RKS 2023 Film: “Sisterhood Softball”: Exclusionary Inclusion?

Citizen Minutes is a collection of Canadian short documentaries highlighting ordinary Canadians doing extraordinary things “to make their communities better places” at least according to Hot Docs. The series of shorts will be playing in select Canadian cities.

In this case it is an all-female Muslim softball league

Most of the players wear their hajib, special baggy clothing is worn and men are discouraged from attending as spectators to accommodate the modesty of the female players and meet Islamic concepts. As one player says modesty is an important concept for Muslim women. At one point we might say by these ladies playing in the Sisterhood Softball League they are doing an activity to bust out of an Islamic stereotype so they are striving to be included in the Canadian mainstream but are their strict modesty concepts continuing to exclude them from that mainstream? Now there is an interesting discussion.

“Sisterhood Softball” is just over 7 minutes in length and is directed by Farhiya Ahmed.

Each screening of these collection of docs will be free and followed by an audience Q&A “with the goal of inspiring collaborative dialogue about civic engagement and the many forms it can take” according to Hot Docs.

Theatrical dates in Canada are;

October 16th – Rio Theatre, Vancouver, BC, 6:30 pm – Host Angela Steritt

October 25th – Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, Toronto, ON, 6:30 pm – CBC Host Ismaila Alfa and a special guest performance by Akitone.

November 9th – Calgary Central Library, Calgary, AB, 6:30 pm – CBC Host Angela Knight

November 27th – Cinema Du Musée – Montreal, QC, 6:30 pm – CBC Daybreak Host Sean Henry 

November 27th – Halifax Central Library, Halifax, NS, 6:30 pm  – CBC Host Preston Mulligan and a special guest performance by comedian Janelle Niles.

RKS 2023 Film: “My People”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): A Personal Journey to Discover the Fate of Her Grandmother and 67,000 Greek Jews

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

“My People” is a personal journey of Anna Rezan to discover the fate of her grandmother an Athenian Jew arrested by the German occupiers, transported to Auschwitz and never to return to Greece. And not talked about by the family and many others after the Second World War ended for which Rezan is difficult to understand. Rezan travels to Auschwitz attempting to find some record of her grandmother at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum but finds nothing. Instead she interviews the Greek Jews that escaped death and the stories are horrific. No need to repeat them here as you can watch and share the horror. There were 80,000 Jews living in two dozen Greek cities and towns at the outset of the war.

The Second World War began for Greece with Italy invading Greece on October 23, 1940. There were some 14,000 Greek Jews in the Greek army. Germany invaded Greece on April 6, 1941, dissatisfied with the botched Italian invasion and Greece was broken into three control zones under the Italians, Bulgarians and Germans. Then the Final Solution began to be implemented. Some 50,000 Thessaloniki Jews were ordered to board the trains to Auschwitz and Treblinka many after being publicly abused and humiliated in a square by the waterfront and old port I know well in addition to the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. You can see my article on Thessaloniki Jews here;  https://www.thesuburban.com/opinion/op_ed/the-decimation-of-the-jews-of-thessaloniki/article_af964a20-20d5-502e-996a-afc908606cf0.html . You can also read my review of the short film “Eleftheromania” about Greek Jews refusing to be sonderkommandos in Auschwitz here; https://a-little-birdie-told-me.ca/2022/10/17/rks-film-eleftheromania-greek-prisoners-in-auschwitz-face-moral-dilemma/

The Greek Orthodox church refused to co-operate with the German occupiers by destroying lists of all temple goers and writing directly to Hitler saying the Greek Orthodox religion does not recognize the superiority of any race or religion. Some Greek clerics and rabbis fought in the Greek resistance which badgered the Germans who massacred villages in retribution. Villagers locked in churches and burned alive and all manner of atrocities. The police chief of Athens arranged for false identification papers to be issued to some Athenian Jews.

I suppose that Rezan never had exact information about the fate of her grandmother but through the survivors of the concentration and forced labour camps little doubt of her fate would be logical. 

This 92-minute American film is directed by Anna Rezan.

In Toronto it plays in theatre on October 3rd. For other cities check the link in the first paragraph above.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 86/100.

RKS 2023 Wine: The Royalty of Ontario Red Wines: Time to Welcome Gamay?

Could it be safe to say that Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir are amongst the royalty of Ontario red wine? But it would seem Gamay deserves to be admitted to the royal court?

