgic value.

Other features screening Saturday (July 2) include a work-in-progress presentation of Canadian animator Nick Dilberto’s SF fantasy Nova Seed (8 pm) and the world premiere of Space Breakers (10 pm), a lo-fi interstellar travel comedy from the creators of the web series Living With Friends.

And remember the dare? This year’s What The Film Festival offers a Canada Day marathon of Canadian shorts and features – including a 25th-anniversary presentation of Ron Switzer’s no-budget, staggeringly incompetent monster movie Science Crazed – designed to drive you out of the venue. To leave you have to pay $5, but if you stay to the end it’s free.

Fortunately, the marathon takes place at Dundas Video (starting at 1 pm), which is a bar. You can drink yourself through it.

normw@nowtoronto.com | @normwilner

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