Canadian Crossing

2024 CBC television winter preview

.@cbc unveils its winter 2024 slate on @cbcgem and CBC TV featuring more than 20 series from Canadian storytellers, including One More Time (Jan. 9), Wild Cards (Jan. 10), For the Culture with Amanda Parris (Jan. 30) and Allegiance (Feb. 7). Read more: https://t.co/DSpyWXzuJw pic.twitter.com/80OV5Aw44S

— CBC PR (@CBC_Publicity) December 4, 2023

Unlike the fall 2023 CBC schedule, we have a slightly better sense on what the lineup actually looks like for the CBC winter 2024 schedule.

Returning Canadian TV shows for the winter looks like these:

Murdoch Mysteries (Monday); This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Son of a Critch, and Run the Burbs (Tuesday); Dragons' Den and The Nature of Things (Thursday); Marketplace and The Fifth Estate (Friday); Hockey Night in Canada (Saturday); as well as Bollywed, Push, and feature documentaries (Sunday).

As for the new shows, here are the titles and descriptions:

Wild Cards will air on CBC in Canada and the CW in the United States. The Vancouver-set drama features Giacomo Gianniotti, Vanessa Morgan, and, as a recurring guest star, Jason Priestley. Allegiance has Supinder Wraich and Enrico Colantoni in the cast.

The lone new Canadian comedy on the list is One More Time, featuring stand-up comedian D.J. Demers in a workplace comedy about a hard-of-hearing manager of a second-hand sporting goods store.

CBC will air CBC News Explore About That with Andrew Chang segments on Friday nights. The new reality show The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down stars Jennifer Robertson (Schitt's Creek). Ghosting is listed as a factual entertainment series.

In amazing news, KP comic D.J. Demers is getting his very own TV show! On @CBC! WHAT?! Yeah, on CBC! It's a sitcom about a used sports store—in other words, a recipe for crushing victory! One More Time: let's go D.J.! 🏒🏓🍁https://t.co/08YuLWtIv1

— KP Comedy (@KPComedy) December 5, 2023

Sort Of has had Season 3 on CBC Gem yet there is no announcement on when Season 3 will run on CBC (or Max in the United States). Winter 2024 seemed logical yet as we are learning, logic and the CBC schedule run parallel, not perpendicular.

Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo — co-creators, executive producers, and showrunners — deserve a better fate.

Canadian TV notebook: CBC Gem only place to watch Sort Of in 2023

2023 CBC television fall preview

The schedule is filled with non-Canadian programming such as Miss Scarlet & The Duke, Belgravia, Trigger Point, and Di Ray.

Monday
Murdoch Mysteries, 8p
Miss Scarlet & The Duke/Belgravia, 9p

Tuesday
This Hour Has 22 Minutes, 8p
Son of a Critch, 8:30p
One More Time, 9p
Run the Burbs, 9:30p

Wednesday
Wild Cards/Trigger Point, 8p
Di Ray/Allegiance, 9p (starts 2/7)

Thursday
Dragons' Den/The Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, 8p
The Nature of Things, 9p

Friday
Marketplace, 8p
About That with Andrew Chang, 8:30p
The Fifth Estate, 9p

Saturday
Hockey Night in Canada, 7p

Sunday
Bollywed, 7p
Push, 7:30p
Feature Documentaries/Ghosting, 8p

3 of these Canadian documentaries featured on Sunday nights were at the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival. Satan Wants You; The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain; and Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella.

January 7 Satan Wants You (Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams)
January 14 Malcom Is Missing (Robert Osborne and Jari Osborne)
January 21 The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain (Michelle Shephard)
January 28 Coven (Rama Rau)
February 4 Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella (Barry Avrich)
February 18 Cynara (Sherien Barsoum)
February 25 Skymaster Down (Andrew Gregg)
March 3 I Am Sirat (Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja)

2023 CBC television upfront preview

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage

Watching the CBC cancel shows such as Frankie Drake Mysteries and Tallboyz seems rather foolish, given the lack of depth the public broadcaster has. The CBC padded its fall lineup with limited series based on Canadian films such as BlackBerry, Bones of Crows, and Swan Song. We need more Canadian comedies. Hoping One More Time makes an impact yet the public broadcaster didn't have a Tuesday 9 pm comedy this past fall, going with an American show in a key timeslot.

BREAKING: The CBC is cutting 10 percent of its workforce. 200 jobs that are vacant will not be filled. 600 other jobs will be cut. Cuts are coming to staff & to programming in English & French. The Corporation will need to find $125 million in cost savings for 2024/2025.

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) December 4, 2023

The Tom Harrington tweet is worth repeating with the announcement of cutbacks at the CBC. The CBC winter 2024 schedule was announced before the cutbacks were disclosed.

Enjoy this while you can??

Twitter captures: @CBC_Publicity; @KPComedy; @cbctom
photo credit: Wild Cards

Happy Holidays 2023 includes the final Letterkenny season

Final Season Cold Open.

You can stream the final season of Letterkenny on @CraveCanada December 25th and on @hulu December 26th if you want to.

From @newmetricmedia. pic.twitter.com/hEJUzia4wB

— Letterkenny Problems (@LetterkennyProb) November 27, 2023

Season 12 of Letterkenny might be the best present you get or the only present you receive. That said, this is the last time you will be able to unwrap a season of the Canadian television, well, let's call it, a classic. This is the final season. Details, very limited ones, are available. If you read the press release, ask if your fellow fans want to know before telling them. Good to be polite.

Same rules apply as in the last few years: Christmas Day on Crave in Canada and Boxing Day on Hulu in the United States.

