RKS Film: “My Tree”: The Loss of Ignorance and the Great Repair

For his 1975 Bar Mitzvah in Toronto Jason Sherman received as a gift a certificate issued by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) that a tree had been planted in his honour in Israel. Not having any real emotional connection with Israel Sherman became curious about this tree. With some effort Sherman searched JNF records in Toronto and with a certificate from the JNF issued to his brother on his Bar Mitzvah and the help of a researcher in Jerusalem he took an educated guess it might have been planted in Canada Park in Israel. Canada Park was created by the JNF to plant trees donated by Canadians.

Sounds innocent and purely charitable but Sherman discovers that Canada Park was planted around and over an Arab village Imwas. Imwas residents were forcibly evicted by the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) in 1967 and the forest planted over it and surrounding lands. Over 90 other Arab villages suffered the same fate being buried under forests and 600 villages destroyed. In Canada Park there is no signage indicating the Arab eviction. The JNF refuses to speak to Sherman rather strange for a registered tax-free charity which is also one of the biggest land developers in Israel.

Sherman meets the sheik of Imwas and his son and is told of the 1967 eviction of residents and of the bulldozing of the village. Trees as weapons! The greening of Israel buried under what some Israeli critics call ethnic cleansing and an Israeli occupation of Palestine. Sherman feels as if innocence has been stripped away and looks for rabbinical guidance in Toronto and is told that by all means come to grips with what has happened and deal with it as his conscience dictates but if you deny the existence of Israel you are moving towards anti-Semitism. He feels there has been an injustice committed which needs a repair. Imwas was in the Canadian media but was quickly forgotten. As in the 1970’s with Palestinian “terrorism” Palestinians were not well regarded by many and not deserving of compassion.

I suppose Sherman’s recounting his story is an attempt at repair. It is a story worth listening to and it is not new except Canadian Jews were never told the human cost attendant to the JNF greening of Israel.

A fascinating story of the rise of Zionism, the development of the JNF, the harsh treatment of the Palestinians, the lack of transparency of the JNF and the history of Israel. It also exposes the existence of an increasing amount of Israelis calling for rapprochement with Palestinians. As many of us know the Israeli and Palestinian problem can only deteriorate beyond repair unless both sides sit down and really listen to and understand each other. As matters stand sadly this does not look like it will happen.

The documentary proposes no solution of the Israeli-Palestinian divide but offers a glimpse of the psychiatry propelling both sides without being overly polemic. With hatred and extremism there will never be peace.

I was expecting a lighthearted story but in reality not so.

Written and directed by Jason Sherman.

There will be a limited theatrical release on July 29th and availability digitally as well.

You can watch the trailer here https://vimeo.com/713383521

RKS Film Rating 91/100.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 26July2000: Samos, Greece: Off to the Agia Paraskevi Religious Festival and Feast

Off to the religious feast and festival at a tiny church on the oceanfront near an area that is called Kedros. The church is a tiny country church overlooking the Aegean. It was a short trip on the municipal bus and was left off at a gas station with a small road leading to the tiny whitewashed church. It is so small I wonder if more than 10 people can fit in! A lengthy service standing in the blazing heat. Bread was passed around to all in attendance. All were given a container of “yorti” which is buckwheat cooked with a bit of beef. What an event for a non-Greek. Not a tourist in sight. What a setting on a hill overlooking a turquoise-coloured ocean.

Headed off to the beach after buying a spanakopita (spinach and feta cheese pie). The beach was a town beach called Gagou with a disco playing cool music to the joy of the youth of the town having a great time. Not the most picturesque beach by Greek standards but the water was warm and clean. There were a few wrinkly older European women topless. Welcome to a beach with Germans! The snack bar had very reasonable prices and the vibe was very young. The long hot day caused a collapse at 22:00 and slept until 10:30 finally waking up feeling like a rested human being. Jet lag is the curse of transatlantic travel but it is your body telling you it needs time to adapt!

Virus # 26:  Director’s Cut:” Chapter 7 “Was Reopening Premature?”

From a traditional medical perspective re-opening the economy repeatedly during the COVIDs was an error of huge magnitude. But the medico perspective coming from upper middle-class physicians far removed from the economic realities of the working class and small business owners not surprisingly failed to account for job losses caused by the closure of businesses that couldn’t afford perpetual rounds of lockdowns. So much emphasis was placed on “flattening the curve” it blinded a reality check that as effective as social distancing and home imprisonment was it simply insulated millions temporarily from being infected. The miserable failure of vaccines with the vaccinated becoming infected multiple times led to a feeling of hopelessness that often manifested itself into a variety of mental illnesses.

Out of the protective cocoon of home imprisonment many simply became easy meat for the COVIDs. And it was too late to crawl back in the cocoon. Social distancing was fated to fail and its only success was enabling hospitals to deal with a reduced load of serious COVID cases and its biggest failure was social distancing itself as setting up the world for a big fall.

