Melissa's Picks
Growing up, I was obsessed with films. I especially loved movie musicals, romantic comedies and movies about the mafia. So I guess, Gene Kelly meets Nora Ephron by way of Martin Scorsese? High concept, bold characters, outlandish stakes. I lost myself in these films and imagined being inside the characters’ worlds, which were sometimes funny, often thrilling, and always entertaining.
I love movies about escape - escaping into a memory, onto the open road, into a song and dance, or deep inside a character’s imaginary world that gives them comfort and helps them learn and know more about themselves, because I think that’s how we learn and know more about ourselves and each other. For me, that’s the power of film.
I hope you enjoy escaping into these films I’ve chosen as much as I do. Happy travels!
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About Melissa's Picks
Growing up, I was obsessed with films. I especially loved movie musicals, romantic comedies and movies about the mafia. So I guess, Gene Kelly meets Nora Ephron by way of Martin Scorsese? High concept, bold characters, outlandish stakes. I lost myself in these films and imagined being inside the ...
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Ninth Floor
"...an informative and sobering story that offers plenty of food for thought." Shadow and Act
Toronto International Film Festival
In 1969, to protest the administration's mishandling of racist accusations towards a professor, students at Sir George Williams University occupied a ninth floor com...
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The Drawer Boy
TIFF Film Circuit
Winner Canadian Film Festival
Winner Heartland Film Festival
Winner Sedona Film FestivalIt’s 1971 and a Toronto performance troupe ventures out to Ontario’s countryside to research a theatre project. Miles, a young actor, befriends two aging farmers, a gruff workhorse named Mo...
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La Soledad
'a flower of a film amid the ruins of Caracas' The Guardian
Venice Film Festival
Miami International Film Festival WinnerA vivid and intimate account of the Venezuelan crisis told through the real-life struggle of a young father trying to save his family from the demolition of their home.
Ve...
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Farah Goes Bang
Tribeca Film Festival Winner
Garden State Film Festival WinnerA road-trip comedy that centers on Farah, a twenty-something woman who tries to lose her virginity while campaigning for John Kerry in 2004. Farah and her friends K.J. and Roopa follow the campaign trail to Ohio, seizing this charged...
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Torrey Pines
BFI Flare
Cucalorus Film Festival
Framline Film FestivalBased on a true story, Torrey Pines is an inventive, wonderfully imaginative coming-of-age tale taking place in Southern California in the early 1990's. The animated film focusses on the filmmaker Clyde Petersen's childhood over the course...