Finished Shoresy Season 2. The final 2 episodes were way better than the first 4 episodes. Hopefully, Season 3, which is coming, has more Laurence Leboeuf.

There is a new "multi-year creative partnership" with Crave and New Metric Media. "The deal encompasses 49 new episodes for Crave, including LETTERKENNY spin-offs, and the development of all-new series with multi-hyphenate talent, Jared Keeso."

We love the idea of a Bonnie McMurray (Kamilla Kowal) spinoff. Our, well, unusual idea has Katy (Michelle Mylett) in a spinoff with Mylett's (Jamie) co-stars from Four in the Morning: Daniel Maslany (Bondurant), Lola Tash (Mitzi), and Mazin Elsadig (William) and Michelle Mylett as Jamie. We can get that series' creator Ira Parker involved. Mylett starred in that comedy just before Letterkenny.

Four in the Morning would benefit Canadian television with a Netflix boost

BREAKING: The CBC is cutting 10 percent of its workforce. 200 jobs that are vacant will not be filled. 600 other jobs will be cut. Cuts are coming to staff & to programming in English & French. The Corporation will need to find $125 million in cost savings for 2024/2025.

— Tom Harrington (@cbctom) December 4, 2023

Bad enough that the CBC is undergoing significant cuts, especially around the holidays. The idea that executives would still get bonuses in light of the cuts or that those bonuses are tied to those cuts is truly terrible. Adrienne Arsenault's interview of Catherine Tait on The National is vital watching.

CBC resorting to an American show (Animal Control) in a key timeslot in its fall schedule happened before the cuts so we don't want to imagine how much worse things can get for the public broadcaster.

The fact that the cuts will also hit French language programming is also horrible.

Our original plan was to run this segment (below) from This Hour Has 22 Minutes on the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre's hypocrisy on the CBC. The CBC needs to be strong as it can be (if that means fewer executives, so be it) in case Poilievre becomes prime minister.

Canadian content means Canadian jobs. Someone should explain that to the Poilievre, the federal opposition leader.

Some thoughts on CBC a news, Pierre and defunding the CBC https://t.co/MLAaNtq0Lv

— Mark Critch (@markcritch) November 10, 2023

Pierre Poilievre also wants to defund the CBC

If aliens ever came to visit Earth, they would question why humans consider physical health and the health of their teeth to be separate entities. "Aren't your teeth part of your body?"

Few Americans seem to have dental insurance. The ones that do find dental insurance doesn't do all that much. Canada is slowly introducing a dental program for its citizens. Very slowly.

While Justin Trudeau could take credit for this improvement, the true leader in this is Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader. The threat of taking down the government might have been theoretical, yet arms were twisted to get this going.

The one thing I've learned about Canadian politics is that more gets done with a Liberal minority government where the NDP is the difference. This is also how Canada got a single-payer health care system.

This is yet, when the program gets fully implemented, another way Canada will be better than the United States.

🚨The inaugural PWHL game will take place New Year's Day in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/8pnx2TAagn

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 28, 2023

We applaud the debut of the new Professional Women's Hockey League. We have cities yet not nicknames. The league is very eastern focused with Minnesota being the outlier.

We have heard bits and pieces about TV, all on the Canadian side. We will update when we find out more. The action gets underway on January 1.

Given the violent nature of men's hockey, watching women's hockey may be better for my blood pressure.

TSN and the NHL Network have the 2024 World Juniors from Gothenburg, Sweden starting on Boxing Day. The Scandinavium and Frölundaborg arenas are in play in Gothenburg. The gold medal game is on January 5, 2024. Canada has won the last 2 titles.

Rojek misses the Oscars shortlist cut for Best International Feature Film

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2023

Canadian film case study: What Walaa Wants

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Rojek somehow missed the Oscars shortlist for the Best International Feature Film. Seriously, Telefilm Canada might as well nominate a film that is visibly Canadian that may not win over a film that people will struggle to find or watch if they can find the film.

Odd that the Oscars nominee didn't make the TIFF Top Ten list of 2023 Canadian films. That is a bit sarcastic. Only 2 films in the last 7 years have been the Academy Awards nominee and made the TIFF list: Antigone (2019) and Drunken Birds | Les Oiseaux ivres (2021). There is a difference between Telefilm Canada and TIFF.

Shockingly, To Kill a Tiger made the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature over a year after playing at TIFF. Canadians can (hopefully) access the film via the National Film Board of Canada. Your humble narrator tried accessing the film in November and that wasn't an option. Perhaps making the shortlist can increase the chances of those outside Canada watching the film.

We try reasonably hard for someone in our position to see as many from the TIFF Top 10 list that I can. Booking a trip to the Bell Lightbox (which might get a new name in 2024) in Toronto January 25-28 would be easier. We've seen 6 from the 2023 list and have 6 more to see from the 2020-2022 lists.

We have finally seen every film from the 2017, 2018, and 2019 lists. The final one we saw from 2018 was What Walaa Wants.

The lists are mostly good films. Allure (2017) is a great example on how not to make a film where Adventures in Public School (2017) is a well-woven film.

You might be able to find some of TIFF's best films from recent years and eventually catch up on the 2023 list.

CanadianCrossing.com music coverage

Chad Allan (Guess Who) and Myles Goodwyn (April Wine) recently passed away.

Allan was 80. He was a founding member of what was the Guess Who out of Chad Allan and the Reflections (later Expressions). Allan sang a cover of Shakin' All Over that got a boost when a promo copy of the single went to radio stations with "Guess Who?". Burton Cummings, who eventually became the lead singer, joined the band in 1965. Allan left the band in early 1966.

