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“It must be pretty embarrassing needing a babysitter in high school,” someone once told the 14-year-old at the heart of My Babysitter’s a Vampire. Being stuck with a sitter on a Friday night would definitely be mortifying for just about any teenager. However, Ethan Morgan (Matthew Knight) changed his tune when the most popular senior girl from school, Sarah Fox (Vanessa Morgan), arrived at his house that fateful evening. This schoolboy’s elation soon became abject terror as his caregiver was revealed to be a bloodsucking creature of the night. As it turned out though, Sarah was no ordinary vampire; she refused human blood and was intent on spending what looked to be her final days slaying her own kind.

While the Disney Channel indeed helped Canadian import My Babysitter’s a Vampire reach a wider audience and build it a sizable cult following, this 2010 TV-movie and the subsequent series...

Apocalypses in Canadian cinema tend to occur in slow motion, and have a subversive touch of quiet absurdity. The two undisputed classics of the genre are Don McKellar’s Last Night, and Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool. Caitlin Cronenberg aims for that lofty territory with her debut feature film, Humane. Set sometime in the near future, in late-stage climate crisis, citizens need solar umbrellas to go outside, and put protective film on the inside of their cars to keep the toxic sun out. Much of the world has collapsed into chaos, but Canada still limps along civilly, due to a government which has implemented a voluntary suicide programs called “Enlistment.” People can sign up to remove themselves from the population for a cash settlement that goes...

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Qumra master Atom Egoyan has expressed his desire for a new “wave” of Armenian filmmakers and encouraged international projects to consider the region for post-production.

Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.

“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...

Qumra master Atom Egoyan has expressed his desire for a new “wave” of Armenian filmmakers and encouraged international projects to consider the region for post-production.

Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.

“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...

Qumra master Atom Egoyan has expressed his desire for a new “wave” of Armenian filmmakers; and encouraged international projects to consider the region for post-production.

Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.

“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...

Valentine’s Day isn’t just about roses and chocolates. For those who love a good scare, it’s the perfect opportunity to blend romance with the macabre. Here’s a list of 10 Valentine’s Day horror movies that will make your date night thrillingly unforgettable. From classic slashers to psychological thrillers, these films are sure to add an unconventional twist to your celebrations.

10. Pontypool (2008)

Starting our list is a hidden gem in the horror genre, Pontypool. Directed by Bruce McDonald, this Canadian film turns a radio station into a claustrophobic nightmare. Stephen McHattie’s performance as a shock jock witnessing a bizarre viral outbreak through phone calls is both chilling and thought-provoking. It’s a cerebral horror that plays with language and fear in a way that’s both unique and unsettling.

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9. Raising Cain (1992)

Brian De Palma’s Raising Cain is a psychological...

Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan’s 40-year relationship with the Toronto International Film Festival helped put his movies on the map in Hollywood.

But that impressive trajectory out of Toronto of iconic Egoyan dramas like Next of Kin, Family Viewing, The Adjuster, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Guest of Honor — often psychodramas about families shattered by death, loss and betrayal, as parents and children grow apart — got off to an inauspicious start in 1982 with an early short film that screened from a sidewalk outside the Uptown Theatre on Yonge Street.

“It was the ultimate act of chutzpah,” Egoyan recalls of joining fellow rag-tag filmmaker Bruce McDonald, both of whom had shorts rejected by Toronto fest programmers that year, when a feature by a close friend did get an invite.

Feeling a prized Toronto fest berth just beyond their fingertips, years before becoming inescapable fixtures on the TIFF red carpet, Egoyan and...

Infectious disease has been a concern of humankind ever since we first began cooperating in large settlements, so it makes sense that this horrific fact of life has also become the basis for many of our scary stories. And while Covid and the Black Plague are scary enough on their own, some stories rely on much stranger (and often absurd) diseases in order to terrify audiences – especially when horror movies are concerned.

And with so many viral scares out there, we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six of the strangest infection horror flicks for your viewing pleasure. After all, it might do horror fans some good to remember that things could still have been much worse after living through a very real pandemic.

Naturally, the films on this list aren’t the only strange viral horror flicks out there, so don’t forget to comment below...

Maple Syrup Massacre is an editorial series where Joe Lipsett dissects the themes, conventions and contributions of new and classic Canadian horror films. Spoilers follow…

Language is paramount in Pontypool, Bruce McDonald’s Canadian (don’t call it zombie) thriller. The film concerns a shock jock DJ and his pair of female colleagues who manage a radio station over the course of a morning as a word-based pathogen destroys the surrounding community.

