TORONTO IN THE MOVING IMAGE:
A PLANET IN FOCUS SPOTLIGHT PROGRAM
Spacing is happy to announce we are the sponsors of a film series called Toronto In the Moving Image during the Planet in Focus film festival. This retrospective of Toronto’s life on film spans more than a hundred years, from the silent era to the present day. There are films about early urban renewal efforts in Toronto that have also doubled as questionable attempts at social engineering. There are also films about our famed hothouses of
psychedelic 1970’s culture, and even the odd story of forbidden love.
You can check the website at www.planetinfocus.org for details on tickets and screening times as well as the
latest information on panel discussions, walking tours, and festival parties.
Please note: Both films are being screened together on Saturday November 4, 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Innis College
Contested Streets: Breaking New York City Gridlock (Stefan Schaefer, USA, documentary, 2006, 57 mins)
Urban planner Robert Moses’s postwar dream for the car to rule New York City has blossomed into a nightmare of perpetual gridlock, smog and noise. Cities around the world suffer the same plight, but Contested Streets seeks solutions in a few hopeful places. Copenhagen has reclaimed its streets for pedestrians by introducing dedicated bus and bike lanes. Citizens breathe easier, traffic flows better, and local business is up. Close behind, Paris and London are phasing in similar steps to reduce traffic and encourage walking, public transit and bicycling. Well-researched and energetically edited, Contested Streets gathers footage and interviews from around the world. The consensus points to a focal shift from cars to humans, but will we listen?
Shanghai Shanghai
(Michelangelo Gandolfi, Switzerland, documentary, 2006, 53 mins; Mandarin with English subtitles)
With over 6000 skyscrapers rising up over the last 15 years, Shanghai is a city in development overdrive. As the buildings stack higher the nouveau riche gorge on material possessions while poor rickshaw drivers try to earn enough to get their kids through school. Shanties are bought out to make room for the city high-rises, and the negotiations are not always friendly… or legal. Beautifully shot, director Michelangelo Gandolfi’s cinematography mimics the polar lifestyles of his subjects, hurrying past the hyperactive city landscape, while pausing for contemplative moments on those still struggling to maintain a living. Shanghai! Shanghai! is a microscopic look at an urban environment reaching its growth spurt, and the costs of its eager drive to be bigger, better, richer, faster and taller.
