Nuit Blanche 2013

Sorry it's been a bit quiet on the blog side, I'll try to make it up with this post from this year's edition of the art-fun-all-night-long of Nuit Blanche!  While we wanted to hit up many of the venues from last year's romp, the flow of the evening took us to other spaces and places and empanadas.  Among the throngs and crowds of parties and hoe downs, many textures caught my eye.  This is what I share with you.

Look up! At the RVCQ's closing party a jam packed sweaty crowd took in the sounds of Artist of the Year.  Suspended above were geometric ice cave shapes that provided atmosphere in at the Cinématèque québécoise.

The backside of a giant Tava cut out at the Milky Way exhibit at ARTVstudio

Looking into the void, Ici a neon installation by Baillat Cardell & Fils

Look up! The ceiling at Place des Arts

Friday Night Hootenanny

This is what February is looking like in Montreal.
I was really pleased with the last few weeks of snowlessness (I.LOVE.WINTER- not really.) Alas, my ideal winter couldn't last that long...
But onward we go! It is Friday night after all!

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word Hootenanny as "a gathering at which folksingers entertain often with the audience joining in." Therefore the last Friday of every month at MainLine Theatre, is a gathering of musical folk and bluegrass-ness at the appropriately named Friday Night Hootenanny.

Above are images from last month's Hootenanny. To your left is the lovely Sarah Jane Scouten and to your right is Brad and Mike (ex-Holy Moly/Lake of Stew), and an audience member on her knees holding up lyrics to the very funny vocalist whose name escapes me at the moment.

See how much fun you can have? You can be the one holding up the lyrics spontaneously! This all goes down at 22h30 tonight!

But before then I will be checking out INNI at Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québecois for some moving images.  Aaaand then maybe after that check out an art exhibit at the Fresh Paint Gallery....
While it snows....

Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinéma Québecois

Les rendez-vous du cinéma québecois is upon us!
It's no secret I'm a huge fan of the movie making side of life and les rendez-vous is a nice showcase of homegrown films of the past year.
In no particular order I will throw down some of my picks from the festival.

In the category of "I can't believe I haven't seen these films yet-what am I waiting for?"

Clockwise from top left:
1. Monsieur Lazhar, fiction feature film, director: Philippe Falardeau
2. Surviving Progress, documentary, feature, directors: Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks
3. Marécages, fiction, feature film, director: Guy Édoin
4. Café de Flore,  fiction, feature film, director: Jean-Marc Vallée
5. Inside Lara Roxx, documentary feature, director: Mia Donovan
6. Inni, feature documentary on Sigur Ros! director: Vincent Morisset

In the category of "Shorts I've already seen but love all these directors so I have to give them shout outs"

Clockwise from top left:
1. Sanctuaire, director: Andreas Mendritzki
2. Washed in Blue, director: Tom Fennario
3. Surveillant, directior Yan Giroux (and ps. I did the wardrobe on this short. It's a great film that just had a screening at Sundance. High five!)
4.  A Film Portrait on Reconstructing 12 Possibilities that Preceded the Disappearance of Zoe Dean Drum, director Eduardo Menz
5. Drat, director Farzin Farzaneh
6. Vent Solaire, director Ian Lagarde

And last but not least in the category of "It will probably be difficult to see these films outside of a film festival setting (unlike films by Denis Coté-whose Bestiaire is supposed to be awesome!) "

Alejandro Jodorowsky Grand Rectum de L'UdFOU 
feature doc directed by François Gourd
Ummm...Jodorowsky is a mad genius. What else is there to say? Have you seen El Topo?!

Un 14 Juillet å Marseille
feature doc directed by Yan Giroux (again!)
An experimental hand is given to this doc with lots of long takes. Sign me up!