Based on the book by Tony Burgess (who also wrote the screenplay), the film is a single location thriller that relies heavily on its small cast and mildly claustrophobic setting. Dialogue and audio flesh out not only the world and the looming threat; it also captures the power and impact of language.

It’s vital that Grant Mazzy (Canadian screen legend Stephen McHattie) is something of a disgrace at the beginning of the film. He’s only recently...

Valentine’s Day is upon us, and as we’re doing our annual rewatches of My Bloody Valentine (both versions—don’t skimp) or 2001’s Valentine, it’s important to remember that we have another holiday-appropriate horror movie to add to the fun. And it’s a film that happens to be celebrating its 15th birthday this year. Happy birthday to Pontypool, a zombie film that doesn’t get nearly enough attention, despite the fact that it brings a truly unique vision to the table.

Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008, Pontypool is a zombie movie like no other. Like other recent favorites, it puts its own stamp on the material and creates something memorable. It rethinks the idea of what makes a zombie, taking the things we know and love about the mythology and bending them into a different form to create something unique, while still paying...

X-Files and Stargate Sg-1 actor Michael Kopsa has died, aged 66.

The TV star died on Sunday (23 October) from complications related to a brain tumour.

His ex-wife, Lucia Frangione, announced the news on Twitter, writing:“ The great Michael Kopsa, my dear friend and the father of my child, Nora, passed away Oct 23, 2022, of a brain tumor.”

She continued: “He was an incredible stage and screen actor, voice actor, carpenter, musician and painter. Most importantly, he was a loving and richly present father.”

Kopsa, who was born in Canada, starred in numerous TV shows that were shot in either Toronto or Vancouver.

These included a villainous role in the fourth and fifth season JJ Abrams’s Fringe, and Stargate Sg-1, in which he played General Kerrigan.

He appeared in cult sci-fi series The X-Files, in season four episode “El Mundo Gira”.

As well as his many TV appearances, Kopsa racked up an extensive list of voiceover credits,...

Click here to read the full article.

Michael Kopsa, a veteran of Canadian-shot TV series and movies like The X-Files, Highlander, Smallville and Fantastic Four, has died. He was 66.

Kopsa died Sunday of complications from a brain tumor, his former wife, Lucia Frangione, announced on Twitter.

“The great Michael Kopsa, my dear friend and the father of my child, Nora, passed away Oct. 23, 2022, of a brain tumor,” she wrote Tuesday. “He was an incredible stage and screen actor, voice actor, carpenter, musician and painter. Most importantly, he was a loving and richly present father.”

Kopsa was a staple of genre TV series shot in Vancouver or Toronto, including Fringe, The Net, Dead Zone and The Sentinel. He also played General Kerrigan on Stargate Sg-1 after moving to Vancouver in 1994.

“Stargate employed just about every actor in Vancouver I think at one time or another. We are all going to wait for our turn.

Austin Stoker, a Trinidadian American actor best known as the star of John Carpenter’s highly influential 1976 thriller “assault on Precinct 13,” died Oct. 7, his wife announced on Monday. He was 92.

“The love of my life,” Stoker’s wife, Robin Stoker, wrote on Facebook Monday when she announced his death. He was being treated for renal failure at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles when he died.

Stoker was born October 7, 1930 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He moved to the United States in his 20s and began his acting career in theater. He began acting on film in the late 60s and in the 1970s became a known for roles in action movies, Blaxsploitation and science fiction films, often playing law enforcement officers.

His roles include Bruce MacDonald in “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” (1973), Det. Potter in “Abby” (1974) and Brick Williams in “Sheba, Baby” (1975), among many others. He also frequently appeared on television,...

Belgian dark comedy will premiere in Tribeca’s online “at home” section in June.

Paris-based sales company Reel Suspects has boarded sales on Belgian director Véronique Jadin dark comedy Employee Of The Month, ahead of its world premiere in the online “at home’ section of the Tribeca Film Festival (June 8-19).

Jasmina Douieb stars as a disgruntled, hard-working employee at a cleaning company who accidentally and messily kills her boss while asking for a pay rise. She enlists the help of a young trainee to help cover her tracks. Other cast members include Laetitia Mampaka and Peter Van Den Begin.

