November / December 2012 Activity

Hello all. In this post, I thought I'd bring you up to date on my recent goings-on in film writing. Firstly, a few months ago I announced the start of a new column over at Row Three called Cinephilia Française that, I'll freely admit, has recently been somewhat dormant. This is due to a few things, namely my family's move away from the Greater Toronto Area and the emergence of some new writing projects. Right now, between those new projects, related travel plans for 2013, and a readjustment of a few personal goals of mine for the new year, I'm thinking that French film column may continue to remain dormant - sorry if I got anyone's hopes up. I'll still certainly be writing about and maintaining my interest in French cinema; just not in the form of that weekly column.

Now, as for what I have been up to recently:

· Issue 65 of Senses of Cinema is now online. Among the impressive selection of fresh pieces on filmmakers like Michael Haneke, Marcel Hanoun, Nicolas Rey, James Gray, and the late Koji Wakamatsu, there is my essay on one of my favourite films, Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander, written in honor of its thirtieth anniversary (it was first released theatrically in Sweden on December 17th, 1982). Now's probably the best time of the year to revisit this fantastic masterpiece (which boasts one of the best Christmas sequences ever filmed) - I know I'll be re-watching it within the week.

· Over at my friend David Davidson's blog Toronto Film Review, I talk about the film books I read this past year, including James Quandt's impressive Robert Bresson (Revised).

· At Row Three, I posted my dream triple bill of European arthouse classics dedicated to the Nazi Occupation of Italy and France.

· Finally, I've been busy tending to some other business for Senses of Cinema: come January and February, I will be traveling to the Netherlands to cover for them the 42nd International Film Festival Rotterdam. I'm pretty excited about both the opportunity to travel to the Netherlands for the first time and the festival itself, which has a great reputation. Stay tuned for my report after the festival, which should be included in the journal's first issue of the new year.

Until then, cheers and happy holidays!