We try a Hidden Bench 2020 Gamay from Niagara. It spent 9 months in French oak 14% new, 24% second fill and the rest third fill and older.

Aroma: Unless you decant the wine for at least 30 minutes expect some barnyard. After the animals have left the glass expect some ripe strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and gentle smoke.

Palate: Mildly tannic with some thin raspberry and red cherry as a first impression. One expects a broader and more concentrated fruit structure in the wine. Such expectation is not met here. Speaking of expectations and perhaps Dickensian “Great Expectations” where is the purity and freshness of organic wine here? In a nutshell there is nothing terribly wrong with this wine. It just failed to meet my royalist expectations for the wine that is!

Personality: What…is the reviewer some monarchist chatting up all this royalty stuff? I can imagine he is an avid subscriber to the “Hello” magazine overly concerned with what Charles and Camilla ate for lunch probably because as a young buck he covered their visit to Canada always at least a hundred yards away. He questions my brilliance I’ll expose his royalist obsession.

Food Match: Stuffed Niagara field tomatoes, zucchini and St. Davids eggplant. Get em quick before we in Ontario are relegated to a gulag diet of cabbage, turnip and butternut squash.

Cellarbility: With this 2020 vintage one can’t argue the wine is sleeping and will magically open up with time. I think it is what it is and will be. It will not improve with age but will cruise into the end of 2024 nicely.

Price: $29.95.

RKS 2023 Wine Rating: 88/100. Wine Align 90.

(Hidden Bench 2020 Organic Gamay, VQA Lincoln Lakeshore, Beamsville, Ontario, 750 mL,12.5%).

RKS 2023 Film: “Good Times Coming”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): An Egghead Meets an Egg!

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

In “Good Times are Coming” Montrealer Manoli (Christos Sourigas) is not faring particularly well in his Park Extension (Park Ex) neighborhood over Easter weekend. His mother (Maria Vacratsis) a concerned widow (or is she overbearing?) thirsts for the day her dear Manny will have children so his life can start again. Yes she is convinced good times are coming back.

However be forewarned as two minutes into the film a big red Easter egg descends on Manny’s bald pate which suddenly transforms into an egg and shatters. There is a Greek tradition on Greek Orthodox Easter of cracking red dyed eggs with your table mates over a very large Easter dinner. If your egg survives this contest and defeats the other eggs you’ll have an excellent year. If your egg cracks what your upcoming luck is not prescribed by Greek tradition. Are good times really coming for Manny? Enough said watch and find out!

For a former Montrealer and frequenter of Park Ex and a champion Easter egg cracker the short film was a golden trip down memory lane. The elderly Greek community of Park Ex beautifully captured. You will love the Gulliver Travel’s scene.

“Good Times are Coming” was directed by Tony Asimakopoulos. You can see a teaser for the film here https://vimeo.com/724911951

The film is both on-line and in theatres. Check the website above for further details.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Scarpedicemente”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): Kinky and Fluffy then Deadly Serious: In the Hunt for My Best of 2023!

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

“Scarpedicemente” is brought to the screen by Olga Montes and John Vamvas veterans of theatre and that stage intensity shines in this film. We start the journey with a mix of fantasy, movie nostalgia and some dark humour. Initially you may wonder in what direction is the movie headed and it is headed into deadly serious territory. Montes and Vamvas exhibit an extraordinary range of talents playing with various ranges of emotions.

It is their one year marriage anniversary which Luigi (John Vamvas) and Holly (Olga Montes) celebrate at the Lost Vegas Motel. It is the hotel room where they made passionate love a year ago. And Holly and Luigi want to repeat the intensity of their initial sexual liaison assisted with a bit of dirty talk.

Luigi is a mobster believing he will be taking out Uncle Charlie for the top boss position. Holly is a none too bright floozie. That smile on your face will disappear as matters take a very serious turn. I can’t reveal much more other than Luigi and Holly are far more complex and nuanced as you might have initially contemplated. This is a very clever and layered plot.

There is the intensity of the stage in Vamvas and Montes’ performances but there is the creativity of filming that create an element of film noir particularly at the outset of the film. There are countless references to iconic films and lines in this film.

Vamas and Victoria Sanchez co-directed and Vamvas and Montes were co-writers.

I have rated this Canadian film a 96 which ties it with four other movies as in my best of 2023. One of the other films is a Greek film “Holy Emmy”.