Exclusive: We have learned that actor and director Michael Greyeyes has inked a first look deal to develop film projects with Blumhouse.

Greyeyes stars in Blumhouse/Weed Road Pictures/Universal’s upcoming re-imagination of Stephen King’s Firestarter as Rainbird, a relentless powerful man who has been pushed into a violent life. Keith Thomas is directing the pic off Scott Teems’ script who will also EP.

Greyeyes received rave reviews from critics for his gripping portrayal of Makwa/Michael, in Wild Indian, the feature debut by writer/director Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr, which premiered in competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film will be released theatrically and on VOD in September. This Spring, he starred opposite Ed Helms and Jana Schmieding in the new Peacock comedy Rutherford Falls, co-created and executive produced by Helms, Mike Schur and Sierra Teller Ornelas. The series,...

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to “Stanleyville,” starring “Goodnight Mommy’s” Susanne Wuest, ahead of the film’s world premiere at this month’s Fantasia Film Festival.

One of the high-profile Fantasia deal announcements, the pick-up, brokered with Yellow Veil Pictures, will see Oscilloscope open “Stanleyville” in U.S. theaters this Winter.

“Stanleyville” marks the feature film debut of Canadian actor-turned-director Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who has appeared in a slew of movies and TV series, including “Antibirth,” “Lars and the Real Girl,” “The Incredible Hulk” and “Tin Star.”

Directed by Bruce McDonald, McCabe-Lokos’ first feature screenplay, “The Husband,” which he starred in, premiered at Toronto 2013. His directorial debut, 2016 short “Ape Sodom,” and 2017 short “Midnight Confession” were also both selected for Toronto.

Written by McCabe-Lokos and Rob Benvie, who also took a co-scribe credit on “Midnight Confession,” “Stanleyville” brings McCabe-Lokos’ satirical vision of the state of the modern world to...

The Berlin International Film Festival’s European Film Market (EFM) has confirmed details for how its online incarnation will work March 1-5.

As Deadline revealed, Dennis Ruh took the reins at the EFM in September 2020 and faces an unconventional first edition.

“International sales agents have filled their lineups for the start of the year and have an attractive variety of films on offer. Many films are also currently in production and ready for pre-sales. We want the digital EFM in 2021 to be an impulse for a new beginning in the international film industry,” said Ruh today. “Since the EFM is an integral part of an international convention calendar, and therefore part of an economic system that includes events such as the Marché du Film in Cannes and the American Film Market in Los Angeles, a later date is not an option.”

The Efm will condense the industry sessions from its...

The Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market (Efm) is gearing up for its upcoming online edition, for which it has announced 35 promising feature film projects from 25 countries selected for its co-production market.

The Efm on Friday also unveiled details of the digital platform on which business will be done.

The Berlinale Co-Production Market selection comprises works in various stages from global helmers, most of whom are known on the fest circuit while several are Berlin regulars, such as Palestinian helmer Annemarie Jacir, who was on the Berlin jury last year.

The prolific Jacir will be presenting “The Oblivion Theory”; Turkish filmmaker Yeşim Ustaoğlu, who broke out in Berlin, will be pitching her new drama “Left Over”; Oscar-nominated Polish director Jan Komasa (“Corpus Christi”) will unveil “Shine of the Sun”; while New York-based Filipina filmmaker Isabel Sandoval, who made a splash with transgender drama “Lingua Franca,” will talk up her follow-up feature “Tropical Gothic.

Arguably the most eclectic director of the “Toronto New Wave,” Bruce McDonald returns with his most ambitious and perhaps most frustrating film yet, Dreamland. A mashup of cinematic and pulp influences set in Luxembourg (a country that’s a few hundred square miles smaller than Rhode Island), McDonald continues to play with language and cultural tension as he reimagines Pizzagate through the lens of Alphaville, Last Year at Marienbad, Taxi Driver, John Wick, and countless other films and moments to dizzying and nearly incoherent effect. There’s also hitmen, vampires, a countess, and a wedding party where colonialism takes center stage. Lost yet? It’s a feature, not a bug.

Frequent collaborator Stephen McHattie stars as Johnny Deadeyes, a trumpet player moonlighting as a hitman (or perhaps it’s the other way around?) on one heroin-infused trip. He arrives in Luxembourg wandering the streets and night clubs killing time before his next mission.

