Watch the trailer for “Yoshiki-Life Of A Japanese Rock Star,” here.
YOSHIKI was hand-picked by YouTube
Originals as part of a select groupof internationally-renowned
artists such as Paul McCartney, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, BTS, Robert
Downey Jr., Will Smith, Katy Perry, Demi Lovato, Mark Ronson, Dwayne Johnson,
and Taylor Swift. The six-episode series marks the first documentary
program from a Japanese artist to be featured on YouTube Originals.
YOSHIKI -Life of a Japanese Rock Star- follows YOSHIKI’s many facets as a
composer, rock drummer, classical pianist, and fashion designer and approaches
the sometimes challenging behind-the-scenes reality of when music and passion
intersect. YOSHIKI -Life of a Japanese Rock Star- offers a
glimpse into the life of an artist who is active on the global stage. YOSHIKI commented that he hopes to inspire viewers as much as possible by
discussing “why I became a musician, why I continue to be active, why I
continue to exist.”
On Wednesday, Nov. 13, YOSHIKI appeared as the surprise guest at YouTube’s Brandcast Japan 2019, hosted by Google at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, and it was announced that all six episodes of YOSHIKI’s documentary program YOSHIKI -Life of a Japanese Rock Star- will be available for streaming on YouTube Originals starting March 2020.
image+nation, Canada’s first LGBTQ film festival and pioneering platform of queer stories will be back in cinemas and venues across the city for a 32nd edition, from November 21st to December 1st. The festival’s team of cutting-edge cinematic playlist curators are delighted to offer audiences the next generation now: an unparallelled program of new queer stories that defy the conventional LGBTQ narrative!
“As we live through times of social change in the world, image+nation 32 proudly brings new films from countries that share stories through LGBTQ cinema’s newest voices,”states Programming Director, Katharine Setzer.“With an emergence of exciting Eastern-European filmmaking, the cream of local talent, and even a pioneering Guatemalan production, this year, more than ever, we’re bringing the best new and innovative storytelling to Montreal.”
New Voices of LGBTQ Cinema!
The heart and soul of image+nation 32, this edition hails new voices of brilliant and brave boundary-breakers; these first voices are insistent, bold and illustrative of the myriad of identities and experiences lived by LGBTQ folks in countries often hostile towards LGBTQ human rights. Featuring groundbreaking titles such as opening filmAnd Then We Danced, the Georgian / Swedish / French winner of 3 major awards at Odessa Film Festival, including Best Film, and the Mexican-produced anarchic, hedonistic, experimental tale of post-punk excesses of This is Not Berlin, image+nation 32 will be an electrifying chorus of New Voices.
“With image+nation at
the forefront of New Queer Storytelling we have both the opportunity and
responsibility to introduce the originality and universality of these stories
and new ways of telling, watching and sharing to a wider audience. As well as
being a platform for the now, initiatives such as the I+N ProLab are nurturing the next generation
of Canadian LGBTQ cinema voices,”adds
Charlie Boudreau, Festival Director.
World Premiere For a Quebec Legend: image+nation 32 is delighted to host the world premiere of Dany Turcotte, l’urgence de vivre, the documentary on the actor, comedian and Radio-Canada / Tout le Monde en Parle stalwart. To be held at Cinema Imperial on Monday, November 25 at 7pm,a discussion with Turcotte and surprise guests will follow the screening of the film. This is sure to be a hugely popular evening and highlight of image+nation 32.
Staying in la belle province, image+nation once again shines a light on emerging and established local talent with Queerment Québec, a shorts program featuring the cream of the province’s cinematic storytellers. An annual festival highlight, Queerment Québec will once again be presented in partnership with the Phi Centre through a full evening of film, discussion with filmmakers, and festivities on Tuesday, November 26 at 7pm.
Back by Popular Demand!
Following a decade-long hiatus, image+nation 32 announces the return of an old favourite; the animated shorts program, Animation: Drawn to You. From a mesmerizing stop-motion based on an Anishinaabe poem to a campy queer western with some rib-tickling naugtiness thrown in, moviegoers can enjoy an evening of cinema where imagination is the champion of change and affirmation.
