The 2021 Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)

starts tomorrow!

2021 TRAILER

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Montreal, Tuesday, November 9, 2021 – The 24th edition of the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM) starts tomorrow, Wednesday, November 10. The festival will be held in theatres until November 21, and online from November 14 to 25 on the festival’s platform enligne.ridm.ca, accessible everywhere in Canada.

Opening night

The festival will open with the screening of Futura by Pietro Marcello, Alice Rohrwacher, and Francesco Munzi on Wednesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. at the Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin (by invitation only). Presented in partnership with the Italian Institute of Culture in Montreal, Futura captures a troubled time in which the global pandemic forces us to reflect on what the future may hold. The film will be preceded by Des voisins dans ma cour, a Quebec-made short by Eli Jean Tahchi, which explores the boundary between the Parc-Extension neighbourhood and the Town of Mont-Royal: a physical barrier that highlights the divide between two neighbouring communities.

Vitaly Mansky comes to Montreal

Filmmaker and producer Vitaly Mansky will be in Montreal from November 15 to 19 for a retrospective featuring seven of his films.He will be in attendance at the screenings of Close Relations, Pipeline, Putin’s Witnesses, Under the Sun, and his most recent piece, Gorbachev. Heaven,for post-screening discussions with the audience. Festivalgoers also have the chance to attend a masterclass with the filmmaker. This free event (reservation required) will take place on Wednesday, November 17 at 5 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise.

Quebec filmmakers in attendance

This first week of the festival includes several highly anticipated Quebec-made films. Furthermore, the filmmakers will be in attendance for discussions with the audience following the screenings.

On Thursday, November 11, festivalgoers can discover Henri Pardo’s film Dear Jackie, a cinematic letter to Jackie Robinson that draws an eloquent parallel between time periods, shedding light on the existence of racism and racial inequalities. Meanwhile, The Gig is Up by Shannon Walsh investigates the trickery inherent in what is often, erroneously, called the “collaborative economy.”

Friday, November 12 brings Under Silence and Earth, the first feature from Gisela Restrepo, in which she goes to her parents’ native Colombia to search for the body of her aunt, who took part in armed conflict; along with Alone by Paul Tom, which brings together three very different stories from people who fled their homeland as children to seek refugee status in Canada, leaving their parents behind. The filmmaker and the film’s protagonists will be in attendance to meet with the audience. This event is presented by Télé-Québec.

Three Quebec-made films will be shown on Saturday, November 13: Pier-Luc Latulippe and Martin Fournier address a sensitive subject and find a ray of light in the darkness in Upstairs; Far Beyond the Pasturelands by Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis and Maude Plante-Husuruk follows a young mother who hopes to improve her situation by taking part in a traditional expedition to the Himalayan mountains, in search of a priceless mushroom; and Resources, a sobering and thought-provoking film, gives a voice to the migrant workers at the heart of the food system that sustains this country.

On Sunday, November 14, Yasmine Mathurin’s One of Ours depicts a young man forced to question his identity: adopted in Haiti by a Calgary couple, he finds his Indigenous status, inherited from his adoptive father, denied by the authorities of the All Native basketball tournament.

International films not to be missed

The RIDM is pleased to present the best of international documentary filmmaking. Thursday, November 11 is a chance to see Zuhur’s Daughters by Laurentia Genske and Robin Humboldt, which follows Lohan and Samar as they start a new life in Germany with their family after escaping war in Syria, and the newfound freedom that allows them to express themselves as young trans women. On Friday, November 12, Vincent Meessen’s Just a Movement takes an original perspective on the story of Omar Blondin Diop, a Senegalese Marxist activist also known for “acting” his own part in Jean-Luc Godard’s film La Chinoise.

Four years after winning the RIDM People’s Choice award for her powerful documentary Speak Up, Amandine Gay returns with A Story of One’s Own, which explores international adoption through five intertwining stories.The filmmaker, alongside producer Enrico Bartolucci, will be present for a discussion with the audience on Saturday, November 13.

Also followed by a discussion with the filmmaker is The Hill by Julien Chauzit, a hybrid feature film that witnesses a dawning ecological awareness among four young people. The film will be shown on Sunday, November 14. The same day, audiences can see Little Palestine, Diary of a Siegedirected by Abdallah Al-Khatib, a highly charged documentary in which the filmmaker, a political activist, turns his camera on the plight of the Palestinian refugees living in the Yarmouk camp. Filmed between 2011 and 2015, this is a record of a brutal siege imposed by the Syrian regime.

