ARTS & CULTURE


CIFF 2023: A fall romance for the ages with Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
Arts & Culture

CIFF 2023: A fall romance for the ages with Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person

If you enjoy a good vampire story that has a cute romance, this is the film for you. This is Ariane Louis-Seize’s Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person — a rom-com involving Sasha (Sara Montpetit), a vampire that struggles with her family’s expectation of being a vampire,

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Does Ross Lynch just pose in front of a microphone?
Arts & Culture

Does Ross Lynch just pose in front of a microphone?

Former white boy of the month, Ross Lynch, has recently resurfaced on X with posts that question if he does actually make music because every viral thirst trap seems to have him conveniently just posing in front of a microphone. For those who have watched Disney Channel’s Austin &

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CIFF 2023: Fawzia Mirza on The Queen of My Dreams
Arts & Culture

CIFF 2023: Fawzia Mirza on The Queen of My Dreams

Seemingly connected only by their shared love for the famous Bollywood film Aradhana, starring icon Sharmila Tagore, Fawzia Mirza’s directorial debut The Queen of My Dreams — screening at the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) on Sept. 28 and Oct. 1 — follows Azra (Amrit Kaur), a queer Pakistani daughter living

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CIFF 2023: M. H. Murray turns trauma into emotive art with  I Don’t Know Who You Are
Arts & Culture

CIFF 2023: M. H. Murray turns trauma into emotive art with I Don’t Know Who You Are

Trigger warning: Sexual violence The beginning of I Don’t Know Who You Are starts off on a carefree Friday morning. We see the star of the film, Benjamin, a gay, working-class musician played by Mark Clennon, dancing around his kitchen and cooking breakfast with his cat. Later that

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NUTV 2023 Student Film Festival Review
Arts & Culture

NUTV 2023 Student Film Festival Review

A night at the movies has the potential to be excruciatingly predictable but still persists in being an ever-entertaining activity. Popcorn, a limp paper straw and cliche movie previews; what more could a person want? Student Film Festivals are an incredible way to break any movie watcher’s slum.

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Art and science join forces at Wonderspaces
Arts & Culture

Art and science join forces at Wonderspaces

It is a common misconception that art and science should not mix. Growing up I always thought that I had to fit inside one box or the other — lab coat or easel. I feared that if I committed to science, I would not get a creative outlet and if I

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Ten years of Lorde’s Pure Heroine
Arts & Culture

Ten years of Lorde’s Pure Heroine

Singer-songwriter Lorde, born Ella Yelich-O’Connor, went from a relative unknown to an at times controversial musical icon with three albums under her belt: her painfully genuine debut Pure Heroine, the critically acclaimed Melodrama and her latest album Solar Power, full of quickly snuffed out promise. This August,

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Colleen Hoover is overrated: Verity Book Review
Arts & Culture

Colleen Hoover is overrated: Verity Book Review

This article includes spoilers for Collen Hoover's book, Verity. The first time I held a Colleen Hoover book in my hands, she had not yet blown up on BookTok. I was an avid reader of mystery and thriller and came upon Hoover’s Verity while searching for new

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CIFF 2023: Open your mind to climate optimism with Thomas Acton’s Close The Divide
Arts & Culture

CIFF 2023: Open your mind to climate optimism with Thomas Acton’s Close The Divide

Before watching Close The Divide, directed, co-written and produced by Thomas Acton, I must admit I had a pretty narrow view of the climate change crisis. My outlook on the future was dim, and I couldn't understand how climate change deniers came to be. I had a

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CIFF 2023: Omar Mouallem on The Lebanese Burger Mafia
Arts & Culture

CIFF 2023: Omar Mouallem on The Lebanese Burger Mafia

To unexpected visitors, the Burger Baron might seem like the average restaurant, but heir of a Burger Baron franchise, Omar Mouallem, in his feature documentary The Lebanese Burger Mafia — screening at the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) on Sept. 23 and 26 — reveals the Burger Baron franchise to be a

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A new era for the Gauntlet

Furor arma ministrat