This is an in-theatre film so go to the GIFFT website and see if it is playing in your Canadian city. In Toronto it screens at Innis Town Hall Cinema on October 4th.

RKS 2023 Film: “Black Stone”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): Fake Documentary: Tragedy, Comedy, Mystery and the New Realities of Greece

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

“Black Stone” is a fake documentary unravelling what appears to be an unsolvable mystery taking its time for unspoken commentary on Greek society. We commence with some cutting commentary on the Greek Civil Service which is a dream for Greek parents to have their children employed in its ranks. We read on the screen, “There are approximately 602,301 civil servants in Greece of which 48,646 are “missing” after being hired by unknown public administration bodies known as “The Ghosts of the Civil Service”. Strikes one as a barb at the bloated Greek civil service. There is a long tradition of Greek films barbing and satirizing the civil service.

Sixty-eight-year-old widow Charoula (Eleni Kokkidou) struggles in her Athens neighbourhood to care for disabled, foul mouthed, lazy and smutty son Lefteris (Julio George Katsis). Panos her other son is a Greek civil servant who has disappeared for no apparent reason leaving a black rock on his desk. Charoula has lost touch with modern society having no knowledge of computers and the modern digital world. She is happier listening to Greek Orthodox services and traditional Greek songs.

So the “film crew” arrives at Charoula’s wanting to film what happened to the missing Panos as they are shooting a documentary about these missing Greek civil servants. There is a sound man and a cameraman interacting on screen with Charoula and Lefteris. The banter between them is amusing. Charoula believes them to be from the “news”.

Lefteris offers for ten Euros to show the crew Panos’ stash consisting of some pornographic magazines and a poster or the Athens Black Panthers with the name Tania and Café Sirocco written on the back. Think of where a sirocco is from and that name in the café and you have a subtle comment on the North African wind like a migrant storm buffeting Greece. Tania is with the Black Panthers of Athens looking for a black man to be featured in a BLM campaign and they think they have found him namely Michalis a black Ghanaese taxi driver that had recently befriended Charoula and Lefteris. Charoula has trouble determining if Michalis is Greek not realizing the huge influx of immigrants to Greece over the last 30 years that has radically changed the ethnic composition of Greece. Michalis speaks flawless Greek and was born in Greece. Off Michalis and the family goes Kineta where the mystery of Panos begins to make sense with a biracial twist. Indicative of the future of Greece perhaps. As for the past Charoula has to manage a fishbone stuck in her throat. And what about the closing symbolism of opening the black rock where a panda bear does its turns. In the fire sale of Greek state assets during the financial crisis the People’s Republic of China were big buyers.

You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/764091067

Award winning performance (Best Leading Actress) for Kokkidou in the 2023 Hellenic Academy Awards. Directed by Spiro Jacovides and he also wrote the screenplay with Ziad Semann.

Check the website to determine if this in theatre film is playing in your city. It will be playing in Toronto on October 3 at Innis Town Hall Cinema.

RKS 2023 Film Rating: 93/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Dignity”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): Watch That Smile!

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

In “Dignity” widower Dimitris is celebrating his 80th birthday party. But he has recently had a stroke and looks about him with “that vacant look” yet he has a slight smile on his face. What could he be smiling about? He can’t speak and goodness knows what he understands. Does the smile reveal all?

Dimitris lives with his son Manolis and his wife Eleni. Manolis owns a faltering café. Eleni and Manolis are joined by Dimitris’ glammed up daughter Sofia and her successful architect husband Yiorgos. And then there is the hard drinking gambler son Alexis. All don their birthday hats and have a pleasant conversation except for Dimitris who just stares ahead. Alexis is Mr. Confident but a perpetual loser full of empty phrases, insincerity and whisky. He spends half the time looking at the threatening messages on his mobile.

All superficial and relaxed until it comes to a discussion about what to do with Dimitris who had a bad fall recently and needs more care than what Manolis and Eleni can offer. The situation escalates wildly out of control. Through dialogue the viewer is offered a closer look at all the children’s and their spouses’ personalities. Interspersed with all manner of character assassination avarice, greed, possible double dealing and jealously a choice is offered to you? Whom to believe.

If you have yet to have one of these elder care discussions be forewarned that many families are dysfunctional and who can be trusted? What does Dimitris think about the big meltdown squabble. Look for that quirky smile and you decide.  Part of the fun is figuring out why he is smiling!