Goodwyn was the lead singer for April Wine and had recently left the band. He was 75. Just Between You and Me is one of those songs that is in my sweet spot. For years, I didn't know April Wine was Canadian. I liked them because they were good.

We didn't write about Matthew Perry when he died. Not everyone gets an obituary. Sorry. Perry seemed like a really interesting person outside of Chandler. He will be missed. RIP.

On Christmas Eve (sometimes New Year's Eve), in many French-speaking areas of Canada, Réveillon is celebrated!

This celebration dates back to the 1700s, so let's learn more about it!

Réveillon was first documented in the 1700s in France. Back then, it was a night-long dinner… pic.twitter.com/xi2owYix8C

— Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) December 5, 2023

I know nothing about Réveillon yet definitely enjoy a tourtière (meat pie). Je ne parle pas Francaise bien. I do try to incorporate the French-Canadian approach when possible. Happy Réveillon to those who celebrate.

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian TV coverage

CanadianCrossing.com television coverage

We are running what we know about the CBC winter 2024 schedule over the holidays. No obvious over-the-top American shows airing on the winter schedule as far as we know. CBC has decided to air Season 3 of Best in Miniature next week from December 26-29. If that is your jam, you are in good fortune. The show will also stream on CBC Gem.

We got last-minute news that Hulu is picking up Run the Burbs. The program had been dropped by the CW after Season 2, Episode 3. The first 2 seasons are set to be on Hulu on New Year’s Eve. A beautiful present.

The fine folks at CanadianCrossing.com are taking a holiday break. The CBC winter schedule preview runs on December 29 while the NHL January month in preview runs on January 1. The year to come in travel and politics will run that first full week in January. Breaking news will run as needed, such as if a famous director passes away over the holidays. Schedules are subject to change. We have a lot of archive material to read over the holidays, including many film reviews.

Twitter captures: @LetterkennyProb; @cbctom; @markcritch; @TSN_Sports; @CraigBaird
photo credits: Four in the Morning; Professional Women's Hockey League

Rojek misses the Oscars shortlist cut for Best International Feature Film

ROJEK by @ZayneAkyol is Canada’s Choice in the race for Best International Feature Film at the #Oscars2024! Congratulations to the team! We are beyond excited to follow you on this journey and wish you the best of luck moving forward. ✨https://t.co/wtt0ULcAgo #Documentary pic.twitter.com/idndMSgUAG

— Telefilm Canada (@Telefilm_Canada) August 24, 2023

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its 15-film shortlist for Best International Feature Film. Let's take a look at the titles.

2024 Academy Awards shortlist for Best International Feature Film
Country	Film
Armenia	Amerikatsi
Bhutan	The Monk and the Gun
Denmark	The Promised Land
Finland	Fallen Leaves
France	The Taste of Things
Germany	The Teachers' Lounge
Iceland	Godland
Italy	Io Capitano
Japan	Perfect Days
Mexico	Totem
Morocco	The Mother of All Lies
Spain	Society of the Snow
Tunisia	Four Daughters
Ukraine	20 Days in Mariupol
United Kingdom	The Zone of Interest

Your humble narrator has seen a number of films from other countries in the Academy Awards category (thanks in part to the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival). I've seen the entries from Finland (Fallen Leaves), Germany (The Teachers' Lounge), Iceland (Godland), Japan (Perfect Days), and Tunisia (Four Daughters).

Perfect Days comes from the legendary director Wim Wenders.

I've also seen these other films that were official submissions: Canada (Rojek), Estonia (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood), South Korea (Concrete Utopia), Switzerland (Thunder), and Turkey (About Dry Grasses).

I enjoyed Fallen Leaves and Perfect Days a lot. I felt in the middle on The Teachers’ Lounge and Godland, wanting to like them more. We've written a bit about Four Daughters.

Stories We Tell and the documentaries inspired by the Canadian film

We don't know officially but the Estonia (Smoke Sauna Sisterhood) and Turkey (About Dry Grasses) submissions likely didn't miss by much. About Dry Grasses was over 3 hours long and was a good film. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood was well done and a very therapeutic film.

Congratulations to @NishaPahuja! 🎉🤩
We’re excited to share that TO KILL A TIGER (@tokillatigerdoc) is among the 15 films shortlisted by @TheAcademy for this year’s #Oscars® in the category: Documentary Feature Film→ https://t.co/1NLH4TLmnK #FYC pic.twitter.com/RcwrlB31sq

— National Film Board of Canada (@thenfb) December 21, 2023

After a break last year, we have 2 films on the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature and in the running for Best International Feature Film: Four Daughters (Tunisia) and 20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine).

More than a year after winning Best Canadian Film at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, To Kill a Tiger made the shortlist for Best Documentary Feature. The very much Canadian film in name only has a lot of famous push behind the project (Mindy Kaling and Dev Patel as executive producers) yet getting the film out to people has been a difficult task on both sides of the border for a long time. Canadians finally can access the film via the National Film Board of Canada. Americans, well, we will see.

Eternal Spring and Rojek theoretically would have been eligible in this category.

An American documentary about a Canadian also made the shortlist. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a documentary film about Michael J. Fox and his struggle with Parkinson's. Unlike To Kill a Tiger, this film is more widely available through Apple TV+.

I wouldn't expect To Kill a Tiger to make the Top 5 cut yet the filmmakers should be proud of being on the shortlist. Let's hope the shortlist will make this film available to watch for those outside Canada.