Also back this year is Focus Made au Canada – with films that boldly exemplify our national queer identity like the docs Queering the Script and NFB-produced, Standing On The Line as well as a stellar line up of Cancon shorts; Focus LatinX features some of the most exciting works of the Festival – from Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and the Dominican Republic; and this year, our Avant-gardistes/Vanguards program celebrates local queer luminaries and Canadian superstars such as John Banks, the organizer of the first Montreal pride parade and trans activists Chloé Viau, as well as Chase Joynt, and salonnier, Bruce Bailey.
Save
the Dates!
OPENING:
November 21, 8pm @ Cinéma Impérial – And Then We Danced
takes a look at a disconcerting romance set against a wave of conservatism in
Georgia that preaches tolerance to difference.
CLOSING: December 1, 7pm @
Cinéma Impérial – British / Irish co-production, Vita & Virginia
recounts the relationship between Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf.
Venues Cinéma Imperial (1430 rue de Bleury) Concordia University, J.A. de Sève Cinema (1400 Maisonneuve Blvd W.) McCord Museum (690 Sherbrooke W.) Phi Centre (407 Saint-Pierre) Never Apart (7049 St. Urbain) Cinéma Moderne (5150 St Laurent Blvd.)
ABOUT IMAGE+NATION
A pioneer of LGBTQ cinema for over 30 years, image+nation is dedicated to
sharing the stories and experiences of LGBTQ people. image+nation is an
inclusive annual 11-day festival, the oldest of its kind in Canada, featuring
award-winning locally and internationally produced films that strives to
preserve the authenticity and diversity of LGBTQ voices.
image+nation’s mission is to represent, protect and prepare the present and
future generations of queer storytellers and media makers while building
empathy through sharing stories with audiences here in Canada, and throughout
the world with our new online initiatives.
Currently, image+nation is also developing a series of educational and
mentoring programs dedicated to nurturing emerging content, such as the I+N
ProLab inaugurated in 2016.
Now
into its fourth decade of showcasing LGBTQ culture, image+nation explores New
Queer Storytelling and the uniqueness and universality of these stories;
striving to promote diversity, inclusivity and the many intersectional aspects
of queer voices and communities.
James Brown was known as the Godfather of Soul so any film attempting to depict his life and music career would have to have soul at its heart. Tate Taylor’s (The Help) film tells the story of James Brown, from childhood through his career, and uses plenty of blood, sweat and tears to do so. It is obvious right off the jump that Taylor is trying to make this as authentic a biopic as possible.
The story is not told in a linear fashion rather it hops back and forth all over the place. For clarity sake I give you the summary in chronological order. He starts off with James Brown’s (Chadwick Boseman – 42, The Express) impoverished beginnings through his climb to the top of the music world. What you glean from the in between is how hard the man had to work. That is the blood and sweat part. The hard work also translates into an overly long (138 minutes) film. It was almost like Taylor wanted us to actually feel how hard James Brown worked. We are put through the wringer right alongside him.
As a child James Brown was abandoned by his mother, Susie Brown (Viola Davis – Doubt, Prisoners) and his father, Joe (Lennie James – Snatch, Colombiana), who was just not equipped, dumped him at his Aunt Honey’s (Octavia Spencer – Being John Malkovich, Snowpiercer). That would have been an okay solution except she ran a whorehouse. This meant it was entirely up to James to drag himself out of the gutter and make something out of himself.
He stumbled out of the gate and gets himself arrested. It is in jail that he meets up with a man who is going to be a big influence on the adult James Brown, Bobby Byrd (Nelsan Ellis – from television’s True Blood). Byrd really brought funk and soul to James. Bobby became part of James’ backing band throughout his career and they enjoyed a fraternal type relationship with its share of ups and downs. Another man who he comes to build a relationship with is his white, Jewish manager, Ben Bart (Dan Aykroyd – Ghostbusters, The Blues Brothers). Bart helps James Brown navigate his way to the top of the musical heap.
