Daniel Garber talks with Zacharias Kunuk about The Wrong Husband at #TIFF50
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos by Jeff Harris.
It’s 400 years ago in the north. Kaujak and Sapa have known one another since they were babies and they were promised to one another. But when kaujak’s father dies suddenly — at the sometime as a stranger, Sapa leaves for a hunting trip. While he is gone, a man with no wife who is a figure of fun, arrives by Kayak. He takes her and her daughter Kajuak away. In the new area people are not kind and life is bad. But Kaujak continues to fight back. And always lurking in the background is a terrible beast, a giant troll who takes people away.
Will the proposed young couple ever see each each there again? Or will Kaujak be forced to marry the wrong husband?
The Wrong Husband is a new film from Nunavut that interprets ancient stories and the oral tradition with traditional ways of life. It combines the supernatural; with religion to make a moving emotional Romeo and Juliet story. The story is told in Inuktitut with an Indigenous cast. The film is directed and co-written by award-winning Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk. His feature Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner 
won the Camera d’Or at Cannes and countless Canadian prizes, and was a critical and commercial success. Other notable films include The Journals of Knud Rasmussen and Maliglutit or Searchers. The Wrong Husband had its Canadian Premier at the Toronto International Film Festival.
I spoke with Zacharias Kunuk on site during TIFF50 at the Royal York Hotel.
The Wrong Husband is opening in Canada on Nov 28, 2025.
Winner: Best Canadian Feature Film Award, TIFF ’25.
Daniel Garber talks with Peter Mettler about While the Green Grass Grows: A Cinematic Diary in Seven Parts
Part 1
Part 2
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Media pundits say outlets like Tiktok and Instagram have distilled ideas into their purest and shortest form: a thirty second clip best viewed on a smartphone. This, they say, is our future. But not everything is shrinking. Some films are growing, lengthening and expanding. Would you believe I just saw a seven-and-a-half hour movie… and loved it?
It’s a film diary whose seven chapters are shown in two parts. This philosophical travelogue and life-record follows its 
filmmaker over half a decade in Canada, New Mexico, Cuba and Switzerland. It deals with images of animals and caves, rivers and waterfalls, alongside a personal examination of life and death, and the past and the future.
The film’s called While the Green Grass Grows and is written, directed and photographed by award-winning Swiss-Canadian filmmaker Peter Mettler. Peter’s retrospectives — featuring Gambling Gods and LSD, and Picture of Light — have been shown at the Lincoln Center, the Jeu de Paume, and Cinémathèque Suisse, while his cinematography can be seen in movies like Robert Lepage’s Tectonic Plates and Jennifer Baichwal’s Manufactured Landscapes. With a distinct cinematic style that lies somewhere between experimental film and documentary, Peter explores both the physical world and the ideas we carry within our minds.
While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts will have its world premiere at #TIFF50.
I spoke with Peter Mettler in Toronto, via ZOOM.
Daniel Garber talks with Seth and Peter Scriver about Endless Cookie
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos by Jeff Harris.
It’s the 2010s in the Shamatawa First Nation in an isolated part of Northern Manitoba. Seth, who comes from Toronto’s Kensington Market, is visiting his half-brother Peter, so they can make a documentary together. But he’s armed with a voice recorder not a camera. Peter is telling stories about their 
histories on the reserve and in the big city — the images of the people involved will be added later. But that still doesn’t explain why the people we’re watching look like tube socks, rubber bands or giant cookies?
Endless Cookie is a brightly-coloured animated documentary that uses wild and grotesque illustrations and verite recorded 
voices to present an oral history of two very different parts of Canada: Shamatawa and Toronto. It focuses on the lives, histories, and stories, of the filmmakers Seth and Peter Scriver, their friends and families. It’s hilarious, visceral and chaotic, and not like anything you’ve ever seen before. Seth is a Toronto-based writer, sculptor, carpenter, comic book artist and 
animator, whose first film Asphalt Watches won best Canadian first feature at TIFF in 2013. Peter is a storyteller, writer and woodcarver, who has served as Chief and Magistrate of 
the Shamattawa First Nation in Northern Manitoba. He lived in Toronto as a teen. A skilled hunter and trapper, he now works as a Canadian Ranger while he raises his nine amazing kids. Their film, Endless Cookie, was the opening night feature at ImagineNative and won the Hot Docs Rogers Audience award for Best Canadian Doc.