Oasis from Justine Martin made the shortlist for Documentary Short Subject. The late Robbie Robertson made the shortlist for Original Score for his work on Killers of the Flower Moon. Robertson produced the song Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People) by the Osage Tribal Singers, which made the shortlist for Original Song.

I’m Just Ken, sung by Ryan Gosling from Barbie, is also on the shortlist for Original Song.

Canadian film case study: Rojek

Rojek is Canada's entry into the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film

Rojek didn't provoke any significant Oscars buzz. This is not a surprise given its subject matter and presentation. Eternal Spring had a tiny bit of buzz last year yet had little to no chance. Canada has only had a single entry on the shortlist in the last decade: Juste la fin du monde | It's Only the End of the World from Xavier Dolan made the shortlist in the movie year 2016.

The strategy of picking documentaries about controversial topics that are not visibly Canadian is not working. Sorry, Telefilm Canada.

The Hollywood Reporter had a good interview about Rojek with its director, Zaynê Akyol.

Canada has rarely had an Indigenous film in this category: the lone exceptions were Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001) and The Necessities of Life | Ce qu'il faut pour vivre, Inuujjutiksaq (2008). Both films were in Inuktitut along with French in the latter film. This would seemingly be a better qualifier for Canada. Tautuktavuk | What We See (Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk) wouldn't have likely made the shortlist yet would have been worthy of discussion.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant from Ariane Louis-Seize would have been an unusual choice yet a highly thoughtful film. Dark comedies, much less comedies, rarely show up at the Oscars.

Immigrants coming into Canada are an excellent topic, such as current films Kanaval (Henri Pardo) and Ru Charles-Olivier Michaud).

The Independent Spirit Awards announced its 5 nominees for Best International Film. They have more leeway since they aren't limited to the film each country submits to the Academy Awards.

Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Godland (Denmark, Iceland)
Mami Wata (Nigeria)
Totem (Mexico)
The Zone of Interest (UK, Poland, USA)

We've seen Godland and was not as impressed as I wanted to be. Totem played at WIFF and we didn't have time to fit in the film. I figured someone would mention the film and no one mentioned it within range of my ears.

Four Daughters is one of the nominees for Best Documentary Feature Film along with Bye Bye Tiberias, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, Kokomo City, and The Mother of All Lies.

American actor Glenn Howerton got nominated for Best Supporting Performance for the Canadian film BlackBerry. Howerton did a good job as the lead IMHO but perhaps supporting was the only way in for the nominee.

While Celine Song is a South Korean-Canadian person, Past Lives is an American film.

The 2024 Golden Globes are on January 7 on CBS. Here are their nominees for Best Motion Picture – Non-English Language

Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Fallen Leaves (Finland)
Io Capitano (Italy)
Past Lives (United States)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Zone of Interest (UK)

We adored Fallen Leaves, the only one we've seen on this list. Ryan Gosling got a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for some relatively unknown film called Barbie.

Alma Pöysti from Fallen Leaves got a nomination in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy category. Pöysti has some well-known competition in that category, including Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman, Margot Robbie, and Emma Stone.

The Critics Choice Awards airs January 14 on the CW network in the United States. Here are their nominees for Best Foreign Language Film:

Anatomy of a Fall (France)
Godzilla Minus One (Japan)
Perfect Days (Japan)
Society of the Snow (Spain)
The Taste of Things (France)
The Zone of Interest (UK)

The Taste of Things played at some festivals as Pot-au-Feu, which is a better title if you know the French dish.

Gosling also got a supporting actor nomination for Barbie. The late Robbie Robertson received a nomination for Best Score for Killers of the Flower Moon. Robertson had a lot of experience scoring music for films.

Celine Song got a Best Original Screenplay nomination for Past Lives. The not Canadian film also has nominations for best picture and best actress (Greta Lee).

The Toronto Film Critics Association weighed in on Best International Feature with Fallen Leaves as the winner. Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest were runners-up.

Green Border was shut out of the Oscars consideration since Poland didn't want to submit the film to the Academy Awards. These other entities aren't restricted to add the film yet none of them listed the film. Hard to watch yet such a wonderful film.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Your humble narrator has seen the last 27 Canadian entries in the Best International Feature Film category. The most recent one I haven't seen is Not Me! | Sous-Sol from the Oscars in 1997.

The Oscars shortlist of 15 films will be reduced to the list of 5 official nominees on January 23, 2024. The 96th Academy Awards will be held on March 10, 2024.

Twitter captures: @Telefilm_Canada; @thenfb
video credit: Icarus Films
photo credit: Rojek

Google to give Canada government $100 million in response to Bill C-18

Statement by Canadian Heritage Minister St-Onge on next steps for the Online News Acthttps://t.co/WytJABXP8G

— GC Newsroom (@NewsroomGC) November 29, 2023

Google and $100 million. Meta (Facebook): still crickets. Bill C-18 aka the Online News Act kicks into law today.

The $100 million toward Canadian journalism sounds good, though, a lot of that money will likely end up in the hands of American hedge funds that control the vast majority of newsprint (Postmedia) in Canada. Robbing from the rich to the rich isn't what Robin Hood had in mind.

There's even the idea that the money the CBC and Radio-Canada would get could be zero (huh?) or less (per measurement of impact) than its privately owned contenders. CBC and Radio-Canada have taxpayer funding so that makes some sense.

Though the CBC cuts, which will do tremendous damage to the public broadcaster, would be lessen in impact with a bit of that Google money.

The major issue is that the money will be pennies (which Canada doesn't even have anymore) in comparison to outlets that are struggling financially, even if they are eligible for such funding. Postmedia and TorStar, the Toronto Star company, companies that almost merged, will get the lions share of the $100 million. That feels … crappy to Canadian journalism.