Movies are slowly starting to trickle back into theaters, emphasis on the word “slowly.” For the time being, audiences’ options are still better at home, as this week’s crop of new films includes outrageous new genre fare — such as “Becky,” from the directors of “Cooties,” which plays a bit like a hard-r version of “Home Alone” — and festival standouts such as Hong Sang-soo’s “Yourself and Yours.”

“The Invisible Man” star Elisabeth Moss elaborates on her ever-widening scope of tortured women in the wildly unconventional Shirley Jackson biopic, a movie which portrays the author of “The Lottery” as the kind of character one might discover in her mind-bending horror tales.

Here’s a complete rundown of the week’s new releases, with excerpts from reviews and links to where you can watch them. Find more movies and TV shows to stream here.

Playing in drive-ins and extremely limited release:...

As theaters tentatively start to reopen around the U.S. without the usual glut of studio product to fill their screens, there’s an opportunity for filmmakers who previously might not have edged their way very deeply into U.S. cinemas to find a wider audience. That’s particularly true of Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald, whose fantasy crime comedy “Dreamland” is being released by Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures on June 5, day and date with VOD.

McDonald, known for films like “Roadkill,” “Hard Core Logo” and “Pontypool,” which mash up humor with adventure, music or horror — and sometimes all of these — felt that for “Dreamland,” he needed to venture outside the familiar environs of Canada to find the right locale to bring the story to life. The movie, which reunites the director with “Pontypool” novelist and screenwriter Tony Burgess, follows a hitman tasked with obtaining the pinkie finger of...

We're back with another installment of Horror Highlights! In today's edition, we have an exclusive clip from Dreamland that features Juliette Lewis, the full documentary Tax Shelter Terrors, release details for Zeta, a teaser for 6:45, and an interview with the composer of Artik:

Exclusive Clip from Dreamland: Starring Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, Juliette Lewis, directed by Bruce McDonald, written by Tony Burgess and Patrick Whistler:

On the night of the strangest weddings in cinema history, a grotesque gang boss hires a stone cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend.

Uncork'd Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures will release the horror/crime/thriller Dreamland in theaters, on VOD and Digital HD on June 5, 2020.

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Canadian Horror Documentary Tax Shelter Terrors: "An in depth look how the Canadian Government tax incentives helped develop Canada's horror and exploitation film industry.

Montreal, Canada - Immediate Release – June...

Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures will release the horror/crime/thriller Dreamland in theaters, On Demand and Digital on June 5, 2020.

Check out the trailer:

Dreamland is directed by visionary filmmaker Bruce McDonald (Pontypool, Weirdos, Roadkill, Hard Core Logo) from a script co-written by Tony Burgess (The Hoard, Saturn’s Rings) and Patrick Whistler (“Cardinal”). The film stars Stephen McHattie (Watchmen, The Fountain), musician/actor Henry Rollins (frontman of Black Flag, Feast, Lost Highway), Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers, Cape Fear) and Tomis Lemarquis (Blade Runner 2049, Snowpiercer).

On the night of the strangest weddings in cinema history, a grotesque gang boss hires a stone cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend.

The post Stephen McHattie and Henry Rollins in Dreamland in Theaters, On Demand and Digital on June 5th appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

Canadian director Bruce McDonald, best known for Pontypool and Hard Core Logo, is returning to genre fare after his coming-of-age tale Weirdos. Dreamland, starring Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, and Juliette Lewis, is set around a peculiar wedding, featuring a killer hired to cut off the finger of a legendary jazz musician. Ahead of a release on June 5, the first trailer and poster have now landed.

At its Fantasia Film Festival premiere, Birth Movies Death‘s Evan Saathoff said, “While perhaps unsatisfying, there is a lot of pleasure to be found occasionally bubbling to the film’s surface. Henry Rollins and Juliette Lewis are having a blast, basically playing cartoon characters. You get to see Stephen McHattie speak very slowly as two different characters – one a heroin-addicted jazz musician, the other an assassin. There are many moments of logic-defying hilarity throughout. In its dreamy way, the film has no problem just...

Updated 5/8/20: Please note that the film will receive a national release in Canada via AppleTV, Bell, Cineplex, Cogeco, Rogers, Shaw, and Telus on May 29, 2020. Also, please enjoy the snazzy Canadian poster! Original post follows ... Our own Kurt Halfyard was quite enamored with Bruce McDonald's Dreamland when he saw it at Fantasia last year, writing in part: "An absurdly hypnotic hodgepodge of violent escapism would never be for everyone's taste, but Dreamland is blazingly, almost foolhardily, committed to what it is, and absent of cynicism or anything to prove." The film is now heading to release on June 5, 2020, via On Demand and Digital platforms. To go with that announcement, check out the...