The Soirée de la relève is back

The Soirée de la relève, presented by Radio-Canada, is back for its seventh year. The selected films by emerging filmmakers will be shown on Sunday, November 14 at 7 p.m. at the Cinéma du Musée. This year’s films are 5:1 by Sara Ben-Saud, a personal yet universally relatable short exploring family dynamics during the pandemic; Casting Nelly by Jérémie Picard, a tribute to Nelly Arcand in the words of the actresses auditioning to play her role; The Future Innu by Stéphane Nepton, a poetic film that sees him walking through the streets of Montreal, his mind a portal to the far-off land where his roots lie; Sœurs by Julia Zahar, a touching and intimate piece that looks at the liberating power of creation; Le Vendeur de Broadway by Simon Larochelle, which follows a charismatic Québécois man selling Christmas trees in Manhattan; and The Southern Wind directed by Aucéane Roux, which examines the surprising transformation of a francophone village in northern Ontario.

INIS: 25 years of documentaries

To celebrate its 25th birthday, INIS presents a screening of some of its best documentaries on Thursday, November 11 at 7 p.m. at the Cinémathèque québécoise, followed by a discussion with INIS directors exploring their films and stories and how documentary cinema has evolved over time. The screening will comprise L’absence qu’il reste (Tobie Fraser), Chevette 83 (Luis Oliva), Of Insects and Men (Helgi Piccinin), Fissure (Eli Jean Tahchi), Floyd (Pierre-Yves Beaulieu), Jo (Carmen Rachiteanu), Le poids de la ressemblance (Marie-Claude Fournier), and Salomé & Joseph (Laurence Dompierre-Major).

Box office

To ensure that access to the program is simple and affordable, several ticketing options are available. Tickets for theatre screenings are $13 each; a $2 discount per ticket applies to purchases of five or more tickets. These tickets can be purchased via the online box office or at the festival’s physical box office at the Cinémathèque québécoise.

For online-only viewing, the RIDM Passport at $85 allows audiences to watch the vast majority of the festival’s films via the enligne.ridm.ca platform from November 14 to 25. Subscriptions for a single block, which covers one third of the online program, are also available at $30. All the details are available on the festival website.

THANK YOU TO THE RIDM’S PARTNERS

The RIDM gratefully acknowledges the support of its valued partners: the Gouvernement du Québec, the ministère de la Culture et des Communications, SODEC, the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ville de Montréal, Téléfilm Canada, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, Tourisme Montréal, the Centre des Services aux Entreprises – Intégration en emploi (Emploi-Québec), the ministère des Affaires municipales et de l’Habitation, Crave, Canal D, the Canada Media Fund, Télé-Québec, the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), TV5, Radio-Canada, Post-Moderne, the Société civile des auteurs multimédia (SCAM), PRIM, BDO, the Cinémathèque québécoise, and Studio Chop Chop, as well as Benoît Parent and Arthur Gaumont-Marchant.

The RIDM’s 24th edition will be held in theatres from November 10 to 21

at the Cinémathèque québécoise, Cinéma du Parc, Cinéma du Musée,

Centre Pierre-Péladeau, and Cineplex Odeon Quartier Latin,

and online everywhere in Canada from November 14 to 25, 2021

Information: ridm.ca / info@ridm.ca

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RKS Wine : Meyer Family Vineyards 2020 Tribute Series Chardonnay – Terry Threlfall

For the past few years Meyer Family Vineyards (MFV) in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley has released a tribute Chardonnay. This time it is a tribute to the late Terry Threlfall a Vancouver born sommelier operating at the time of his death in London. He was 43 when he passed in 2020.

The 2020 Chardonnay vintage was an excellent one. The grapes were from the Old Main Road Vineyard in the Naramata bench in British Columbia. The soil is comprised of alluvial deposits making up a silt loam overlying a clay loam. For most of the ferment it was done in stainless steel vessels and the wine was transferred to French oak (22% new) to complete fermentation. 500 cases were produced.

Yes the oak is noticeable but of sufficient intensity to give the wine character and not overtake it. As for aromas pineapple, guava, tangerine, honey and peach. On the palate the character-building quality of the oak is apparent. The palate is like a shy ballerina looking tiny and delicate but bursting with talent and grace. There is no other way of describing the wine as elegant and very polished. There are notes of tangerine, peach and butterscotch.

This is one of those wines that is so good it simply must be tried on its own before pairing it with food. I think it would match a green tomato and olive pasta. Don’t throw away those unripened tomatoes! The recipe is here https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/farfalle-green-tomatoes-black-olives-and-basil

I raise up a phrase I have used to describe MFV Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs and that is do not bother spending a bundle for Burgundian counterparts. MFV does it so good. If you are looking for a lightly oaked Chardonnay that is elegant pick up this magnificent Chardonnay.