Google, unlike Facebook, didn't retaliate against Canadian consumers. Again, Facebook has actively been throwing a tantrum for months even though the law hasn't kicked in until … today, December 19.

While $100 million sounds impressive, the number is less than what the government initially thought could be raised through the law. Google reportedly didn't move from that figure in its initial proposal.

A lot of how this money will move to Canadian news outlets is waiting to see what the Trudeau Government determines close to the December 19 date. The idea of strings not being attached means the large companies don't have to hire Canadian journalists or improve their journalism in any manner.

Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge submitted more details on what this all means.

"The Trudeau government said the law was needed to support journalism that drives civic engagement, counters disinformation and upholds democracy." Sounds great yet will this happen? We have serious doubts.

Getting Canadian news directly through apps

A guide to quality Canadian journalism in lieu of Meta and Google being childish

How to save news media from our tech overlords (Canadaland)

Pascale St-Onge is the new minister of Canadian heritage

We realise Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge has not been in this office for all that long. We don't trust Pablo Rodriguez on this portfoilo, even though he has served 2 terms in Heritage.

St-Onge has said in interviews that the money will go to digital news outlets. Yet ⅔ of that will go to written media, mostly owned by American hedge funds. Those digital outlets will negotiate with Google.

The Online News Act Is in Force. How We Got Here, What's Next (The Tyee)

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian politics coverage

CanadianCrossing.com Canadian society coverage

The idea behind Bill C-18 is that Facebook and Google manipulated the classified ad system, draining journalism of a lot of its potential revenue. Balance the scales, even a little. This is what makes Facebook's tantrum all the more frustrating.

Even if, a giant if, Facebook gives up the tantrum, the damage may be done. Hospitals are being backed up. People need information on potential dental care. As we've seen with the CBC, their investigative powers need more funds, not fewer.

Canadian journalism needs a lot more help. Reminds to be seen whether Bill C-18 is part of that help or making things worse.

Twitter capture: @NewsroomGC
photo credit: me/Facebook

Canadian film review: Coopers' Camera

Let's say you are a fan of Jason Jones and Samantha Bee. You find them funny and not just because they are Canadian. They have done a lot of work in the United States. How about a project that Jones and Bee that is actually Canadian?

This is a good time of year to check out Coopers' Camera, one of the few Canadian films that qualifies as a Christmas film.

The 2008 film goes back in time to 1985 where Gord and Nancy Cooper (Jones and Bee) are recording their family Christmas on their new video camera. The story behind the camera is that Gord got the camera in lieu of a $2,000 debt from their friend (Dave Foley) who had used the camera to make amateur porn.

The Cooper family isn't cookie-cutter perfect even without a video camera, so the camera adds to the ensuing chaos in the film.

Tim (Peter Keleghan) is Gord's brother who won't stop flirting with his sister-in-law Nancy, who is 4 months pregnant. Uncle Nick (Mike Beaver) smashes into the Christmas tree. The younger Cooper son convinces his hot cousin to strip down to her underwear.

Jones and Beaver co-wrote the film with direction from Warren P. Sonoda. We get a little too intimate in good fun throughout the film. 

The film also features Boyd Banks, Jennifer Baxter, Jayne Eastwood, Dylan Everett, Gage Munroe, and Rob Tinkler.

The Detour, their TBS show, was very good and underappreciated. You get the sense from watching Coopers' Camera that The Detour is a more sanitized version of the family dynamic. If The Detour was too much for you, this might not be your film. If you thought, "hmmm, what if the family was worse and a bit more perverted," this is your film.

Checking out the 23 best Canadian film comedies

Our Daily Show tribute to Samantha Bee, Jason Jones

The comedy is crude. This is a Christmas film that pokes fun at the spirit of family at Christmas. The sense of humour is definitely in the mindset of what Jones and Bee are known for doing.

If you are a fan more of Bee than Jones, the major drawback is that Jones get more time on screen. Like a family in 1985, the mother is the most likely to be in the background. True to form for what they are doing in the film.

If you think they are funny, you will enjoy this film. If crude humour isn't for you, well, there are a lot of American made Christmas films.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

You may also find the film under the title Coopers' Christmas. The film premiered at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

Coopers' Camera is available on Amazon Prime Video in the United States.

video credit: Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers
photo credit: Coopers' Camera

Canadian film case study: What Walaa Wants

The Walaa in What Walaa Wants is Walaa Khaled Fawzy Tanji. She wants to be an officer with the Palestinian National Security Forces. While Walaa has a huge desire to do this, she doesn't conform too well to orders.

We learn a bit about Walaa's family history. Her mother was in prison when Walaa was younger. Her father is not a factor in their lives.

Waala is in training. While she is a top recruit, Waala is not very disciplined.

Her brother Mohammad gets arrested. Walaa attacks a soldier at his trial. She spends 15 days in prison, 5 in solitary confinement. In prison like her mother yet on a much smaller scale.

What Walaa Wants covers her life from 15 to 21. At 15, her family moved to Balata, a West Bank refugee camp, after her mother went to prison for aiding a convicted suicide bomber. Her apartment is crowded. Walaa and Mohammad have a cousin detained for throwing stones.

Christy Garland gains such access that you almost can't believe we are in this intimate circle. We also see Walaa in typical teenager moments with music and social media.

That intimacy is sufficient reason to watch the documentary. A good documentary can get you to watch a story you otherwise might not pay much attention.