Despite the little boo boos here and there this film is a success. Though the picture of the man is an incomplete one it is one that gives you enough to go on to amply understand the life of the subject. It shows how the man lived his life to the extremes never going half in. The beauty of the film is in the unexpected moments. For instance, the way it starts off in 1988 with a coked out James Brown storming into the office next to his brandishing a weapon and asking who stunk out his bathroom. A seemingly odd choice and yet in works in the context of this film and Brown’s life. You see right from the beginning that Taylor is going to show you all the interesting parts of this guy’s life – warts and all. James Brown is not shown to be a humble or demure guy. Some with hate him for all that excess while others will see that he worked hard to get where he got. He really is what we love and hate about celebrities with all that swagger and underdog getting to the top of the heap kind of stuff going on.
It is the smaller moments of the film that I found most appealing like when back in Georgia as a young boy he sees his father once again beating the stuffing out of his mother. Instead of hating him she is drawn to the man. That warped idea of women and male/female relationships that James Brown had as an adult grew out of those seminal childhood moments. A small scene but an important one. Especially when we leap forward to his marriage to his second wife, DeeDee (Jill Scott – Steel Magnolia – TV movie) and the abuse of her.
A big part of the success of the film has to be attributed to Chadwick Boseman’s electric performance as “the” man. It is a difficult task yet he does it well. He has the dance moves, is almost exactly right on with that unique speaking voice as well as the willingness to show the extremes of the man.
Taylor continues to push the right buttons putting a nice moment up against a horrible one. He is telling a story of a life that was all about contrast. We see both sides of the coin yet it is continuously brought back to us that James Brown was the type of coin that we’d all like to have in our collections.
Special Features:
-Deleted/Extended/Alternate Scenes
– Full Song Performances (Out of Sight, Steal Away (Steal Away to Jesus))
– Extended Song Performances
– Long Journey to the Screen
– Chadwick Boseman: Meet Mr. James Brown
– The Get On Up Family
– On Stage with the Hardest Working Man
– The Founding Father of Funk – Tate Taylor’s Master Class
– Feature Commentary with Director/Producer Tate Taylor
Successful author Veronica
Henley (Janelle Monáe) finds herself trapped in a horrifying reality and must
uncover the mind-bending mystery before it’s too late.
ANTEBELLUM is a terrifying
new thriller from the producer of the acclaimed films GET OUT and US, and
groundbreaking directors Gerard Bush and Christoper Renz (Bush+Renz) – an
exciting new voice in filmmaking.
I was shocked to find out that female inmates are the fastest growing prison population today. With this in mind co-directors Nance Ackerman, Ariella Pahlke and Teresa Macinnes collaborated with a couple of inmates at a women’s prison in Nova Scotia to produce Conviction.
Correctional systems were implemented to protect society at large from convicted criminals and to attempt rehabilitation of them. A film like this shows us that rehabilitation is not happening, especially with those most vulnerable in society. Jail has become more of a revolving door than a place which rehabilitates then reintegrates inmates back into society.
Our jails costs millions of dollars (to build, staff and maintain) and the average cost to incarcerate one woman is around $100,000. We the taxpayers pay for this and should demand something which works better. The film poses the question that certainly our money and resources could be used in a different way that would bring about better results for everyone involved.
The subjects here are in provincial and federal prisons. The picture created is women who have been marginalized and just end up in prison because of their circumstances. Stats are frightening in that more than half of the women in prisons are racialized, most are mothers, most are poor, and many have mental health and/or addiction problems. Violence is also a constant in the lives of these women. Many have lived with it since childhood.
There is also the issue of not enough affordable housing being available so women getting out of jail don’t really have anywhere to stay. To compound this problem they can only get social assistance if they have an address. Sometimes because they have no where to go women just reoffend in order to have somewhere to stay/sleep/live. That cannot be the best we can do.
The team behind the film went into the prisons with art supplies, an art therapist and film equipment with the goal of understanding why women are the fastest growing prison populations worldwide. What the inmates come up with is a residence in which women leaving jail can live in to ease their transition back into society.
Conviction is a call to action. We can no longer allow women to be marginalized and victimized. Calls for us to question the status quo. I am sure we can think of better ways to support these women. Invest our money in people and not build more prisons. Invest that money in social, economic and health programs rather than locking people up.
