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Hilltops, The

Igal Hecht (Canada, Canadian Spectrum) Screenings: Sunday, May 1, 4:30 p.m. The ROM Theatre (100 Queen’s Park) Tuesday, May 3, 9:45 p.m. Cumberland 2 (159 Cumberland Street) The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that most dangerous of topics for filmmakers: the kind that makes you think your film is interesting because it’s about something people are interested [...]

They’re Here, They’re Queer, They’re More Than Tassels and Beer

Photo of Pride 2008 by Sweet One. The floorboards of the 519 Community Centre‘s second floor auditorium were put to the test earlier this week. Indeed, many of those in attendance likened the atmosphere to dance parties held in the same space. But instead of getting down, several hundred participants at Monday night’s “Our Pride [...]

Is Selling Israel With Small Penis Jokes Bad Taste or Good Marketing?

Conventional wisdom tells us that linking anything to small penis size is never a good idea. “Size Doesn’t Matter,” a tongue-in-cheek promotion of Israeli tourism targeting young Canadians made by the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students, isn’t conventional. The video, depicting a young couple seemingly chatting about oral sex and the small size of the [...]

TIFF’s Tel Aviv Tiff

In an earlier TIFF post, we joked that the film Five Hours From Paris won our award for the “worst summary we’ve ever seen from TIFF” with: “In a suburb of Tel Aviv, an Israeli cab driver who longs to fly and a Russian music teacher who is soon to board a plane find out [...]

The People / United / Will Sometimes Be Defeated

CUPE Ontario’s university workers are now officially like the awkward kid no one wants to play with at recess. As we reported earlier, that branch of the union passed a motion a few days ago calling for an academic boycott “aimed at Ontario universities and any institutional connections pertaining to research that help the military [...]

I Am CUPE, Hear Me Roar

CUPE members taking part in a protest against Israeli military attacks on Gaza; photo by Medmoiselle T. In a startling and uncharacteristic move, CUPE Ontario has done something controversial. Even more unexpectedly, they’ve gone about it in controversial fashion. The segment of the union which represents university workers passed a motion this weekend, calling for [...]

Bringing It All Back Home

A mural by British artist Banksy appears on the Separation Wall in Palestine. Photo by walker cleavelands. 2009 kicked off with promise in the air, a tonic sense of the future around which Western civilization warmed itself. Despite a snowballing economic catastrophe unseen since the 1930s, the world staggered onward, still high from the incredible [...]

Jewish Protesters Stage Sit-In at Israeli Consulate

The Israeli consulate at Bloor and Avenue was briefly taken over by a group of women, Jewish protesters, earlier today. The group, which includes writer and activist Judy Rebick and local filmmaker B. H. Yael, was protesting the recent invasion of Gaza, as well as the Canadian government’s failure to condemn that military action. Their [...]

Fighting for Peace

This afternoon’s pro-Lebanon rally outside the Israeli consulate at Queen’s Park & Bloor was, like so many other recent partisan efforts, riddled with contradictions. Some speakers called for an immediate ceasefire while applauding the deaths of Israeli soldiers in the same breath. Cameramen, reporters, and photographers were all treated like royalty (by eager protestors and [...]