Endless Cookie is now playing at the TIFF Lightbox.
I spoke with Peter and Seth Scriver in-person at CIUT 89.5 FM.
Daniel Garber talks with Matthew Rankin, Ila Firouzabadi and Pirouz Nemati about Universal Language at #TIFF24
Photographs by Jeff Harris.
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s December in Winnipeg. Matthew Rankin, a Montreal bureaucrat, is travelling home to see his elderly mother. Most of his favourite spots are still there, but something is different; he feels lost, alienated. He sees two girls trying to free a large banknote frozen in ice. And he encounters a man who welcomes him into his home. After many years spent working in French, he is relieved to return to his native tongue and culture. But who would have guessed his universal language… is Farsi?
Universal Language is the name of a dream-like and haunting new feature that reimagines Canada’s two solitudes: francophone Quebec, and the rest of the country a unique mixture of Iran and the vast northern dominion. It’s as if Winnipeg froze unchanged somewhere in the 1980s and morphed into a non-religious People’s Republic of Iran. It’s co-written and directed by award-winning Winnipeg filmmaker Matthew Rankin, whose experimental films reimagine the country in a stylized and retro milieu. I interviewed him in 2020 about his first feature The Twentieth Century. The co-writers are both Iran-born and Montreal-based. Actor and multi-disciplinary artist Ila Firouzabadi is known for the violence and intimacy of her sculptures; while independent filmmaker, artist and actor Pirouz Nemati is completing an upcoming documentary on the matriarch of Montreal’s Byblos Le Petit Café.
I spoke with Matt, Ila and Pirouz on site at #TIFF24
Universal Language was lauded at Cannes and TIFF, on the list for an Oscar nomination for best international film, and will open in theatres soon.
Daniel Garber talks with José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço about Young Werther
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Photos by Jeff Harris.
It’s a sunny, summer day at Toronto’s Union Station. Werther, a young dandy from Westmount, has just arrived with his neurotic, best friend Paul. Werther is there to pick up a family heirloom, and to explore the town. But soon after his arrival he meets Charlotte, a pretty, witty and kind young woman. It’s her birthday! They end up discussing Salinger, dancing a waltz together and smoking a joint. Werther is smitten: this is the woman he wants to marry! He plans to 
sweep her off her feet. But things are not so simple. Charlotte serves as a defacto mother to her six orphaned siblings, and is engaged to Albert, a much older and more successful lawyer. Can young Werther win Charlotte’s heart? Or is he headed for disaster?
Young Werther is a new Canadian romantic comedy based on Goethe’s famous 18th century coming-of-age novel, updated to modern times. It’s a love triangle full of passion and lovelorn loss. It’s written and directed by award-winning, 
Toronto-based filmmaker José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço. José is best known for his short films and music videos but also has an accomplished history in advertising. This is his first feature.
I spoke with José in Toronto via ZOOM.
Young Werther had its world premiere at TIFF24 and is now playing in Toronto.
Best movies of 2024!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s time for my annual best movies of the year, where I list the films that struck me as remarkable in some way: the novelty, shock, joy, and satisfaction the film provides. This includes the direction, acting, plot, and the look of the movie. If any of those are just mediocre, it probably won’t make the list. They make hundreds of new movies every year, but in this list I only include films that were either released in Toronto or screened at a festival here in 2024. And I’m forced leave out certain categories — like documentaries and animation — for lack of space. Otherwise movies like Pelikan Blue, Memoir of a Snail, Flow, and The Wild Robot would definitely have made my list. And finally, because it’s a holiday, I’m recording this a week in advance, even though I know I’m going to leave out some movies I meant to include. Oh well..
With no further ado, here are my fave movies from 2024 in semi-alphabetical order.