This is an intense film and much like a play which is no surprise as director Dimitris Katsimiris has directed two plays.

Solid performances by all with a special nod to Giannis Kotsifas as Alexi.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwxKYPcMnkk

For showtimes in your Canadian city check out www.gifft.ca. In Toronto it will be playing at Innis Town Hall Cinema on 2October23 with the short “I Love Greece”.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “On Fire”: A Fondue Cheese Melt! A Crispy Finish?

If you loved “Towering Inferno” with McQueen and Newman you might enjoy “On Fire” a rather topical wildfire disaster film. It might be that reality of all these wildfires ravaging the globe and all the eyewitness and harrowing accounts have overtaken the fiction of “On Fire” but nonetheless it just may have your little heart pit pattering with excitement and tension. And it is cheese but you like cheese fondue don’t you? Dave (Peter Facinelli, Sarah (Fiona Dourif) Clay (Asher Angel) and George (Lance Henriksen) are a family trapped by a rapidly advancing wildfire. Dave and his pregnant wife Sarah along with their son Clay and cranky George, Dave’s father, run like bats out of hell and they all make it….right?

Pure cheese and the actual wildfire footage melts it and the poor family perishes…right? Typically feel good disaster movie…right? Or are we headed to a crispy finish!

Director is Peter Facinelli. Theatrical release on September 29.

You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbmM9Rugu4g

RKS 2023 Film Rating 76/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “Master of the House”: Vancouver International Film Festival: A Sommelier Nightmare

“Master of the House” is a short film offering a snapshot of a sommelier and his gal pal chef at a Vancouver restaurant specializing in “indigenous reclamation cuisine”.

Vince (Brendan Meyer) is a sommelier at a popular restaurant being part poet and perhaps equal part bullshitter selling the appropriate wine with dishes served by the restaurant. He also serves dishes with that annoying and insincere voice. It is all so pretentious and theatrical one questions the sincerity of Vince and if the short has a large satirical streak in. Many of us have had the act played on us by somms.

But there is also a portrayal of the brutal nature of the restaurant business. High pressure and stress for all. A great sense of diplomacy is required for when Vince opens a bottle of “young wine” for a diner who says no way you should pair a young wine with a “classic dish”. Vince replies with brilliant diplomacy.

Then there is the restaurant critic with yet more theatrical language oozing pomposity and arrogance and the close up of his mouth chewing food and manically swilling the wine in the glass all making for a hilarious scene. Watch Vince screw up with the critic who takes the opportunity to wield a sharp blade to do his best to decimate the career of Dylan purely for the fun of it.

A delightful mockery of the hidden and highly visible inanity of fine dining. A night of pure hell for an ambitious sommelier.

“Master of the House” was directed and co-written by Dylan Maranda and will have its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival on Friday September 29 at 20:30 hours.

You can watch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icljqvUbyuw

RKS 2023 Film Rating 85/100.

RKS 2023 Film: “My Dad’s Diner”: Greek International Film Festival Tour of Canada (GIFFT): A Mélange of Influences

2023 will be the third year for GIFFT and it is packed with full length, short films and documentaries from Greece or films produced by Greeks outside of Greece. The Greek film industry has developed to a level of excellence over the last 10 years and here is a chance for Canadians to immerse themselves in it showing feature films in 11 Canadian cites. Feature films will be in person but the non “top tier” full length films may be seen online throughout Canada. For further information including cost and scheduling go to www.gifft.ca.

“My Dad’s Diner”, a U.S.  short film production is based on the true-life experiences of Director Tommy Savas. It is a melange of “Goodfellas”, “Sopranos”, “Peggy Sue Got Married” and “American Graffiti”. A great soundtrack including songs by Manfred Mann, Ronny and the Daytones and Bobby Darrin.

Andy, the 17-year-old son of a Cypriot Greek diner owner is on the verge of manhood and a night at the Bendix Diner converts him from a boy to a man. There is so much packed into the short. The Greek father admonishing his son saying that when I was your age……. . A lighthearted start suddenly turns dramatic then lightens up to end the film and put a smile on your face. A delightful and so very accurate mix of Greek and English. As a designer of Greek Diner menus in the 1980’s this short film is very accurate!

This is an in theatre watch.

RKS 2023 Film Rating 90/100.

P.S. I love Andy’s dad when he says don’t fuck the waitresses or they will own the restaurant!