(Meyer Family Vineyards Okanagan Valley Naramata Bench 2020 Tribute Series Chardonnay-Terry Threfall, BC VQA, Meyer Family Vineyards, Okanagan Falls, British Columbia $ 30.52, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 95/100).

MFV you have done Terry proud! The price may be daunting but given its quality grab a case before the rest of Canada figures out how good it is. Check out the MFV website at https://mfvwines.com/collections/chardonnay

Chris Carson is the winemaker.

This is so good it will be hard to resist consuming it this year. I think it will improve in the bottle over the next three years and hold steady after that until 2028.

“My Life as a Golf Marshall” : Stories from the Edge : He Died with Two Birdies and a Smile

I ran into a golfer today who related a semi-sweet story. Several years ago he was golfing with his ageing father at Scarlett Woods Golf Course in Toronto. On the 17th hole Dad smacked a decent drive that hit a sprinkler head from the irrigation system. It took an aggressive forward trajectory resulting in a very pleased Dad who said this was his best drive in ten years. His second shot hit the lip of the bunker and took a crazy bounce 10 feet from the hole! Dad drained the birdie putt and noticed a pain in his left side. His son noticed this and suggested they leave the course. Dad said no as he was on a roll. The 18th hole was a par three and Dad soared past the green hitting a tree behind the green which took a bounce back on the green 5 feet from the hole. Dad putted in for his second birdie as pleased as punch and beaming with delight son and Dad headed home. Son was getting concerned about Dad’s pain thinking it might he a heart attack which it was so off son rushed Dad to the hospital where he died with his last words being “With those birdies I am ready to go.” He then smiled and died. As per his request his ashes were scattered by the tree he hit on the 18th hole.

Reggie The Egyptian Rescue Dog is Back: Why Do (some) Humans Hate Us Dogs?

In Egypt I was cursed, kicked, spat on and shot at. In human eyes I am a simple beast. Why was I thrown out in the street like an old rag? Why did animal control try to shoot and poison me? I can say you are mean fucking bastards. You are lowlife scum and yes you are.

I mean as a dog we are companions to humans and in Egypt guardians of the tombs of the pharaohs! I have the blood of the ancient pharaohs in me but I was treated as some low life scum. You know all we dogs want is to be cared for and if I can be sappy, to be loved.

When I have to go out and pee at 5 in the morning and bark to wake up Bob to take me out that is care and love. And to be taken up in the cold winter to snuggle under the covers that is love. So simple. So very simple but ignored all over the world not only in Egypt but in Canada and the United States.

What have we dogs done to deserve such abusive treatment? We are in your control and you hold our destiny in your hands. We are needing your love and compassion so why do some of you treat us so very badly? By doing so you show us and other caring humans you are not above the animal kingdom. You are scavengers and scum.

So why do you hate us you humans. Is it because we are animals you think are stupid? Excuse me humans. Those of you who abuse us are stupid and cruel. May the curse of the pharaohs visit your house! Those who abuse us are weak and seeking to exhibit power over us dogs.

But listen to me! There are those humans that love us dearly and treat us as a best friend and a precious soul. There are some of those in Egypt that are dedicated and caring so please I am not singling out Egyptians as canine killers. This sub strata of humanity lives throughout the world. For goodness sake in China, Vietnam and the Philippines we are treated as meat.

“My Life as a Golf Marshall” :The Beginning of The End

The beginning of the golf season may be riddled with April frost delays but that is the beginning and the golf hormones are raging. The frost delays creep back in late October and early November. Yes it is like the end of a life of a spawning salmon. Tee-Off times can be delayed anywhere from an hour to 4 hours. The desperation of golfers in the parking lot is evident. No golfer wants to end the season in disgrace and with self loathing. So they pace up and down the parking lot looking like addicts needing a fix of the golf drug. Chugging Tim Horton’s coffee and dreaming of redemption on a final game before winter forces them to head south assuming they can afford it.

At some point you would think that reality will set in. That the golfers will realize just how mediocre they are and one or thirty games will not change that but then again this golf addiction knows no end. There is no overdose or liver damage just self-loathing about the last game or the games before that.

A golf addict lives on hope based on the fix of a golf game. There is no overdose death There is only winter as a Naloxone kit.

I see these poor wretches pacing the parking lot waiting hours for their last mainline injection of golf. As a Marshall I am above this pathetic display but thank goodness Monday is looking good for my game! I am above all this shit. I think I am.