What Walaa Wants is also a rare look into the Palestinian world, especially for North Americans. Other than Garland, you won't see any visible Canadian presence in this Canadian film.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

What Walaa Wants made TIFF's Top Ten list of Canadian films in 2018. This is the final film we hadn't seen from the 2018 list. The film received 3 Canadian Screen Award nominations in 2019: Best Feature Length Documentary, Best Cinematography in a Documentary (Garland), and Best Editing in a Documentary (Michael Aaglund and Graeme Ring).

What Walaa Wants is available in Canada through the National Film Board of Canada (NFB).

photo credit: What Walaa Wants
video credit: National Film Board of Canada (NFB)

Luring a sports star to play in Canada is not an easy task

What might have been.

❤️@TomBrady @Topps pic.twitter.com/ZceS8qbJGq

— Montreal Expos (@Montreal_Expos) December 12, 2023

Getting a star player in any sport to come to Canada is a challenge. There is a parallel universe where Tom Brady became a star catcher for the Montréal Expos instead of him going to the University of Michigan to be a quarterback.

The Topps commercial (above) shows us what might have happened. Perhaps the success of Brady could have produced that domed, downtown stadium known as Labatt Park and kept the Expos in La Belle Province. In that scenario, the then Florida Marlins, with similarly poor attendance, would have moved to Washington, DC.

Though Brady turned out to be a NFL legend, the draft position didn't indicate a potential star. The Montréal Expos drafted Brady in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB draft as a left-handed hitting catcher. Brady chose to go to the University of Michigan to play football. Even then, the New England Patriots Brady selected 199th overall in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL draft.

"It was because of his hitting — 649 home runs, what a power hitter," a fan said in the Topps ad. Then another fan ordered 2 poutines with "extra Tommy."

In 1995 after the MLB strike that deprived Montréal of a World Series, the team traded its star players. Expos greats Larry Walker (Canadian), Pedro Martinez, and Vladimir Guerrero Sr. are in the ad. Walker was one of those who left. Martinez left before Brady would have been his catcher.

Brady would have helped the Expos and been one of the top 2 catchers in Expos history along with Gary Carter. 7 World Series rings? A dream is a dream.

2023 Toronto Blue Jays go down in 2 straight to Minnesota

Rogers Centre renovations help but Canada still needs a really good baseball stadium

The Toronto Blue Jays fanbase was quite excited about the prospect of getting Shohei Ohtani to be with the Blue Jays. Coming in second place is like being at the ball and wanting to be with Prince Charming and realizing the Los Angeles Dodgers were Cinderella.

The talk was a 10-year, $500 million contract. That contract turned out to be $700 million with $680 million in deferred money. That is tough for any team to contend with in the grand scheme.

Ohtani would have been a designated hitter for 2024 and maybe pitch beyond that. The lure of building a Japanese audience at Blue Jays games at Rogers Centre. The marketing. Watching U.S. outlets be less afraid of showing a Toronto game. Maybe an All-Star Game with a refurbished Rogers Centre.

Bobby Bonilla and Ken Griffey Jr. 2 baseball players who got a lot of deferred money. Griffey spent most of those 10 years in Cincinnati injured or at less than capacity due to those injuries. His last game with the Reds was in 2009 and Griffey is still being paid. Cincinnati hasn't won a playoff round since the trade.

Even if Ohtani would make that much of a difference, the Blue Jays might have paid a high price for decades to come. Ohtani rarely misses time as hitter but definitely has missed time as a pitcher.

Ohtani has occasionally played in the outfield; he is almost exclusively a designated hitter and a pitcher (when he can). Imagine Vladimir Guerrero Jr. not having that DH time to rest.

The Toronto Blue Jays need help at 3rd base (unless Matt Chapman re-signs), left field (Cody Bellinger?), and perhaps 2nd base (going to miss Whit Merrifield's hits). Successful teams sign players such as Chapman and Merrifield to extensions.

Ohtani would have been a shiny toy to have. The Blue Jays deserved a player such as Ohtani but the Los Angeles Dodgers have intangibles the Blue Jays do not.

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Kamala Harris, Jackie Robinson, and their association with Montreal

CanadianCrossing.com MLB coverage

The comparison came up with Kawhi Leonard, who helped the Toronto Raptors to a NBA title in 2019. Leonard came in a trade for DeMar DeRozan. When Leonard had the chance to stay, he went to the Los Angeles Clippers, even with a title in Toronto.

There was talk of trying to get Giannis Antetokounmpo to leave the NBA Milwaukee Bucks for Toronto. That didn't come close to happening.

The NHL with plenty of Canadian players and 7 Canadian teams: the Canadian teams rarely get a Canadian player to sign as a free agent. John Tavares (Toronto) is a grand exception to the rule. Zach Hyman signed with Edmonton but had played in Toronto. Significant free agents — American or Canadian — rarely sign with a Canadian NHL team.

Ken Rosenthal weighed in on the struggles of the San Francisco Giants to land free agents based on the perception of San Francisco. In our humble opinion, those perceptions of San Francisco are inaccurate on many levels.

The chase for Shohei Ohtani showed that Canada and Toronto could be a destination for sports stars to play in Canada. Ohtani did tour the Blue Jays facilities in Dunedin, Florida. He compared Rogers Centre to his old home park, the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo.

Canadians should have faith that players want to be in the Great White North. They already have a lot of patience waiting for that to happen.

Twitter capture: @Montreal_Expos
photo credits: Topps; ESPN

Stories We Tell and the documentaries inspired by the Canadian film

Stories We Tell is a Canadian documentary film from Sarah Polley that even average filmgoers are aware of its existence. The core of the documentary is Polley finding out that her father is not her biological father and realizing that her now deceased mother had cheated on her father.