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Parents will go to great lengths to protect their kids. That is especially the case when their child finds themselves in a dangerous spot, no matter how old they might be. And that’s exactly what happens to the father and son in the new film, “Hammer.”

Read More: ‘Dreamland’ Trailer: A Hitman Targets A Jazz Musician In Bruce McDonald’s Latest

As seen in the trailer, “Hammer” tells the story of a young guy that is put in a terrible position after a deal goes awry between him, a young woman, and a local criminal.

Continue reading ‘Hammer’ Trailer: A Father Will Stop At Nothing To Help His Son Escape A Deadly Situation at The Playlist.

The sound of trumpets can harken its own sense of dread, at least in the world of “Dreamland.” Set among a landscape that blends surrealism and realistic modern-day issues, this new film delves into its own murky waters. Viewers are transported into the tale of Johnny, a hitman tasked with destroying the career of a legendary trumpeter; not with a destructive tear of his instrument, instead his focus is set on the musician’s pinkie finger.

Continue reading ‘Dreamland’ Trailer: A Hitman Targets A Jazz Musician In Bruce McDonald’s Latest at The Playlist.

Bruce McDonald has long been a favourite among fans of off-beat cinema. McDonald is always pushing the envelope in some way or other and though the results are sometimes mixed, one can't deny the fact that he's always trying something new.

For his latest, McDonald is re-teaming with writer Tony Burgess, the writer behind McDonald's biggest commercial success Pontypool (review, for Dreamland, a surreal, darkly comedic crime drama that also re-teams the director with Stephen McHattie.

McHattie stars as a boozie, drug-addicted jazz legend who, on the eve of one of his biggest gigs of his career, finds himself being hunted by a low-level gangster. Into the m...

A new trailer has launched for the wacky comedy crime feature ‘Dreamland’ featuring Juliette Lewis.

On the orders of his gangster boss, hitman Johnny must cut off the pinkie finger of a celebrated jazz trumpeter before a high-profile gig. Seems simple enough, but the gig is a wedding at the palace of crime queen The Countess. A vampire, a femme fatale, a handful of severed fingers and a ballroom full of music, machine-gun fire and mayhem…it’s just another night in Dreamland.

Directed by Bruce McDonald, the film stars Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins and Juliette Lewis.

Also in trailers – Steve Carell stars in teaser trailer for Netflix’s ‘Space Force’

The film launches On Demand and Digital June 5th

The post Juliette Lewis stars in trailer for ‘Dreamland’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

"You have to understand one thing - we start out as a bunch of people, but we end up as one." Dark Star Pictures has unveiled an official trailer for the wacky weird indie film Dreamland, the latest from eccentric Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald. This originally premiered at Fantasia and a few other genre film festivals last year, and is arriving on VOD this summer. The single-line description: On the night of the strangest wedding in cinema history, a grotesque gang boss hires a stone cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend. The film stars Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, Juliette Lewis, Tómas Lemarquis, Lisa Houle, Hana Sofia Lopes, Barbara Hellemans, and Guillaume Kerbush. At first glance, this reminds me of The Boondock Saints, with the guns and shoot outs and crazy scenes. Not sure what to make of all this madness. Here's the first...

Presents Dreamland ***World Premiere – Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival 2019*** ***North American Premiere – Fantasia International Film Festival 2019*** Uncork’d Entertainment and Dark Star Pictures will release the horror/crime/thriller Dreamland in theaters, on VOD and Digital HD on June 5, 2020. Dreamland is directed by visionary filmmaker Bruce McDonald (Pontypool, Weirdos, Roadkill, Hard Core …

The post Dreamland by Bruce McDonald starring Stephen McHattie, Henry Rollins, Juliette Lewis – Releasing June 5th appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

Pontypool director Bruce McDonald makes his return with Dreamland, which had its North American premiere at last summer’s Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. Dreamland takes place on the night of the strangest wedding in cinema history where a grotesque gang boss hires a stone-cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend. It stars Juliette […]...

