Things are looking different for TIFF this year as David MacNaughton has stepped down from the TIFF board of directors. MacNaughton has now taken on an important international role as Canadian ambassador to the United States. Members of the board are happy to have had MacNaughton on the board as he was a loyal member who had served for years.
The movie Grand Unified Theory has been shortlisted as the only Canadian film in the Beijing Film Festival this year. Written, produced, and directed by David Ray on the North Shore of Vancouver, the film focuses on an astrophysicist who goes through life problems and has a meltdown when all kinds of strange things similar to his theories begin happening in real life. More details on the film here.
(via CBC.ca) Canadian music video director releases his first full length feature. Julien Christian Lutz (known as Director X) has worked on music videos for Rihanna and Drake before, but now his focus is on a film called Across the Line. Based off real life experiences that happened in Nova Scotia, the movie tells the story of a young hockey player who finds himself dealing with racism and bigotry. The film has recently started on a theatrical roll and covers topics like coming of age, the forces at work against Black Canadians, and of course, racism.
