History on parade
Even in the joyful, jittery atmosphere of a film première, a sense of gravity permeated the packed house at the Toronto opening of the documentary Parade: Queer Acts of Love and Resistance on April 24 at Bloor Street's Hot Docs Cinema on the opening night of the Hot Docs Festival.
The film justified the feeling. Director Noam Gonick's movie — which has its local première at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on June 28 — is an astonishingly cumulative look at Canada's history of queer activism; the vibe in the house was undoubtedly enhanced by the presence of about 35 of the film's interview participants, many of whom are famous (Svend Robinson, Canada's first MP to come out as gay; Lorraine Segato, lead singer of the Parachute Club; filmmaker John Greyson) and many more who have toiled in relative anonymity in the trenches of the gay rights movement over the past 60 years.
'It's a very unabashed, no-holds-barred love letter to the activists who step off the sidewalk, into the street to change the world they lived in,' Gonick said during an interview after the screening.
It is no coincidence that Gonick, the local filmmaker known for Hey, Happy and the Guy Maddin doc Waiting for Twilight, took the helm of the project with a former Winnipegger, producer Justine Pimlott, whose 2024 doc Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, won a Peabody Award last month for best documentary.
Winnipeg-based activism is in the blood of both Gonick and Pimlott. Gonick's father is Cy Gonick, a one-time NDP politician and the editor of the socialist magazine Canadian Dimension.
'The apple didn't really fall from far from the tree, it was just a pink apple,' Gonick says.
'My parents did teach me to question authority. I can remember my dad saying to me at an impressionable age, 'Just because he's wearing a cap like that doesn't mean he can tell you what to do.' So yes, all those little childhood lessons sink in on some level or another.'
Pimlott, too, is the child of activists, and she inherited the fire even in her youth when she took it upon herself to organize the first international women's film festival, Film Furies, in Winnipeg in the early '80s.
Supplied
Noam Gonick's new documentary is a cumulative look at Canada's history of queer activism.
'My mom and dad were trade-union activists. They were part of the left in Winnipeg,' Pimlott recalls in a post-première interview.
Pimlott followed suit, and was even encouraged by her mother to join the Nellie McClung Theatre, a trade union theatre collective, when she was a teenager.
Combined with her early passion for movies, Pimlott took an activist approach to her film career, always amplifying voices under the National Film Board banner, as well as the shingle of her own company Red Queen Productions, co-founded with her partner Maya Gallus.
Her career reached a high point last month with the Peabody win for Any Other Way — a documentary about Jackie Shane, a pioneering, American-born trans R&B singer who found fame in the Toronto jazz scene of the 1960s — which Pimlott characterizes with just one word: 'huge.'
'Particularly in these times, it's even more huge,' Pimlott says, referring to the anti-trans sentiment that has gripped the United States since the 2024 election.
Supplied
Gonick calls Parade a love letter to activists.
'To have that recognition with everything unfolding south of the border, it's an incredible honour. It's even more of a statement.'
● ● ●
Parade promises to be a film with an impact that will ripple through and beyond the country's queer population this summer. Teamed with editor Ricardo Acosta and thousands of hours worth of archival material, Gonick and Pimlott have made a movie that is simultaneously a crucial record of queer activism but also a shocking account of the violence and bigotry that the movement once inspired.
'What I'm hearing from young people is that there's so much they didn't know about the activists whose shoulders they stand on. I get the sense from hearing from the younger community that there is this great need to connect with who their elders are, to have that intergenerational conversation,' Pimlott says.
Weekly
A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene.
For the elders themselves, the film has the power of a family photo album, with attendant feelings that run the gamut from joy to personal tragedy.
Supplied
Justine Pimlott won a Peabody Award for Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story.
'Flipping through a photo album can evoke many emotions, and it's not always easy,' Pimlott says.
The CMHR showing will be followed by a Q&A with Gonick, Pimlott, Connie Merasty and Myra Laramee.
Prior to the film, ticket holders can explore the new exhibition Love in a Dangerous Time: Canada's LGBT Purge and participate in an art-making activity.
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In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat.