Polley also used a sleight of hand by hiring Canadian actor Rebecca Jenkins to play the role of her mother Diane. Other than talking and singing her way through Ain't Misbehavin', she doesn't speak in the 2012 film.

The use of Jenkins helps put a face on Diane, who died when Sarah was 11.

Your humble narrator saw 3 documentaries in the 2023 Windsor International Film Festival where you could draw a line from those documentaries back to Stories We Tell.

2023 WIFF Canadian films in review: Documentaries

2023 WIFF Canadian films in review

Four Daughters Kaouther Ben Hania tells the story of Olfa and her daughters in Tunisia. Hamrouni's 2 older daughters — Rahma and Ghofrane Chikhaoui — left Tunisia to fight alongside the Islamic State (IS) in Libya. Ben Hania hires professional actors to take the place of the 2 missing daughters alongside the 2 youngest daughters who remained at home.

Rahma (Nour Karoui) and Ghofrane (Ichraq Matar) get some time to pull up to speed in interacting with Olfa yet mostly their "sisters" Eya Chikahoui and Tayssir Chikhaoui. While there is a real Olfa, an actor (Hend Sabri) to play Olfa during really emotional scenes.

This carries the acting element to a new high. Surprisingly, we feel we get better reactions from Eya and Tayssir as far as their temptation to jump into the Islamic State versus their desire to stay in Tunisia. There is considerable dialogue between the actors and the "real people", unlike in Stories We Tell.

The concept mostly works in the film. This film pairs up well with Rojek, a Canadian film in name only about Islamic State prisoners that is Canada's nominee for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards next spring. Four Daughters played at the Cannes Film Festival and is Tunisia's nominee for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

Canadian film case study: Rojek

Tautuktavuk (What We See) We noted in our review that this is a story of 2 sisters who aren't sisters. Co-directors Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk tell us stories about Indigenous women and the trauma they suffer. This film doesn't announce what is happening so you could see this as a traditional documentary and figure these women are sisters. The focal point is really about these Indigenous women telling these stories about abuse and how to overcome them with love and support.

The film allows us easily to get locked in for these stories. We saw some feature films and wish they were documentaries. This one felt like a better documentary than a feature film.

Tautuktavuk (What We See) made the TIFF Top Ten list of Canadian films for 2023 last week.

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2023

Little Girl Blue feels more like a literal interpretation stretched out longer and further. Mona Achache, daughter of the late writer and set photographer Carole Achache, hires Marion Cotillard to play her mother Carole. Mona has access to an amazing collection of photos, letters and audio recordings from her mother following the latter's 2016 suicide. Cotillard used them, Carole's literal clothes, and acting ability to tell Carole's story. Mona even has Cotillard take off her regular clothes to then put up the costume of her late mother's clothes.

The France-Belgium co-production feels very personal and a little intrusive. Watching the film might be cathartic for a lot of people to learn more about relatives who commit suicide and have troubled lives. Mona puts a lot of effort into a realistic performance, even insisting that Cotillard behave like her mother during a tea break, where Carole was a loud sipper of her tea.

Canadian film review: Stories We Tell

My path down the TIFF Top 10 Canadian films of all time

TIFF ranks top Canadian films

Documentaries are supposed to be true. The use of Rebecca Jenkins in Stories We Tell feels more truthful than Morgan Neville using AI voice to digitally re-create Anthony Bourdain's voice in Roadrunner. Polley lets us know Jenkins is not her mother and uses her in a minimalist way in the film. Neville hid the deception and used the audio to manipulate the second half of that film.

Four Daughters and Little Girl Blue are very upfront about their manipulation. Tautuktavuk (What We See) blurs fact and fiction yet may do so to tell true stories that need to be heard.

We've sadly seen documentaries where deception is crucial to telling a false story. Stories We Tell and these 3 films have a sense of truth, even with a blurring of reality.

Some manipulations, such as casting outsiders in Four Daughters and a main character in Little Girl Blue, can be seem as mostly okay. Some manipulations, such as deliberately terrible editing, are not seen as okay.

Truth need to win out overall and gray ideas must be seen as gray, even to those who are colour-blind.

Film review: Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (BalanceofFood.com)

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

I was encouraged to see Honeyland on the last day of the 2019 Windsor International Film Festival. I went into seeing the film blind as in knowing very little about the film. I didn't realize this was a documentary until I read about the story after seeing the film.

Documentaries are a valuable way to tell real stories. We need to be careful about films, even though with good intentions, about using the format for good instead of evil. We feel these 3 films are on the side of good. Trust but verify.

photo credits: Stories We Tell; Four Daughters; Tautuktavuk (What We See); Little Girl Blue

Canadian film review: Lost and Delirious

I would describe Lost and Delirious to people I met, telling them to imagine American actors Piper Perabo and Mischa Barton along with Canadian actor Jessica Paré in a coming of age film. When the 2001 film came out, Perabo and Barton were unknowns and Paré had just done Stardom the year before.

Pauline aka Paulie (Perabo) and Victoria aka Tori (Paré) are roommates and very good friends in a boarding school. Mary aka Mouse (Barton) is their new roommate. Over time, Paulie and Tori show Mouse that they are more than good friends, they are intimate with each other.

One morning, Tori's younger sister (Emily VanCamp) and her friends rush in to wake up the older girls. They discover Paulie lying in Tori's bed. Paulie tries to convince the girls that she was comforting Tori over her nightmares.

Tori explains to her sister that Paulie has a crush on her. Tori is more concerned about the love from her family, many of whom are homophobic.

Tori decides to move toward to boys where she isn't attracted over Paulie, the girl who she really loves. Paulie engages in destructive behaviour as a result of being scorned.

