You can now buy The Best of Screenings & Meanings from the McNally Robinson website <  https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/geraldschmitz >

One World Arts < https://oneworldarts.ca/ >  announces an exciting program of acclaimed films and talks for the 29 th  edition of the One World Film Festival: < http://oneworldfilmfestival.ca/ > Since 1989 this unique festival has been bringing thought-provoking documentaries and discussions of critical issues to audiences in the national capital region.  The main festival runs from Thursday September 20 through Saturday evening September 22 at Arts Court theatre, 2 Daly Ave.  See the program for full details of all films, speakers, partners, and schedule times. View the program here. Prominent themes include:  Women’s Voices for Justice, Our Neighborhoods, Art for Life!, Women on the Frontlines .  The Thursday September 20 opening night film  Naila and the Uprising < https://www.justvision.org/nailaandtheuprising > , presented in partnership with the Nobel Women’s Initiative, will feature a conversation with Suhad Babaa, execu...

Canadian premiere of ¡Las Sandinistas! Ottawa September 12 Special advance screening for the 29 th One World Film Festival, Ottawa September 20-22 My current major film-related volunteer role is as the president of Ottawa-based One World Arts which annually put on the One World Film Festival of which I am the lead programmer and coordinator. This year’s festival, the 29 th (more information and highlights below), begins with a special September 12 advance screening of an outstanding documentary feature ¡Las Sandinistas! , the world premiere of which I attended at the South By Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas in March. I wrote this about it in an April Screenings & Meanings column: Human rights struggles were at the core of several films.  Receiving a special jury mention was ¡Las Sandinistas! ( https://www.lassandinistas.com/ ) directed by Jenny Murray whom I interviewed about the amazing Nicaraguan women who were combatants on the frontlines of the ...

My most recent peak cinematic experience was in the last days of August at Toronto’s Bell Lightbox, home base of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) which starts September 6. (I’ll be seeing about 25 films at this year’s edition. That’s for a later blog.) This was the screening over three days—August 25, 26, and 28—of the monumental Japanese masterwork The Human Condition directed by Masaki Kobayashi and released as three two-part films— No Greater Love, Road to Eternity, A Soldier’s Prayer —from 1959 to 1961. Presented as part of TIFF’s “Summer in Japan” series, this was a rare chance to take in a theatrical showing of one of the greatest achievements of Japanese cinema. The timing also coincided with the 80 th birthday on August 28 of a longtime Ottawa friend George Wright whose son Roger and family with two young granddaughters live in Tokyo. Bringing George with me to his hometown of Toronto for four days made sharing this movie event extra special for us. Based o...

Happy Labour Day weekend and I have good news to report -- the imminent release of my film book anthology The Best of Screening & Meanings: A Journey through Film.  In the meantime, have a look at the  Table of Contents and Introduction .  The Appendix  is also now available online and contains my top picks for films of the year in all categories covering the two decades 1997-2017.       A hefty tome of 525 pages it contains significant new material followed by a selected anthology of my published film writings since 1982.     It will soon be available both online and in the bookstores of McNally Robinson. Many thanks to my wonderful longtime editor Maureen Weber and talented cousin Jan Schmitz for helping bring the production process to this point.  Booksellers McNally Robinson have done the final formatting and the book will be soon be available from them on a print to-order basis.  Details of that coming soon. ...

Things are moving ahead with the production of The Best of Screenings & Meanings: A Journey through Film .  The cover design and text format has been completed by McNally Robinson.  It comes to 525 pages, and there will also be an appendix available online. The next step will be to review the proof copy and then it will be ready for printing.  Stay tuned.

“The art of filmmaking is the most influential form of art that has ever existed throughout the history of human artistic endeavors.”     ~  ABHIJIT NASKAR, THE FILM TESTAMENT FORTHCOMING SUMMER 2018 The Best of Screenings & Meanings: A Journey through Film The conclusion of my weekly Screenings & Meanings columns has prompted me to put together an anthology drawn from 35 years of film comment along with some new material specifically for this volume.  Watch for the volume to become available soon.