Now I am a medico so my job is to protect lives and social distancing as a mantra initially made good sense to me. But after several months of the first wave as for social distancing anyone could see it was a dilatory tactic as opposed to a long-term effective management tool. So I became more of a proponent of economic realities and their psychological effect of the millions that lost their jobs. The stress and anxiety of job losses took a huge mental toll but as we physicians know all too well stress and anxiety is a killer just as COVID might be. There was a dramatic increase in domestic abuse, suicide, substance abuse and a general decline in physical and mental health and therefore ultimately to immunity.

Of course, there was political expediency in getting the economy running again. Governments were running out of money to financially support the unemployed and failing businesses. Social unrest was growing. Hungry and stressed-out people are a very dangerous political force as we shall see later.

So tossing caution to the wind, as it was becoming unaffordable, we opened up the gates to a decimating successive waves of COVID-19. Decimating as it was it did help establish herd immunity rendering the third, fourth and successive waves of COVID-19 very weak.

The propaganda machines particularly the government and their medicos endlessly shoving social distancing down everyone’s throat realized the governments of the world could no longer afford social distancing so the new mantra was a vaccine “cure”. That cure never arrived but a partially effective vaccine did with collateral damage sickening thousands along the way with its side effects that sometimes took many months to manifest themselves.

My point is that there was the virus and economic and social issues at play. The easy answer it would seem was to focus on the virus including testing, social distancing, hygienic practices and running the numbers game. That is a physician for you a technocrat with blinders on. Above and beyond the virus were economic and social issues that most physicians failed to diagnose. Blinded by the trees most physicians had no idea of the forest.

Photo Robert Tuomi

“Virus # 26: Director’s Cut: Chapter 6 “Why COVID’s Nasty Success’

We have discussed the origins of the various waves of COVID. Why then did it enjoy such a nasty success?

The highest kill rate per capita was in just about any country without a socialized medical system or a system that had simply crumbled over the years. Africa, South America, India and Pakistan are prime examples of this. And let’s not forget the United States but the kill rate there may be attributable to poor political leadership bordering on manslaughter until President Trump was sent packing with his tail between his legs in early 2021.Without complete access to a medical system by a country’s population to preventative care and management of COVID waves the population was at risk. In the United States Latino’s and African Americans were twice as likely to die from the COVIDs than the privately medically insured. In Canada, Australia, Brazil and the United States the aboriginal population and seniors suffered serious kills.

Many of us physicians had been sending warning signs for years about the poor state of immune systems of the world’s population. A healthy immune system could combat COVID quite well and that is why the kill rate without those having comorbidities was low. The widespread nature of air and water pollution, a toxic soup of glyphosate on crops, indiscriminate use of mercury in dental amalgams, and the destructive effect of electromagnetic fields caused primarily by the new 5G networks seriously compromised the immune system of millions. Research has established that the upper middle class and above fared the best against COVID and many of us point to their healthy plant based organic diet and use of key nutritional supplements.

Speaking of food, poverty begets a poor diet particularly in the United States and Canada with the prevalence of fast food, processed foods and far too much sugar which seriously compromised the immune system. Of all COVID-19 cases in the First World research shows that 66% of COVID ICU patients were obese. Even the Trumpster fell into that category with his penchant for Kentucky Fried Chicken!

There are many that say the clean out of long-term care residents in the First World was an expected Darwinian cull. Perhaps there is some truth to that as modern medicine was very efficient in keeping alive those who would be dead a couple of decades ago. However why were some long-term care facilities decimated and others untouched? As various commissions were established in First World countries to investigate the high kill rate of long-term care residents the findings were that the low wages paid to long-term care workers forced them to take multiple jobs increasing their possibility of infection spread this putting long-term care residents at risk. The lack of inspections and decreased regulation of these facilities was another factor in the COVID vulnerability of residents. And the design of these overcrowded facilities was another factor. The heaps of prescriptive medications taken by these long-term care residents did not do anything much except make Big Pharma obscenely enriched.