RKS Film: Looking for a New Christmas Classic? “See You Next Christmas”

I am sure you have a favourite Christmas classic. Is it National Lampoon’s “Christmas Vacation”? “Home Alone”? “A Christmas Carol”? “White Christmas”? “It’s a Wonderful Life”?

Looking for something new? Might you find it in “See You Next Christmas”?

Annie (Christine Weatherup) and Tom Clark (Vin Vescio) hold their annual Christmas party “Clarkmas” in the film over a seven-year period. Annie’s cousin Natalie (Elizabeth Guest) starts a relationship each year at Clarkmas with Logan (A J Meijer) but it never quite develops into a serious relationship until year seven of Clarkmas where it looks like the sporadic relationship is over until it is suprsingly deepened on New Year’s Eve. Yes romance can be slow to develop.

You might want to classify the film as a romantic comedy but it has more serious angles to it particularly how having children changes one’s life and the changing attendees at Clarkmas…lot’s of children!

Can I take a guess this will not be a Christmas classic? But as such classics go it may be 40 years before we find out. In the meantime a lighthearted look at the evolution of relationships and of the great Clarkmas!

The film will be released on various digital platforms on November 9th.

If you would like to see the trailer https://www.dropbox.com/s/7bv4ty3n7qfvxgt/See%20You%20Next%20Christmas%20Trailer%20-%20UHD%20SDR%20-%20ProRes%20422HQ%20-%20LtRt%20-%2020210629.mov?dl=0

This 99-minute film was written and directed by Christine Weatherup.

RKS Wine: The Forgotten Home of Malbec and Don’t Toss Those Green Tomatoes!

Mention the grape Malbec and the rubberneckers will be gawking at Argentina ignoring that Malbec began its journey from its home in Cahors in Southwest France to Argentina in the 1830’s. Argentina gets most of the praise for Malbec and it is rare that one encounters a Malbec from Cahors. In the Malbec game the Argentinians seemed to have beaten the French.

So let’s go back to Malbec’s roots in Cahors with a Château Haute-Borie. On the nose blackberry, black cherry, Christmas cake and vanilla. On the palate surprisingly smooth and light on the tannins given Cahors reputation for strong willed and tannic Malbecs. There is no shouting and bravado on the palate. It is very discrete and dignified. One might call it a softie! There are notes of blackberry and cassis with an airy and lighthearted finish. Such a contrast from the lush and plush Argentinian Malbecs.

You might as well drink by the end of 2022. I do not think it will improve with ageing.

This would suit a green tomato pasta from those unripened tomatoes that didn’t survive our latest frosts. My goodness don’t throw them out. Try this highly seasonal and bizarre sounding dish. Here is the recipe https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/farfalle-green-tomatoes-black-olives-and-basil

(Château Haute-Borie 2018, AOC Cahors, SCEA Sigaud, Soturac , France, $ 14.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 20421, 750 mL, 14%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 91/100)

RKS Wine: Chasing the Lower Priced Bordeaux

Bordeaux wines can be a rich man’s game. You pay a pile of dough for the “first growths” which if you are made of money go ahead. Are some of these wines in the $1,000 range worth it or is the purchaser a billionaire thinking the more you pay the higher the quality?

Part of the fun of chasing the Bordeaux’s in the $20 and under range is the hope you can find a winner. A steal so what is in your mouth is as “good” as what the spacemen billionaires swill and swallow and eventually piss out!

We start with a 2108 Château Haut Claribes for $17 that even a poor Amazon employee can afford. Just because you take the bus to work instead of rocketing around like Uncle Jeff doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a well-made wine. Black cherry in colour verging towards purple. On the nose creamy and lush with black cherry, blueberries and some milk chocolate. You can feel the tannins on this one but they are on the gentle side. On the palate the lush and plush Merlot simply can’t rocket my palate like Branson/Bezos. A respectable wine for sure but a brilliant steal? No. The hunt continues.

A rather high alcohol content of 15% for a Bordeaux red. If I recall Trumpian tariffs on European wine kicked in at wines less than 15%. Juice up your wine and avoid punitive tariffs?

(Château Haut Claribes 2018 Bordeaux Supérieur, Domaines Fontana, Gensac, France, $17, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 21404, 15%, 750mL, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 90/100).

Ontario’s Bill 27’s Toothless Disconnect from Work Policy

The idea that an employee can disconnect from work is not new as I first heard about this type of legislation in France a few years ago

There is no doubt in the proposed legislation that it is intended the Employment Standards Act of Ontario will be amended to include the text below this article.

However there is no need to submit it for governmental approval. There is nothing stating that the policy must be reasonable.