Juliette Lewis plays an unhinged diplomat’s wife and party animal in this pulpy thriller about sex-trafficking gangsters

Tripland? Or perhaps Off-Your-Nutland? Here’s the freakiest film of the year so far, a pulpy dystopian noir with a lurid sex-trafficking storyline from Canadian film-maker Bruce McDonald. It’s set in some kind of nearish future where the bad guys have gone legit and joined the establishment.

Juliette Lewis chews not just scenery but every last fixture playing the Countess, an unhinged diplomat’s wife famous for throwing parties where politicians and crime barons snort cocaine from silver platters. Dreamland is a film that goes all out to attain cult status, with some crazed inspiration here and there, but a ludicrous-to-intriguing ratio of about 80-20.

Pontypool director Bruce McDonald makes his return with Dreamland, which had its North American premiere at last summer’s Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal. The film takes place on the night of the strangest wedding in cinema history where a grotesque gang boss hires a stone-cold killer to bring him the finger of a fading, drug-addicted jazz legend. The genre […]...

’This gives us the baseline library to achieve the strategic goals of the company.’

Ambitious Toronto-based Canadian distributor and sales agent A71 Entertainment has acquired the library of former Canadian outfit D Films.

A71 won an auction after the latter went into receivership last year, enabling A71 to boost its Canadian-first pipeline with 90-100 titles including Andrew Cividino’s Cannes 2015 selection Sleeping Giant (pictured), Bruce McDonald’s Dreamland, and Rob Stewart’s Sharkwater: Extinction.

“This is the next step in the legacy and growth of A71 Entertainment”, said A71 Entertainment CEO Justin Rebelo. “This gives us the baseline library to...

Distribution pipeline includes The Cuban starring Louis Gossett Jr.

Ambitious Ontario-based distributor A71 Entertainment has hired former senior eOne executive Justin Rebelo as CEO, effective immediately.

Rebelo served at the Canadian giant as vice-president overseeing television and digital distribution for English-speaking Canada. The longtime veteran of the film and television space spent more than 15 years programming at various broadcasters including HBO Canada, Super Channel, Epix in the Us, and Bell Media-owned Much Music.

He was the executive in charge of production on, among others, Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool, Tiff best first Canadian feature and Csa award-winner Blackbird, Tiff Best...

Distribution pipeline includes The Cuban starring Louis Gossett Jr.

Ambitious Ontario-based distributor A71 Entertainment has hired former senior eOne executive Justin Rebelo as CEO, effective immediately.

Rebelo served at the Canadian giant as vice-president overseeing television and digital distribution for English-speaking Canada. The longtime veteran of the film and television space spent more than 15 years programming at various broadcasters including HBO Canada, Super Channel, Epix in the Us, and Bell Media-owned Much Music.

He was the executive in charge of production on, among others, Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool, Tiff best first Canadian feature and Csa award-winner Blackbird, Tiff Best...

Second prize went to Noura’s Dream, while Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi were crowned Best Actors, 143 Sahara Street Best International Doc and Fuori tutto Best Italian Doc. A White, White Day, the second work by the Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason, has been named Best Film of the 37th Turin Film Festival, which drew to a close on Saturday 30 November. The award was handed over by a jury presided over by Cristina Comencini (Italy) and composed of Fabienne Babe (France), Bruce McDonald (Canada), Eran Riklis (Israel) and Teona Strugar Mitevska (Macedonia). The next most important accolade, the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation Award, went to Noura’s Dream by Hinde Boujemaa, while Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina were named Best Actresses (for Kantemir Balagov’s Beanpole), and Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi Best Actors (for Antonio Padovan’s Il grande passo). Within the international documentary section, a jury comprising Sara...

One of the most anticipated french movie festival has built a solid reputatin over the years, leading him to celebrate this year its 25th birthday ! One of the most ancient and still vigourous french film festival will take place from the 4th to 15th of september and delivers a massive program crossing all borders of the cinematic genres. Let's discover it right now : Opening Opening short : Reruns - Rosto Nekrotronic - Kiah Roache-Turner (French premiere) Closing ceremony Short film : Extazus – Bertrand Mandico (World premiere - presented by the director) True History of the Kelly Gang – Justin Kurzel (European premiere) Competition This year's competition for the Nouveau Genre price goes from festival regular - such as Bruce McDonald, Takashi Miike...

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Bruce McDonald’s horror premiered at the Brussels International Film Festival.

