“Motherly” Interview | Director, co-writer Craig David Wallace | Blood in the Snow Film Festival

In Craig David Wallace’s Motherly, Kate (Lora Burke) and her daughter Beth (Tessa Kozma) live in an isolated farmhouse in the woods. The atmosphere is quickly eerie; like doors being left open when Kate swears she’s closed them… Then, Kate slowly thinks something sinister is happening, and her motherly instincts are put to the test when people from her past invade her home.  For Motherly, I was able to ask the film’s director and co-writer Craig David Wallace some questions via e-mail in time for the film’s screening tonight on the Super Channel (at 9 p.m.) as part of the Blood in the Snow Film Festival.

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“When I Consume You” Interview | Writer, Director Perry Blackshear | The Filmcraziest Show

I was able to catch the film as part of the Fantasia Film Festival in August. Recently, for my podcast The Filmcraziest Show, I was able to speak with the film's director, writer, editor, cinematographer and more Perry Blackshear, as I was also joined on the podcast by a friend and guest co-host, Arpit Nayak. You can find When I Consume You playing as part of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival on Monday, Oct. 18 for an in-person screening and you can find that info right here.

Nightstream Film Festival 2021: My Most Anticipated Films

In the festival’s second year, Nightstream is back as a collaborative virtual festival between the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, The Overlook Film Festival, Boston Underground Film Festival, and the North Bend Film Fest, in a return to showcase some of the horror genre. You can buy badges here, or buy single tickets right here. The festival starts tomorrow, Thursday, October 7 and runs through Wednesday, October 13, and I wanted to plug four films I’m looking forward from the festival, in a programme that includes 25 feature films, two Nighstream Retro selections, four folk horror film selections, about 19 events and 25 short films. Let’s get right into my four most anticipated films…

TIFF 2021 Review: ‘Jockey’

There’s nothing quite like a film that completely hooks from its first shot, and that’s the case with Clint Bentley’s Jockey. It opens with a conversation, where aging jockey Jackson (Clifton Collins Jr.) and fellow jockey Leo (Logan Cormier) discuss a young rookie on the tour named Gabriel (Moises Arias). It’s a standard conversation that hooks because of how it’s shot, shadows in front of a sunset as they watch horses gallop. I must gush about Adolpho Veloso’s cinematography because I can’t remember when I’ve fallen in love so quickly with the look of a film. The bulk of the outdoor scenes are shot at the “golden hour,” highlighting the gorgeous oranges, blues and reds of Phoenix, AZ. In these scenes, the characters could be reciting the dictionary and I’d still be in awe.

TIFF 2021 Review: “The Rescue”

The Rescue is the first documentary I’ve seen at TIFF, as part of their TIFF Docs programme. It’s a documentary about the rescue efforts in Thailand in 2018, when a soccer team of 12 kids and their coach found themselves trapped in the complex Tham Luang cave system. I have a terrible memory, but I’m sure I tracked this story when it made global headlines in 2018. I must have missed some important factors about it, as I was picturing them being lost deep in a cave, or being caved in somehow, where I was picturing a 127 Hours or Kirk Douglas film Ace in the Hole kind-of scenario. I didn’t realize it was flooding that trapped them. These are some of the perfect details tracked.

TIFF 2021 Review: “All My Puny Sorrows”

In Michael McGowan’s adaptation of Miriam Toews’ novel of the same name, All My Puny Sorrows concerns two sisters: Yoli (Alison Pill), a writer struggling with success, and the other, Elf (Sarah Gadon), a brilliant concert pianist who’s hellbent on ending her own life. The themes in this film are very heavy, as it opens with their father Jake (Donal Logue) waiting for a train and stepping in front of it to end his life. It’s a heartbreaking film that you’ll need a pick-me-up from after watching it, and one that I admittedly was apprehensive that would have the dull, negative melodrama of August: Osage County. However, this is a truly beautiful film. I really enjoyed these characters and getting to learn about the sisters’ relationship, and I was surprised by the story because I figured the sisters would be brought together by their father’s suicide, and not Elf’s own suicide attempt.

TIFF 2021 Review: “Montana Story”

Besides the characters themselves, this film might as well be a tourism advertisement for the beauty of Montana. Giles Nuttgens’ cinematography is gorgeous, highlighting the landscapes, and it looks beautiful even in simple scenes of Erin riding a horse, Mr. T, with landscapes in the background. The cinematography here definitely has put Montana on my bucket list. The film’s great score complements these visuals so beautifully, too, and some scenes had me in awe.

TIFF 2021 Review: “The Hill Where Lionesses Roar”

In some of my TIFF coverage, I take a look at the drama "The Hills Where Lionesses Roar," a film with a carefree spirit with great performances and cinematography. #TIFF21

Fantasia Film Festival Short Film Reviews: Kwêshkosîw (She Whistles), Victim No. 6, Neo Cryptide, 10-33, Ryuk-Sa: A Teaser

Featured image: Sera Lys-McArthur in Kwêshkosîw (She Whistles). (Courtesy of Fantasia.) As the Fantasia Film Festival wrapped up this past Wednesday, August 25, I still have some interviews to post from the festival, as well as a few smaller reviews of some of the short films that I saw at the festival. Those included She …

Fantasia Film Festival Review: Hello! Tapir (2021)

Hello! Tapir is exactly the kind-of film that hits me in the emotional feels; one of those kind-of films that use fantasy to deal with our own grief. Films like Bridge to Terabithia come to mind for that, as well as more direct comps in A Monster Calls and I Kill Giants.

In this Taiwanese film, a young boy, Ah-Keat (Run Yin-Bai) is told stories by his father, Ah-Sheing. His main tale is about a tapir – a creature with the body of a pig, trunk of an elephant, ears of a horse and feet of a rhinoceros. The tapir is a benevolent creature who passes through villages at night, gobbling up all nightmares.