Re: Toronto Film Festival

From: Patricia Zimmermann (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Aug 26 2007 - 15:52:26 PDT


As a person living in upstate New York, I have to salute Michael for
stating so clearly why Toronto is such a special place for all the
cinematic/visual/digital arts! Beside the institutions that make these
works thrive, the wide, diverse and mutually supportive community of
visual media makers is a model for all of us down here in the US. Thanks,
Michael!

Patricia R. Zimmermann, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Cinema and Photography
Codirector, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
Ithaca College
Ithaca New York 14850 USA
Phone: 607 274 3431 FAX 607 274 7078
http://faculty.ithaca.edu/patty/
http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff

> It feels strange to take exception to John Porter on the subject of
> experimental film in Toronto, when he is widely acknowledged as our
> pre-eminent historian of the scene, but I must interject with at
> least another perspective on Toronto. Charles Dickens may have nailed
> Toronto in 1842, and I'm not sure when Jonas Mekas last visited the
> city and was bored by it, but the last several decades have changed
> Toronto and its arts community. Toronto is perhaps the most
> multicultural city in North America, with multiple vibrant arts
> communities, and the most active experimental film and video scene
> outside New York in North America. An enviable arts granting system
> (Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, among
> others) has nurtured a wide variety and number of screenings and
> festivals (John's website is one of the best ways to see what's on
> offer in Toronto regarding experimental film http://
> www.super8porter.ca/). There are pockets of conservatism, and like
> other places, occasional insularity in the art world, but "very small-
> town Conservative," I think mischaracterizes Toronto in general and
> its arts scene in particular. I agree with John about the shameful
> history of censorship in Ontario. But the antics of the Ontario
> Censor Board alone (now euphemistically called the Ontario Film
> Review Board) put the lie to the accusation that Toronto is boring.
>
> Mike "Civic Booster" Zryd
> --
> Michael Zryd
> Associate Professor
> York University
> Department of Film, CFT 223
> 4700 Keele St.
> Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 CANADA
> email suppressed
>
>
>
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>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.