REVIEW: EIFF Closer Holy Frit! Explores Art of Christianity
The art of stained glass goes back to ancient Egypt when artisans wound molten glass around a clay core. Traditionally bits of different coloured glass are assembled into a whole and the result in the churches of the world is art. In this century leaded glass windows in churches have gone through a fall from […]
EIFF REVIEW: Dogsville a Touching Doc on Good Dogs
It’s all spelled out in the opening frame: Dogs are perfect. Always perfect. Screening Saturday as part of the Edmonton International Film Festival, Dogsville is an hour-long documentary about competitive dog training – leading to the IFCS World Agility Championship in the Netherlands. It’s also a probing look at the trainers behind the competitions, and […]
EIFF REVIEW: Intense First Nations drama opens local film festival
The 35th annual Edmonton International Film Festival welcomes the best world cinema has to offer and presents them on the big screen in the Landmark Cinemas 9 City Centre – or, if you prefer, in many cases in the comfort of your own home. Some of the films have been showcased in film festivals literally […]
FRINGE REVIEW: Volare Tenors Make Beautiful Popera Together
It is said that “Popera” began in 1911 when Caruso strode into a Milan studio and recorded an aria for ordinary people. The art form came into flower again most recently when the Three Tenors sang to some 800 million people from Rome’s Baths of Caracalla on July 7, 1990. Current popular groups that record […]
THEATRE STREAM: NLT’s The Look Reveals Tragedy of Fashion
The name of Alexa Wyatt is a familiar one if you have a subscription to ACORN (or any number of other international TV streamers.) Wyatt is an extremely prolific Australian writer/producer responsible for such global hits as McLeod’s Daughters, Janet King and Police Rescue. Back in 1992 she found time to write a play called […]
THEATRE REVIEW: New Northern Light original a real horror show
“Last Night I dreamt I went to Manderley again…” With those words Daphne du Maurier began her chilling romantic-psychological 1938 gothic novel Rebecca. The story followed the same lines that were laid down in spook-ridden Victorian times, with flickering candles, wavering shadows, creaking floorboards and a fleeting look of a woman caught in a flash […]
Mayfield stages lock-down lock-solid hit with socially distanced rock musical
After the success of its modest but adroit production of Shaun Smyth’s one-man show Playing With Fire, the Mayfield Dinner Theatre has decided to go into full lockdown-busting mode. They are still strictly adhering to the AHS rules and have reconfigured the theatre with attendant restrictions and modifications. Social distancing is emphasized with a minimum […]
EIFF REVIEW: Balikbayan an uplifting documentary with heart
Edmontonian Jon Jon Rivero made a promise at his father’s deathbed – that he would discover his roots in the Philippines. Jon Jon’s trip was an epic journey of meaningful service that has consumed much of his life, and led to the eloquent documentary film seeing its world premiere at the Edmonton International Film Festival: […]
EIFF REVIEW: Happy Place an Emotionally Draining Film
The closing feature at the Edmonton International Film Festival is based on the personal experience of writer-actor Pamela Mala Sinha – who was violently raped after she moved to Montreal to begin theatre school. Her attacker not only physically violated her but stole her subsequent life. “I don’t fit anywhere in the world,” is one […]
EIFF REVIEW: Vegreville-filmed Drama Probes Old Ukrainian Wounds
It is Ukraine – the year is 1943 and the German army has broken through the lines and is systematically slaughtering everyone in a local village. The first images we see in Troy Ruptash’s film They Who Surround Us are fragmented and disconnected. They will come together in the mind of the film’s central character […]
EIFF REVIEW: Banksy Most Wanted Digs Deep Into Picasso of Street Art
The elusive graffiti artist Banksy may be the most famous artist in the world. His simple but affecting works have appeared mysteriously on walls, also in galleries, on trains, cars and wherever an inviting surface appears. He’s parlayed his shadowy persona and artistic genius into a fortune guessed at $50 million. His stencil of a […]
REVIEW: Playing With Fire a triumph at socially distant Mayfield Theatre
Edmonton’s moribund theatre scene is showing signs of life. The Mayfield Dinner Theatre (among others) is presenting full evening performances, offering many of the features that have made the venue so popular – while observing the pandemic guidelines laid down by the AHS. There have been flickers of theatrical life in the last six COVID-haunted […]