In some countries such as the United States political infighting and political incompetence can be blamed for failure to have personal protective equipment and ventilators in sufficient supply. The shocking terminations of nurses and doctors in the privatized U.S. medical system allegedly because these hospitals were not turning a big profit during COVID on elective surgeries was scandalous.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 25July2000: Samos, Greece; Finally Destination Reached! Good-Bye to Lost Luggage Hotel

Jet lag and stress is never an ideal combination. After 4 hours of sleep at the Lost Luggage Hotel in Glyfada up at 4 a.m. hungry as a lion. Read a bit and watched a couple of hours of Greek music videos until the restaurant opened at 06:30 where there were many lost luggage victims hungrily waiting for breakfast. After so many years of not being in Greece the breakfast floored me. Instead of a chunk of bread and jam with some juice and coffee there was a breakfast that would have made young Robert shed tears of joy. Eggs, sliced meats, cheese, awesome Greek yogurt, pastries, mini sausages and more! The shuttle bus from Olympic Airlines was broken down so courtesy of Olympic off to Athens Airport in a taxi. Luggage claimed and off to the Olympic departure gate for the flight to Samos. The flight on a ATR42 prop was a half an hour late in departing. The flight was 45 minutes over water. Samos is very mountainous and with pine forests at the higher altitudes. Staying in Vathi also known as Samos. The original Ano Vathi is up in the hills constructed to have an excellent view of pirates. Vathi is by North American standards a small town but it is the commercial centre with the airport located nearby and shops and businesses. Crashed out exhausted at noon for a three-hour nap and in a daze headed to the waterfront where there are many fishing boats and a port for commercial and ferry traffic. Delicious souvlaki, marvellous golden fries and a bottle of beer for $4. Sat on the balcony and watched the port below with its glimmering lights. Waves of fatigue pummelled me at collapsed in bed waking up at 03:00, 05;15 up at 07:30 still feeling groggy and otherworldly.

RKS Wine: L’Ardoise Bachelder 2020 Niagara Chardonnay

Thomas Bachelder is the winemaker behind the Clos Jordanne label. But he also has his own endeavours including Niagara. He has a golden reputation for his Chardonnays. So lets try his Ardoise Chardonnay from Beamsville, Ontario which was made from grapes grown throughout the Niagara Peninsula.

Most likely aged in neutral French oak barrels as the oak has a light touch here. If you like big oaked Chardonnay this wine is not for you. It is a mid weight wine with aromas of apple, pear, lime and wet slate. On the palate it verges on creaminess with notes of grapefruit, arugula and pineapple. A bit of spice on the finish. Good to sip on its own but its tad of gruffness on the palate suggests it is a good match with food such as grilled chicken or filet of sole Florentine.

Give it another year in the bottle and the gruffness might vanish. It will sail into 2025 but take down the sails after that. For those tired of the acidity in so many white wines this will be a nice alternative. The acidity is so nicely tucked away here!

(L’Ardoise Bachelder Niagara 2020 Chardonnay, VQA Niagara Peninsula, Bachelder, Beamsville, Ontario, $24.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 302083, 750 mL, 13%, RKS Wine Rating 91/100).

“Travels to a Different Time” : 24July2000: Toronto, London and Athens: Welcome to Olympic Airline’s Lost Luggage Motel! Captain Little Bird Flying Big Plane

Up up and away on an ageing Air Canada 747. Rather cheap French wine to start and the usual Air Canada shenanigans with chicken or pasta but we are out of the chicken. Cannelloni was undercooked pig slop. Nodded off and up at 4 a.m. to daylight. Breakfast, if you can call it that, was a slice of stale date cake and processed fruit salad. Landed early morning at Heathrow and on a bus to the terminal Olympic Airways used. Flight to Athens delayed by 30 minutes and it was packed. The captain was Captain Poulaki which means little birdie. Little birdie flying a big plane! Stuffed vine leaves for lunch a very traditional Greek dish. Not sure what the correct time was when we landed. The Olympic crew neglected to tell us. The bags never came! We missed the connecting flight as many others did. To and fro in an exhausted state to get replacement tickets for a flight leaving next morning. Then another run around to get a chit to the magnificent Lost Luggage Hotel. Looks as if many others were suffering from Olympic Airlines lost luggage. Some mumbling about a mix up at Heathrow. Of we headed with others to Hotel Emmantina in an Athenian seaside suburb Glyfada. Dinner a la lost luggage was a green salad, pizza slice, chicken and potatoes, banana, ice cream. There was even some butter with the bread something you would not have seen 30 years ago on my first trip to Greece. Numbed out with jet lag crashed out.

The Montreal International Documentary Festival unveils an electrifying visual identity for its 25th edition

Montreal, July 13, 2022– The Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) is pleased to unveil the visual identity of its 25th edition, which will take place from November 17 to 27.

To mark the RIDM’s 25th anniversary, Juliette Moal has dreamed up a visual signature that taps into our collective nostalgia for the 1990s. That decade saw the launch of the Montreal International Documentary Festival, founded in 1998.

In a nod to the design of VHS cases – the iconic cassette packaging that was a staple in most households for about two decades – the poster serves as the de facto wrapper for the festival’s complete 2022 program. Vintage and colourful, it showcases the RIDM logo as well as its slogan, Where all stories meet. It also heralds an edition that will foster dialogue between generations. The documentary films selected by the RIDM programming collective raise issues of relevance in the present, the past and the future. This 25th anniversary edition will provide an opportunity to bring filmmakers of the past, present and future together, along with the public, to take part in roundtables, discussions, and performances pertaining to documentary cinema. 