Paris-based sales agent Reel Suspects has acquired worldwide rights to Bruce McDonald’s English-language horror title Dreamland ahead of the film’s North American premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal this month.

The film premiered at Brussels International Film Festival in April.

McDonald’s credits include Pontypool and Hellions, which premiered at Toronto and Sundance respectively.

Dreamland stars Stephen McHattie, Juliette Lewis, Henry Rollins and Tómas Lemarquis and tells the story of a gang who employ a world-weary hitman to cut off a finger from a famed heroin-addict trumpet player.

Eleven World Premieres plus $146,500 in cash and prizes to be awarded.

‘Mary Queen of Scots’ and ‘Momentum Generation’ to bookend festival.

Canadian Premieres include ‘On the Basis of Sex’, ‘Stockholm’, and ‘Untogether’. Western Canadian Premieres include ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, ‘Roma’ and ‘At Eternity’s Gate’

The 18th annual Whistler Film Festival (Wff), November 28 to December 2, selected its opening night film and full program lineup from over 1,000 submissions. Festival goers can look forward to 85 fresh films including 50 features and 35 shorts representing 12 countries. Selections for this year’s festival include leading award season fare, quality Canadian content (69% of the lineup) and more female-directed films than ever before (46% of the lineup).

‘Canada’s coolest film fest’ remains true to its mandate of discovering new talent, with the inclusion of 16 first time feature films, 21 feature films directed by women, and with 64% of its program premiering Canadian features, more than any other international Canadian film festival this year.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

22 July (Paul Greengrass))

Paul Greengrass, director of United 93 and Bloody Sunday, returns to the realm of the “too soon?” with 22 July, a clichéd and rather problematic film–with a frankly reprehensible first act–that dramatizes the attacks in Oslo on that awful day in 2011 when 77 people, mainly at the Utøya island youth camp, were murdered by a nationalist gunman named Anders Behring Breivik. – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: Netflix

Apostle (Gareth Evans))

Coming off of the success of The Raid: Redemption and its sequel, The Raid 2, the anticipated path for Welsh director Gareth Evans may not have been a horror film by way of 70s cult thrillers.

Bruce McDonald's Weirdos (2016) is having its exclusive online premiere on Mubi. It is showing from June 23 - July 23, 2018 in the United States.Bruce McDonald’s Weirdos is a beautiful and poignant lament to the loss of adolescence. Set in Nova Scotia in 1976, shot in crisp black and white, and apportioning much of its screen time to meditative close-ups on characters’ faces, Weirdos is a coming-of-age road movie that delicately explores the lives of its teenage protagonists, Kit (Dylan Authors) and Alice (Julia Sarah Stone), over the course of a single weekend. Kit, played by the boyishly awkward and sparkling Authors, decides to leave his unconventional family home where he lives with his single father (Allan Hawco) and matriarchal grandmother (Cathy Jones), to hitchhike with his girlfriend Alice to Sydney, in the hopes of reuniting with his absent but deified mother (Molly Parker). Kit packs a small suitcase, but is intent on a permanent move.

Fans of Pontypool may rejoice for the beginning of production on Bruce McDonald's latest film, Dreamland. It reunites the director with writer Tony Burgess and star Stephen McHattie. While not the long rumoured sequel to the Canadian cult semiotic zombie film (at one point titled Pontypool Changes), but a totally new story, being tailor made for McHattie's particular character actor genius: You have seen McHattie in a lot of Darren Aronfsky films (including The Fountain and mother!), as Night Owl in Zack Snyder's Watchmen, and as the bad dude in the prologue of David Cronenberg's A History Of Violence. McDonald stated, "Once in a while, in this movie game, we connect with people who are stars – and we are inspired to create just the right movie...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Louisa Mellor Oct 31, 2017

A chat with the creators of Creeped Out, an eerie new thirteen-part collection of stories destined to be loved by geeks of all ages…

“The family who lose their mouths in The Twilight Zone.”

See related 26 new TV shows to watch in 2017

“Oh! The candy-striper vampire one in Are You Afraid Of The Dark? And the clown, The Ghastly Grinner!”

“The magician one in Amazing Stories. Definitely.”

“There’s one about a pool and this horrible, fleshy skeleton came out of it and grabbed these kids. Still now, if you Google it, it’s one of the most horrifying things I’ve ever seen, I can’t believe it was ever on telly.”