There is nothing preventing an employer from setting forth its policy then adding exceptions stating for example that it will not apply to employees negotiating to bring on new business for the employer or matters crucially important for the employer. A policy peppered with exceptions can be said to be toothless particularly in a non-unionised workforce. Just think of the myriad of exceptions an employer could use to disconnect itself from the spirit of the proposed legislation. Perhaps there will be regulations passed that prevent an employer from in effect opting out through exceptions?

I bring my experience as a lawyer where on many a mega deal I was working until 1 a.m. on “big strategic deals”. On the Blackberry at 2 a.m. with colleagues in Boston working on the same deal. Missing family occasions. Had I not gone the extra mile I would have been tossed out like dirty dishwater. Foolish or caught in the survival trap?

So before you clap with joy this proposed legislation is full of holes like a car riddled with bullets in yet another Toronto drive by shooting.

As having worked briefly for the Ontario government and with lobbyists the proposed legislation and regulations will be closely analyzed and commented upon and perhaps given some meaningful teeth. I can imagine the megacorps and law firms will craft what they can to ensure they escape the bite of tightened legislative provisions!

 This article does not constitute legal advice but is a matter of opinion and is  provided for informational purposes only.

PART VII.0.1 WRITTEN POLICY ON DISCONNECTING FROM WORK Interpretation 21.1.1 In this Part, “disconnecting from work” means not engaging in work-related communications, including emails, telephone calls, video calls or the sending or reviewing of other messages, so as to be free from the performance of work. Written policy on disconnecting from work 21.1.2 (1) An employer that, on January 1 of any year, employs 25 or more employees shall, before March 1 of that year, ensure it has a written policy in place for all employees with respect to disconnecting from work that includes the date the policy was prepared and the date any changes were made to the policy. Copy of policy (2) An employer shall provide a copy of the written policy with respect to disconnecting from work to each of the employer’s employees within 30 days of preparing the policy or, if an existing written policy is changed, within 30 days of the changes being made. Same (3) An employer shall provide a copy of the written policy with respect to disconnecting from work that applies to a new employee within 30 days of the day the employee becomes an employee of the employer. Prescribed information (4) A written policy required under subsection (1) shall contain such information as may be prescribed. Transition (5) Despite subsection (1), an employer shall, (a) have until the date that is six months after the day the Working for Workers Act, 2021 receives Royal Assent instead of March 1 to comply with the requirements of subsection (1); and (b) determine whether it employs 25 employees or more as of the January 1 immediately preceding the date described in clause (a).

RKS Film: “Isaac”: Almost Fine Until Lust Blows Up

I watched “Isaac” a Spanish film that leaves me wondering what the message is? In fact I have been ruminating all day what to say about the film. Perhaps that is a supreme compliment to the film that can’t be sliced and diced and simplified into a few descriptive lines. The distributor of the film Breaking Glass Pictures of Philadelphia has a line of international LGBTQ films it distributes but I struggle with the assumption that this is an LGBTQ film. At best it is a film dealing with a set complicated inter-personal relationships that has an element to it of LGBTQ. Coming out of the closet for an LGBTQ is difficult. In this film coming out is fuelled by lust as opposed to any intellectual decision making.

Nacho and his wife Marta are successful lawyers in Barcelona with Marta being from an upper crust family. Marta can’t conceive and adoption is unthinkable for her upper-class parents who favour a discrete surrogate adoption illegal in Spain.

Denis is an unsuccessful illustrator living with his wife Carmen. Denis would dearly love to open a restaurant but is short of cash. He needs some cash so he approaches his adolescent friend Nacho totally out of the blue for a loan.

Despite surrogacy parenthood being illegal in Spain Denis and Nacho and their respective spouses enter into a surrogacy contract where Carmen will bear a child for Nacho and Marta. Somewhat of a business deal. Denis will get enough cash to open his restaurant. A selfish prig?

But flashing back to the past Nacho and Denis were homosexual hotties back in high school days. While there are no gay vibes in their relationships with their wives Nacho and Denis suddenly go at it like eager horny beavers. And rather publicly. Nacho is being groomed for political office so such a tryst would be political suicide!

Lust rules the day and explodes just about everything in a seemingly “normal” Spanish relationship.

So my take on the film is that coming out of the closet can be dictated by lust and while liberating can be destructive to many around those that are coming out. Coming out can be a sort of destructive self liberation. Is it based on uncontrollable lust? But again can this describe heterosexual relationships?

The film was based on a play by Antonio Hernádez and is directed by Angeles Hernandez and Mr. Miyagi.

“Isaac” will be available on DVD and VOD platforms including iTunes/Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Vimeo and through local cable and satellite providers on November 16. You can see the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stGy6ZV4l4Q