Seventh Row is a nonprofit Canadian film criticism publication and publishing house. We're dedicated to helping you expand your horizons by curating the best socially progressive films from around the world and helping you think deeply about them. This newsletter is run by Seventh Row (http://seventh-row.com) but features exclusive content not found on the website.
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This is the free version of our weekly newsletter. The premium version has 20+ excellent recommendations, on top of these, of what to watch at festivals, virtual cinemas, VOD, and via streaming. We also spotlight several virtual film festivals worth catching worldwide, featuring films we love that have yet to secure distribution (so this may be your only chance to see them!).
In our premium newsletter for members this week, we recommend more virtual film festival screenings, plus additional VOD, virtual cinema, and streaming recommendations. If you become a member now, shoot us an email, and we'll be happy to send you these recommendations, too!
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This weekend, catch up with the great doc Flee if you're in the US, have a mini Céline Sciamma film festival to celebrate Petite Maman (now in UK cinemas, soon out in North America), and watch the hilarious and biting satire Quebexit on Prime in Canada and the US.
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In the summer, we released the ebook Subjective realities: The art of creative nonfiction film which explores the spectrum between fiction and nonfiction in contemporary documentary. Several of the films that appear in the book had their world premieres in 2021 and have yet to be released in cinemas (or acquire North American/UK distribution!).
Fortunately, several of those films have just hit VOD/streaming services or will be at virtual film festivals in the coming weeks. We recommend catching them while you can!
Get your copy of Subjective realities |
One of the very best films of 2021 full stop is the animated documentary Flee about Amin, who was forced to flee Afghanistan as a teenager and ended up in Denmark. The film follows Amin in present day as he recounts the story of his flight to Denmark (with documentary sound), and his memories are illuminated by animation.
We loved the film so much that we invited its director Jonas Poher Rasmussen on to the 2021 Creative Nonfiction Workshop (in conversation with Eliane Raheb!) and he is also interviewed in the book.
Here's an excerpt from my interview with director Jonas Poher Rasmussen:
To read the full interview, get the book!
Get your copy of Subjective realities |
One of the best (and funniest) Canadian films to premiere on the festival circuit last year is now streaming! It's a great satire of the Canadian military, the divide between the English and French (and how silly it is in the face of land theft from Indigenous people), and much more.
Here's an excerpt from my intro to my interview with director Joshua Demers:
Céline Sciamma's new film, Petite Maman, is one of the very best films to premiere in 2021. It won't be rolling out widely in cinemas until 2022 (though watch this space for every early virtual screening we can find!), but that makes this a perfect time to catch up with her earlier films you've missed, or rewatch them again.
Fortunately, most of Sciamma's films are streaming right now (except for the ever-elusive Water Lilies) so here's a look at where you can watch them.
As you make your way through Sciamma's work, there's no better viewing companion than our ebook on her work — the first full-length study of Sciamma's work ever published — Portraits of resistance: The cinema of Céline Sciamma.
In the book, we explore how, in Céline Sciamma’s films, social outcasts take centre stage. Their gaze is centred as they learn to be themselves through interacting with nature (much of Tomboy takes place outside; the ocean is the backdrop to the story in Portrait), inhabiting women’s spaces (the changing rooms in Water Lilies; hotel rooms and bedrooms in Girlhood), and making connections with people who understand and accept them (the best friends in Water Lilies; Laure’s/Mickäel’s relationship with their younger sister in Tomboy; Girlhood’s girl gang; the romance between painter and subject in Portrait). Yet even these safe spaces cannot hold forever against the weight of societal prejudices and injustices.
Portraits of resistance, contains interviews with Céline Sciamma, Portrait of a Lady on Fire actresses Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel, as well as Sciamma’s sound editor. On top of that, essays from EIC Alex Heeney, Executive Editor Orla Smith, Associate Editor Brett Pardy, and writers Lena Wilson, Ben Flanagan, and Angelo Muredda will delve into what makes Sciamma’s films so special. Read entire chapters on Water Lilies (2007), Tomboy (2011), and Girlhood (2014), plus several essays on Portrait, focusing on its exploration of the gaze of the two central lovers.
Praise for Portraits of resistance:
"Portraits of Resistance covers enormous ground, reading Sciamma's work as queer cinema, women's cinema, European cinema, looking at the both the stories and the aesthetics, and how Sciamma has already created distinct and unique films with a singular voice. Not only is it a great introduction for any who want to learn more about the filmmaker, it will be a cornerstone for any future Sciamma scholarship." - Shelagh Rowan-Legg, Screen Anarchy
"Fascinated by the ways in which women across continents and centuries create spaces of intimacy, Céline Sciamma stands as one of contemporary film's most necessary directors. Alex Heeney and Orla Smith have assembled a collection that does justice to the range of Sciamma's interests, talents, and achievements. Erudite and casual, Portraits of Resistance will force readers into an essential task: running back to watch every Sciamma film to see what they missed.” - Alfred Soto, Film Critic
Get your copy of Portraits of resistance |
Here's an excerpt from my review:
Here's an excerpt from my intro to my interview with Sciamma about the film:
Here's an excerpt from Lena Wilson's essay on Tomboy in the book:
To read the full essay, get the book here.
Get your copy of Portraits of resistance |
Happy watching!
Best,
Alex Heeney, Editor-in-Chief
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The Seventh Row newsletter is a free weekly newsletter featuring streaming recommendations, primarily for Canada, the US, UK, and Australia, but always features at least one worldwide streaming recommendation. We also offer occasional giveaways of free downloads of our favourite films and other benefits! Questions? Comments? Reply to this email, or find us on Twitter @SeventhRow. If you're reading this because someone forwarded this email to you, consider that helpful button to become a regular subscriber.
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Seventh Row is a nonprofit Canadian film criticism publication and publishing house. We're dedicated to helping you expand your horizons by curating the best socially progressive films from around the world and helping you think deeply about them. This newsletter is run by Seventh Row (http://seventh-row.com) but features exclusive content not found on the website.
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