Anora 
Dir: Sean Baker
…is a comedy romance about about an exotic dancer in Coney Island who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch. Mikey Madison is great as Anora.
The Brutalist 
Dir: Brady Corbet
…is a four-hour epic about a modernist architect who leaves postwar Hungary to make it big in America, but forced to deal with his patron. The look of this movie is incredible.
Conclave
Dir: Edward Berger
…is a dramatization of a boring topic — Cardinals electing a new pope — and somehow makes it into a shocking thriller.
Emelia Perez
Dir: Jaques Audiard
…is a very unusual musical melodrama about four women in Mexico, including a transgendered woman who wants to hide her past as the former head of a drug cartel.
The Girl with the Needle
Dir: Magnus von Horn
…is a shocking historical dramatic horror movie about a woman in post WWI Copenhagen who gives her baby up for adoption, not knowing its future. This one blew me away.
Hard Truths
Dir: Mike Leigh
…is a powerful drama about two black families in London, with Marianne Jean-Baptiste in an stunning performance as a deeply likeable matriarch. (In my review I called this a perfect film).
Kill the Jockey 
Dir: Luis Ortega
…is a brilliant, surreal and mind-blowing fantasy about a jockey in Buenos Aires. I saw this gem at TIFF, and I sure hope it gets released soon.
Love Lies Bleeding 
Dir: Rose Glass
It’s a violent, sexy neon noir, about small-town crime in the southwest, with Kristen Stewart as the daughter of local kingpin who falls for a female weightlifter.
Paying for it
Dir: Sook-yin Lee
…is a low-budget, local comedy/ drama set in Toronto’s own Kensington Market about a cartoonist who gives up dating in favour of sleeping with paid sex workers.
Sing Sing
Dir: Greg Kwedar
…is a true drama about a group of prisoners at Sing Sing putting on a musical, starring Hollywood actors like Coleman Domingo and formerly incarcerated ones.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig 
Dir: Mohammad Rasoulof
…is a dramatic-thriller about a Teheran family torn apart, where a father who arrests dissidents for the government, has a daughter involved in political protests. It was secretly shot within Iran.
The Substance
Dir: Coralie Fargeat
…is an over-the-top audacious, LA fantasy-horror of a fading TV celebrity who tries to create a younger, more perfect version of herself.
Universal Language
Dir: Matthew Rankin
…is a fantastical reimagining of Canada’s two solitude’s as Quebec and an Iranian/Canadian amalgam located on Winnipeg.
Runners Up (in alphabetical order)
The Apprentice, Didi, The End, Gladiator II, Heretic, Kill, Kneecap, The Life of Chuck, Misericordia, The Order, A Real Pain, Riff Raff, Sasquatch Sunset, Smile 2, The Queen of My Dreams, Wicked.
This is Daniel Garber at the Movies, each Saturday morning on CIUT 89.5 FM and on my website culturalmining.com.
Daniel Garber talks with Joshua Oppenheimer about The End at #TIFF24
Photograph by Jeff Harris.
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
It’s some time in the not so distant future. A tight-knit family live in a mansion furnished with old masters and French impressionist paintings on their wall. Their stay-at-home mom is fastidious with keeping things in order. Dad is a retired powerhouse exec who made a killing in the Indonesian oil industry. And their beloved homeschooled 20-year-old son who is curious about the world and loves playing with his toy train set. This lovely, peaceful household is complemented by their faithful butler, Mom’s best friend, and a doctor who is always on call. But something is wrong here. Why is their skin so pallid, their lighting unnatural, and why don’t they ever go outside? It’s because they’re living in a bunker, hidden deep underground as the planet burns. These people may be the only survivors of the end of the world.
The End is also a new film, a musical drama about the last survivors of climate catastrophe. It’s fascinating and devastating, infused with dry, dark comedy. The End is directed and co-written by award-winning filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer, best known for his shocking documentaries The Act of Killing and the Look of Silence.
I spoke with Joshua Oppenheimer on-site at TIFF.
The End opens theatrically in Toronto on Dec 13, 2024.
