A hero can do no wrong, and this idea is difficult to refute, especially if you are talking to a youngster who has placed an individual in that pantheon. I was just such a young fellow. But with greater knowledge, […]
Bio: SHAM is an independent Montreal Hip-Hop/Rap Artist with strong influences from 90′s hip-hop. He was born February 20, 1986 in Nigeria Jos Plateau State. Shortly after his birth SHAM left Nigeria and moved to Montreal, Quebec. Releases: SHAM […]
There goes Rudy! Now that is a tuff dude— what’s up carnal! Everybody greets him. As the homies pay their respects, and senoras show their fear towards him and his two pit bulls, they also give their kids coscorrones for […]
In the National Gallery of Canada, gazing at Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, some still in their original, massive carved wood frames, gave the sensation of being in nineteenth century Paris, at the famous gallery Goupil & Co, managed […]
Sexual Inequality Walking home from the metro she sees shadows on the wall of a building to her right. The youths’ shadows are bigger even though she’s in front. Theirs loom larger, covering hers. From their voices they […]
The Creators, South Africa, 2011. UPDATE: Awarded Honourable Mention for BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Maya Khankhoje [This is the last film reviewed by Montreal Serai for the 8th International Montreal Black Film Festival which closed on September 30. Montreal Serai thanks […]
Soir de pleine lune au Janicule. On m’a dit un jour que les Japonais voient un lapin dans la lune. C’est tout ce que j’y perçois depuis, et j’en ai marre. Il m’a toujours gêné ce lapin à demi renversé […]
As I run along my routine jogging trail from middle-class NDG in Montreal, up the hill into the Westmount maze of mansions, I often catch myself staring at the wealthy estates, some I should call castles… Spacious gardens colored with […]
Je n’ai pas découvert la musique au concert mais au cinéma à travers le son feutré des haut-parleurs qui s’associe facilement aux images absorbe les sens et approfondit certaines dimensions de l’histoire dans une salle noire traversée d’un faisceau lumineux […]
Indo-Canadian filmmakers have contributed to bringing stories and faces that we don’t see in Canadian Cinema. Srinivas Krishna (Masala, 1991) refuses to be dubbed a Canadian filmmaker. Eisha Marjara (Desperately Seeking Helen, 1998) and transpacific phenomenon Deepa Mehta, who films […]
A film by Marie Boti and Malcolm Guy-52 min, productions Multi-Monde 2012. The wind beats against a high telecom tower in Quebec. The camera finds a man on top of the tower, hard hat, safety glasses on. Several hundred feet […]
As we prepare to release our latest documentary, the End of Immigration? we wonder whether it will be our last, with the new round of funding cuts from the federal government that has this sector reeling. The hunger for documentaries […]
If you were to ask your friends whether they thought Canadian films were sexy, they would probably laugh and unanimously say no. Collectively, they would all probably be pretty hard pressed to make a list of many Canadian films at […]
Cigarette smoke rises in small plumes, merging into the dust beam created by the projection light in a full theatre of young Canadian adults staring transfixed at the screen; a crippled fishing boat floats in dark, still water… The weathered […]
[This piece originally appeared in Five Dials Number 15 and is reproduced with their kind permission.] In Sophocles’ tragedy, the incestuous Oedipus only gains wisdom after experiencing darkness by piercing his own eyes. For the Greek playwright, wisdom, redemption and […]
Avec huit documentaires achevés, je devrais pouvoir me considérer une réalisatrice expérimentée et envisager le restant de ma carrière avec confiance et optimisme. Mais quand on réalise des documentaires de nature politique, avec des nuances poétiques par dessus le marché, […]
Welcome to Canada (1989) and Monsieur Lazhar (2011) This film review will comment on two Canadian films that deploy immigrants and political refugees. These films are separated by over two decades. Within this period so called “visible minority” film directors […]
Dreaming By Movies In 2012, a great number of people of the world’s population live and stay in one place, with very little material wealth, and without any luxury. But in absolute terms, there are also many individuals today who […]
Many years ago, Bernardo Bertolucci, on a visit to Canada, was asked what he thought of the movie industry in this country. He confessed he did not know much about it but he felt that this would be a good […]
Aonan Yang was born in Wo Long Quan, (Dragon Creek Village), Liao Ning Province, China. As a youngster, he wrote his own plays, stand-up routines for pairs (“in the Chinese style”), and poetry. His family was one of […]
I would like to share with you a few thoughts on my experience as someone born and brought up in Montreal and by now having lived for over fifty years in Kolkata. How did that happen and what am […]
[audio: Diamond.mp3] The Diamond that Used to be You Oh honey, after you died from eating that bad meat Didn’t seem right to just keep your remains on a jar in top of the t.v. But […]
As various contributors point out in this issue of Montreal Serai, we are obviously now living in an era of immense technical change, most of it centered on digitalization, computers, and nano-technology. At the same time, a large […]
Quebec’s health records are going digital. Recently, I along with other Montrealers received a letter in French describing the process, the timeline, and the implications. The digitization of patient records will have an impact on the quality of our […]
Note de l’auteur: Le texte qui suit est un texte d’opinion et non un essai. Il ne fait pas une revue exhaustive des études en cours sur les sujets abordés et puise ses arguments de façon libre à […]
Hypothetically, a child asks “Mama and Papa who is my real daddy?” In the old days, before the advent of new reproductive technologies, the answer would have been straight forward “your daddy was ____, but he left me, […]
Dad gets home from work and goes down into the basement to watch television and go on the internet. Mom gets home from work, orders a pizza on her Blackberry, and then goes to the living room […]
The insistent electronic beeping of my alarm clock jolts me from sleep. Beep beep. I see 4:30 in crimson digits. Damn, it’s way too early. I bang down the alarm button and soon the beep beep reawakens me. […]