“The Never-Ending Story had something called The Nothing, that was really nothing, literally and figuratively. It stuck with me and freaked me out as a kid, the idea that things were disappearing and nothing was in its place.

Exclusive: Canadian venture kicks off with TV series Headhunter, feature slate.

Toronto-based distributor D Films has launched a production division in partnership with Brain On Fire producer Rob Merilees.

The venture will develop film and TV content in Canada and launches with the series Headhunter, an eight-part series based on criminal lawyer Michael Slade’s bestselling Mountie Noir thrillers about the Special X psycho-hunters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The production division’s upcoming slate includes co-productions with Luxembourg and Belgium on Bruce MacDonald’s Dreamland, Ireland on April Mullen’s Bloody Knuckles, and Dolphin Tale director Charles Martin Smith’s The Maclean Boys.

“Vertically expanding the company through content creation has been a key business objective for D Films,” D Films CEO and president Jim Sherry said. “Launching this new division with Rob, one of the most successful producers in North America, realises that goal and strengthens the company’s position for future growth.”

“I...

Exclusive: Canadian distributor expands, kicks off with TV series Headhunter, feature slate.

Toronto-based distributor D Films has launched a production division in partnership with Brain On Fire producer Rob Merilees.

The venture will develop film and TV content in Canada and launches with the series Headhunter, an eight-part series based on criminal lawyer Michael Slade’s bestselling Mountie Noir thrillers about the Special X psycho-hunters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

The production division’s upcoming slate includes co-productions with Luxembourg and Belgium on Bruce MacDonald’s Dreamland, Ireland on April Mullen’s Bloody Knuckles, and Dolphin Tale director Charles Martin Smith’s The Maclean Boys.

“Vertically expanding the company through content creation has been a key business objective for D Films,” D Films CEO and president Jim Sherry said. “Launching this new division with Rob, one of the most successful producers in North America, realises that goal and strengthens the company’s position for future growth...

April event celebrates 150th anniversary of Canada.

A celebration of Canadian cinema will take place in Los Angeles from April 18-23 with a variety of screenings at The Cinefamily and The Aero.

The Consulate General of Canada in Los Angeles will celebrate Canadian Film Day 150 (Ncfd 150), presented by Reel Canada, with a free marathon of films to mark Canada’s sesquicentennial.

The event will run on April 18 and 19 at The Cinemafamily theatre in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles screenings will kick-off on April 18 with Polytechnique from Denis Villeneuve and continue with The Saddest Music In The World, Meatballs, Strange Brew, and Villeneuve’s Incendies, followed by a Q&A with the director.

Canada Now: Best New Films 2017, presented by Telefilm Canada, will feature eight new Canadian films from the festival circuit and will screen from April 20–23 at the Aero theatre in Santa Monica, with several post-screening discussions.

Anne Émond’s biopic Nelly, about Quebec...

Oh, Canada, our beloved upstairs neighbors. 2017 marks two essential anniversaries integral to the celebration of Canadian culture: the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation (when British influence receded from Canadian lines allowing all colonies to unite as one nation) and the 50th anniversary of Canada’s Telefilm.

Read More: Tiff and Telefilm Canada Partner to Bring Best New Canadian Films to U.S.

Telefilm Canada is an appendage of the Canadian government that supplies monetary means and financial sponsoring of Canadian cinema. The platform as to which Telefilm functions is through the promotion of Canadian audiovisual talent of today and tomorrow. This year hales the second annual Canada Now film series which will be hosted at the IFC Center from April 6 – 9. Canada Now will screen Canada’s best films from the past year.

On the docket for this year’s screenings are Sundance award-winning “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World,...

Istanbul Film Festival unveils line-up and Meetings On The Bridge details.

The İstanbul Film Festival (April 5-15) has unveiled the programme for its 36th edition.

Scroll down for lineups

Despite intensive political campaigning ahead of the Turkish constitutional referendum on April 16 and an ongoing state of emergency in the country following last year’s July putsch, festival director Kerem Ayan revealed the line-up at a relatively relaxed press conference in Istanbul.

The festival will host a total of 203 films in 21 categories from 61 countries in nine venues on both sides of the Bosphorous. Among those are 13 Turkish features getting their world premieres.

Among films to compete in the international competition are Toronto hit Lady Macbeth and French immigration drama This is Our Land.

While the number of international guests set to attend the festival is expected to be down on previous years due to a series of terror attacks in the city, notable guests...