Daniel Garber talks with Jeff Harris about #TIFF24!
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
TIFF is the most important film festival in this hemisphere, that gives us hints about the upcoming Awards season, what movies we should look out for, and where contemporary cinema is going. It ended six weeks ago, so it’s a good time to take a look at what TIFF brought us — the hits, flops, changes and sleepers, and just about the TIFF vibe itself. Jeff Harris is a professional photog who has covered TIFF for more than two decades, in photos and features for Macleans, The Walrus, and culturalmining among other outlets. So I’m very pleased have friend of the show Jeff Harris, here, in person, for a spirited discussion about this year’s TIFF.
TIFF 24 RECAP – PART 1
Films discussed include:
- The Substance
- The Assessment
- Bird
- Heretic
- Emilia Pérez
- The End
- Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara
- Elton John: Never Too Late
- The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal
- Piece By Piece
- Better Man
TIFF 24 RECAP – PART 2
Films discussed include:
- Paul Anka: His Way
- The Luckiest Man in America
- The Last Republican
- The Order
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig
- The Girl with the Needle
- Kill the Jockey
- Nightbitch
TIFF 24 RECAP – PART 3
Films discussed include:
- The Life Of Chuck
- The Wild Robot
- Mother Mother
- Pepe
- Dahomey
- The Brutalist
- Riff Raff
- Nutcrackers
Daniel Garber talks with Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson about their new film Rumours at #TIFF24
Photographs by Jeff Harris
Hi, this is Daniel Garber at the Movies for culturalmining.com and CIUT 89.5 FM.
Somewhere in Germany, the G7 is holding a summit at a chateau beside an archaeological peat bog site. The leaders of the top western economies — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — are working hard to write a caring communique pledging future improvements in our world. Until something strange happens — all of the support staff suddenly disappear, and this elite cabal of Presidents and Prime Ministers are left to fend for themselves. And there are strange creatures dancing in the woods. Can these hapless leaders band together in time to stop the dangers threaten this planet? Or will they be reduced to suspicious conspiracies and petty rumours?
Rumours is also the name of a bizarre and funny new feature that premiered at TIFF. It combines geo-politics with ancient mythologies and otherworldly forces. Throw in some sexual intrigue and the threat of global apocalypse and you have something very different from anything you’ve ever seen. Rumours is the work of award-winning Winnipeg (review) filmmaker Guy Maddin (Interview: Seances, 2013) and his collaborators Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson. Guy Maddin is known for his uniquely baffling film images that range from unsettling Canadiana to creepy fantasies (Interview: Louis Negin, Keyhole, 2012) infused with perverse sexual neuroses… and more than a few laughs. Guy has worked with Evan and Galen Johnson for a decade now (Interview: The Forbidden Room, 2015).
I spoke with Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson and Galen Johnson in person, at TIFF24.
Rumours had it’s North American premiere at TIFF and is now playing in Toronto.
Video Highlights from #TIFF24!
Videos and text by Jeff Harris
The Life Of Chuck
Mark Hamill explains why director Mike Flanagan cast him for the role of grandfather Albie in The Life Of Chuck.
The Life Of Chuck
Tom Hiddleston explains the elaborate and stellar seven minute dance sequence he does with co-star Annalise Basso (to the phenomenal drummer Taylor Gordon).
Hard Truths
Legendary director Mike Leigh explains what he thinks of directors who introduce their own films.
Hard Truths
Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an Academy Award-worthy performance as Pansy, a socially abrasive woman woman with colourful language yet ultimately difficult to have affection for.
Hard Truths
Michele Austin discusses sibling rivalry, as Pansy’s grounded and supportive sister in Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.
The Last Republican
Steve Pink, director of Hot Tub Time Machine (and politically left leaning), explains what compelled him to create the documentary The Last Republican on right wing Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
The Last Republican
Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger explains how dismayed he is by what his party has become over the past eight years. The Last Republican documents his last year on Capitol Hill.
The Last Republican
Adam Kinzinger explains the security threats that have impacted his family as a result of his criticism of the Trump administration.
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