“Developing a festival’s visual identity is an annual challenge that gives rise to much reflection and sometimes a little trepidation. When it’s an anniversary, all of that is inevitably amplified. So it was with great joy that we welcomed our esteemed collaborator Juliette’s proposal. Her design manages to evoke, in a very colourful way, a feeling of nostalgia by paying tribute to cinema and to one of its most universal (at least for a few generations) means of dissemination, all the while proudly featuring the RIDM’s branding” explains Marc Gauthier, the RIDM’s Executive Director


Headquarters

The Cinémathèque québécoise, located in the heart of Montreal, will also serve as the RIDM’s headquarters for the duration of the festival. The RIDM’s main box office, two screening rooms, and numerous activities (roundtable talks, as well as networking and festive events) will be held there, making for a vibrant venue for the festival’s 25th anniversary.

The full program of the 25th edition of the RIDM will be unveiled at a press conference on Wednesday, October 26 at 10 a.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise.


About RIDM

Quebec’s first film festival dedicated to documentaries, the Montreal International Documentary Festival presents the best non-fiction films, including the works of established directors and new talents.

About Forum RIDM

Forum RIDM aims to stimulate the production and distribution of independent documentaries, both nationally and internationally, by promoting the exchange of information and meetings between the various professionals in the documentary industry. Roundtables, conferences and workshops on major current issues will bring together over 300 filmmakers and representatives of various production, broadcasting and distribution companies over five days.


The 25th annual RIDM will take place in theatres from November 17 to 27, 2022.  

Information: ridm.ca / info@ridm.ca

Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

Virus # 26 Director’s Cut : Chapter 5 “Born in Pig Shit: Welcome to COVID-19 Plus”

COVID-19 Plus appeared in 2025. It was thought to have originated near a pork processing plant in the state of Virginia so it can be honestly said to be an American virus. It was not in the slaughterhouse that it was born but rather in a pork feces holding tank adjacent to a huge pork processing plant.

A slaughterhouse must dispose of swine feces and in the United States transport of liquified animal feces across state lines was illegal due to the widespread understanding of the toxicity of such feces. Not even Haiti would accept them!

So the feces were stored in huge tanks. These are the same tanks you see at oil refineries. Hundreds of thousands of litres of pig shit with no place to go. They were a powerful breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. And some of the feces were affected by the COVID-19 virus and in a toxic cesspool a mutation developed which wouldn’t be a problem if the feces were contained in their storage tanks.

Well Mother Nature doesn’t always co-operate and often strikes back at the abuse humans have done to the eco-system and will strike back whether it be through a virus that kills off some of the population or through huge forest fires like the ones in Australia in 2019 and 2020 or massive tsunamis or hurricanes. In this case it was an earthquake that cracked one storage tank sending thousands of litres of sewage spewing out all over the fields by the storage tanks and into the nearby river.

You can guess what happens next. Human ingestion through contaminated water. The COVID-19 Plus virus, as we called this new brute, was coated in a protein shield and that prevented water, chlorine and fluoride from killing it. COVID-19 Plus sickened its victims almost identically to its predecessor COVID-19.

Humankind was spared the devastation cased by the earlier COVID-19 virus. We leant that the protein shield of the virus made this a very hearty virus and it bound itself to carbon particulate so it could latch on for a ride as did COVID-19.

COVID-19 Plus petered out in 18 months killing a mere 4,388,888. Why so quickly no one really knows. Some of us medicos surmised that the ineffective COVID-19 vaccinations actually worked against COVID-19 Plus. The issue was what was going to be the next mutation?

RKS Film: “Anonymous Club”: Rockumentary with Heart

The rockumentary “Anonymous Club” examines the off- and on-stage personality of Australian rocker Courtney Barnett. Barnett is far from self assured and confident but that doubt propels her creativity to new heights and different directions. Unlike many rockers she is not stuck to the groove which quite frankly gets boring.

She recorded many of her observations on a Dictaphone and many create the impression of a dissatisfied  and confused musician. At thirty she queries why she is on stage and muses why she is saying what she is saying going so far as to liken herself to a moron. Yet she is grateful for her success and has a very amiable and confident aura on stage.

I have watched a slew of rockumentaries over the years but never one so full of intimate and occasionally painful reflections of an artist. To use a trite expression this is raw and uncut. And it is Barnett’s self doubt and uncertainty that most likely will propel her career. This is honest filmmaking at its best. Although a musician she is a person on a voyage of self discovery. She, unlike so many, stops and questions the landmarks on the journey.

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

The film opens up in Canada on July 18.

Directed by Danny Cohen. RKS Film Rating 93/100.