Léa Pool is a legendary Canadian director. This film was a departure for Pool since this was the first film she did in English and the first film where she was not involved with the script. Judith Thompson adapted the novel The Wives of Bath by Susan Swan.

This touching and tender film definitely benefits from Pool's direction. The intimacy of their worlds increases the emotion you feel for these characters. These young women fight for each other and sometimes battle within themselves.

Perabo, Paré, and Barton are truly amazing in the film and make the difference. The film also features Mimi Kuzyk, Graham Greene, Caroline Dhavernas, Luke Kirby, and Grace Lynn Kung.

We often review films that we only see once. We've seen Lost and Delirious a few times and could watch it again.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Lost and Delirious received 3 Genie Award nominations. The film won for cinematography by Pierre Gill. Kuzyk received a nomination for actress in a supporting role and Judith Thompson was nominated for screenplay.

The film is occasionally available via streaming though doesn't have a current U.S. home.

video credit: Peccadillo Pictures
photo credit: Lost and Delirious

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2023

New visions, new voices, new passions. 🇨🇦

Announcing TIFF’s annual Canada’s Top Ten list of features and shorts for 2023, presented by @mubicanada. https://t.co/jP5NP89pn8 #SeeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/k5uXuQ5EJj

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) December 6, 2023

The TIFF Top 10 list of Canadian films in 2023 is strong (mostly). The 2022 list has more incredible films.

Then again, there are titles that may be difficult to find, even for Canadians. To Kill A Tiger from the 2022 list is finally getting a small push in the United States. Ste. Anne from the 2021 list is virtually invisible.

Let's get acquainted with the list of Canadian films. Here is the 2023 Top Ten list with the directors:

BlackBerry (Matt Johnson)
Hey, Viktor! (Cody Lightning)
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Ariane Louis-Seize)
Kanaval (Henri Pardo)
Seagrass (Meredith Hama-Brown)
Seven Veils (Atom Egoyan)
Solo (Sophie Dupuis)
Someone Lives Here (Zack Russell)
Tautuktavuk (What We See) (Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk)
The Queen of My Dreams (Fawzia Mirza)

Kanaval might be our unofficial Canadian film winner of TIFF 2023. The film directed by Henri Pardo won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian Feature. Kanaval also won Honourable Mention for Best Canadian Feature Film, which these days is better than winning the award.

Tautuktavuk from directors Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk won the Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature. We applaud that this category has an overall winner and rewards first-time feature filmmakers. We just want the Best Canadian First Feature Film award back for Canadian films overall.

Solo from Sophie Dupuis won the Best Canadian Feature Film award. Unfortunately, this heralded award has lost a lot of its credibility in the last 3 years. Ste. Anne and To Kill a Tiger, the previous 2 winners, were also not the "best" Canadian film in the festival. Much better films win Honourable Mention.

Seagrass from Meredith Hama-Brown won the FIPRESCI Prize given by international critics and a Canadian film rarely wins this award. The plot intrigued me for a lot of personal reasons. This feels more significant this year than the actual Best Canadian Feature Film award.

The only 2 films on the list that didn't play at TIFF are BlackBerry and Someone Lives Here.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant won the 2023 WIFF Prize in Canadian film.

Your humble narrator has seen 6 of the Canadian films on the list: BlackBerry, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, Seven Veils, Solo, Someone Lives Here, and Tautuktavuk (What We See). We have previously weighed in on these films in our 2022 Windsor International Film Festival reviews as well as BlackBerry.

Of the remaining 4 films, Seagrass and Kanaval would be at the top of my list. Hey, Viktor! is close behind. Even The Queen of My Dreams has potential. All of them are likely better than Solo.

Rojek, Canada's Oscars entry for Best International Feature Film, which didn't play at TIFF, did not make the list. Drunken Birds | Les oiseaux ivres (2021) was the last Academy Awards entry to make the Top Ten list. Perhaps more subjective than objective but Fitting In and Backspot deserved to be on the list.

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2022

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2021

TIFF selects Top 10 Canadian films of 2020

When the 2022 list was released, we had seen 5 of the Canadian films: Brother, I Like Movies, Something You Said Last Night, Riceboy Sleeps, and Rosie. We saw them at the 2022 Windsor International Film Festival.

In the last year, we saw Viking, Black Ice, and Crimes of the Future. We enjoyed the first 2 films as opposed to the other film.

Your humble narrator has seen all but 6 films from the lists from the last 3 years.

2022 Cette Maison (Miryam Charles); the infamous To Kill a Tiger (Nisha Pahuja)
2021 the almost impossible to find Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette); Canadian film in name only The White Fortress (Igor Drljača)
2020 Canadian film in name only Fauna (Nicolás Pereda) and Judy Versus Capitalism (Mike Hoolboom)

Ste. Anne has all but disappeared into the atmosphere. To Kill A Tiger is theoretically available on Canadian soil via nfb.ca. Fauna features a "trailer" with a single scene with no dialogue.

We have seen every film on the 2019 list and the 2017 list. We will soon post a review of the final film from the 2018 list.

2023 WIFF Canadian films in review

2023 TIFF wrapup

One way for those in Toronto to see the Canada’s Top Ten selections is to watch them January 25-28 at TIFF Bell Lightbox. We also have the list of Top 10 short films from TIFF for 2023.

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person wins 2023 WIFF Prize in Canadian film

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

The great thing about the list is that we have Canadian film options to find to watch over the holidays and into the winter. We also have a source for potential conversations about what films would belong on our list.

Twitter capture: @TIFF_NET
photo credit: Seagrass