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Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
History on parade
Even in the joyful, jittery atmosphere of a film première, a sense of gravity permeated the packed house at the Toronto opening of the documentary Parade: Queer Acts of Love and Resistance on April 24 at Bloor Street's Hot Docs Cinema on the opening night of the Hot Docs Festival. The film justified the feeling. Director Noam Gonick's movie — which has its local première at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on June 28 — is an astonishingly cumulative look at Canada's history of queer activism; the vibe in the house was undoubtedly enhanced by the presence of about 35 of the film's interview participants, many of whom are famous (Svend Robinson, Canada's first MP to come out as gay; Lorraine Segato, lead singer of the Parachute Club; filmmaker John Greyson) and many more who have toiled in relative anonymity in the trenches of the gay rights movement over the past 60 years. 'It's a very unabashed, no-holds-barred love letter to the activists who step off the sidewalk, into the street to change the world they lived in,' Gonick said during an interview after the screening. It is no coincidence that Gonick, the local filmmaker known for Hey, Happy and the Guy Maddin doc Waiting for Twilight, took the helm of the project with a former Winnipegger, producer Justine Pimlott, whose 2024 doc Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, won a Peabody Award last month for best documentary. Winnipeg-based activism is in the blood of both Gonick and Pimlott. Gonick's father is Cy Gonick, a one-time NDP politician and the editor of the socialist magazine Canadian Dimension. 'The apple didn't really fall from far from the tree, it was just a pink apple,' Gonick says. 'My parents did teach me to question authority. I can remember my dad saying to me at an impressionable age, 'Just because he's wearing a cap like that doesn't mean he can tell you what to do.' So yes, all those little childhood lessons sink in on some level or another.' Pimlott, too, is the child of activists, and she inherited the fire even in her youth when she took it upon herself to organize the first international women's film festival, Film Furies, in Winnipeg in the early '80s. Supplied Noam Gonick's new documentary is a cumulative look at Canada's history of queer activism. 'My mom and dad were trade-union activists. They were part of the left in Winnipeg,' Pimlott recalls in a post-première interview. Pimlott followed suit, and was even encouraged by her mother to join the Nellie McClung Theatre, a trade union theatre collective, when she was a teenager. Combined with her early passion for movies, Pimlott took an activist approach to her film career, always amplifying voices under the National Film Board banner, as well as the shingle of her own company Red Queen Productions, co-founded with her partner Maya Gallus. Her career reached a high point last month with the Peabody win for Any Other Way — a documentary about Jackie Shane, a pioneering, American-born trans R&B singer who found fame in the Toronto jazz scene of the 1960s — which Pimlott characterizes with just one word: 'huge.' 'Particularly in these times, it's even more huge,' Pimlott says, referring to the anti-trans sentiment that has gripped the United States since the 2024 election. Supplied Gonick calls Parade a love letter to activists. 'To have that recognition with everything unfolding south of the border, it's an incredible honour. It's even more of a statement.' ● ● ● Parade promises to be a film with an impact that will ripple through and beyond the country's queer population this summer. Teamed with editor Ricardo Acosta and thousands of hours worth of archival material, Gonick and Pimlott have made a movie that is simultaneously a crucial record of queer activism but also a shocking account of the violence and bigotry that the movement once inspired. 'What I'm hearing from young people is that there's so much they didn't know about the activists whose shoulders they stand on. I get the sense from hearing from the younger community that there is this great need to connect with who their elders are, to have that intergenerational conversation,' Pimlott says. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. For the elders themselves, the film has the power of a family photo album, with attendant feelings that run the gamut from joy to personal tragedy. Supplied Justine Pimlott won a Peabody Award for Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. 'Flipping through a photo album can evoke many emotions, and it's not always easy,' Pimlott says. The CMHR showing will be followed by a Q&A with Gonick, Pimlott, Connie Merasty and Myra Laramee. Prior to the film, ticket holders can explore the new exhibition Love in a Dangerous Time: Canada's LGBT Purge and participate in an art-making activity. Randall KingReporter In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
11-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Animated documentary bite-sized chunk of family life
At the close of the Hot Docs Festival in May, in a field of dozens of live-action films, it was the animated feature Endless Cookie that took home the $50,000 Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, a prize determined by audience poll. Endless Cookie • Directed by Seth Scriver and Peter Scriver • Dave Barber Cinematheque • 97 minutes • Opens Friday, runs to June 22 It was no small achievement for co-directing brothers Seth Scriver, 47, a seasoned artist and animator, and Peter Scriver, 62, a man of many talents, including carver, trapper and poet. Peter, who is of white/Cree lineage, lives in Shamattawa First Nation in Northern Manitoba, 744 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Seth, who is white, is based in the city of his birth, Toronto. The urban/wilderness dynamic between them yields material that is powerful and relevant. But still … a documentary? The film is, after all, a cartoon, and one that is flagrantly impressionistic when it comes to hard-nosed reality. Peter's daughter Cookie, for example, is drawn as an actual chocolate-chip cookie; his dog Nutty is portrayed as Mr. Peanut. The overall look of the film suggests an underground comic come to life. Seth Scriver admits, when the film — which debuted at Sundance 2025 and opened imagineNATIVE 2025 — was presented at Hot Docs, the brothers were surprised it was so fervently embraced by the documentary realm. 'It was funny. We weren't trying to make a (documentary) genre film. It was more like … What is this?' he says. But he and his brother grew to accept the classification. 'It's a documentary because it's real stories. It's like a real family portrait, even though it seems unbelievable. Most of it is based in some reality,' Seth says. Most of the action is set in Shamattawa, where Seth interviews Peter about his life, including their lives together, stemming from a shared coming-of-age in Toronto, where their white father ran a vintage clothing shop in Kensington Market. In contrast to the crazy streets of '80s-era urban Toronto, the scenes in Shamattawa are linked into a familial community, especially Peter's sizable brood of nine children. And therein lies the film's distinction. Supplied It took Seth Scriver nine years to animate the movie. Supplied It took Seth Scriver nine years to animate the movie. When Seth originally discussed the movie with his brother, the idea was to make a film that would just take a couple of years to finish. It ended up being nine years in the making. Part of the reason is that Seth animated the film almost entirely by himself. But also, the project transformed when Seth realized he couldn't make a conventional animation with typically pristine audio. 'Originally, when we started, it was going to be straight-up good recording with no interruption, but Pete lives in a four-bedroom house with nine kids and 16 dogs, so it's insane to try to record anything,' says Seth. Supplied Peter Scriver is a trapper, carver and poet. Supplied Peter Scriver is a trapper, carver and poet. 'So eventually, we gave into the insanity and let it go.' Endless Cookie presents a picture of Indigenous life that veers away from the sombre, serious depictions prevalent in most films that take on the subject. The kids are funny and, cartoon distortion notwithstanding, real. They even contribute their own creativity to the mix with both animation and music. 'It's not for everyone, but we've been really lucky that it's been embraced so much, and people can relate to it,' Seth says. 'Because everyone has crazy families.' Randall KingReporter In a way, Randall King was born into the entertainment beat. Read full biography Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
06-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Free Press Head Start for June 5
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